Days 19-21 Ottawa to Quebec City

Thursday July 12^th-

Another day of travel.  We left without a hitch at 9:20 and arrived just outside Quebec City at 2:30 with a stop at a rest area for lunch. 

We finally feel like we are in a foreign country.  As soon as we crossed the border into Quebec, it was 100% French.  No signs are translated into English, which is strange for a country that considers itself “bilingual”.   I was too nervous to drive because I didn’t have a clue what the road signs meant although Norman had a pretty good idea.   


I have come to heavily rely on the GPS.  He (the GPS man) is so smart, keeps me from having to use maps, and ultimately saves me from getting yelled at.  He even has a sexy little accent when he says the street names. My little GPS man is almost as sexy as Norm when he speaks French! I love my GPS Man. Thank goodness Norm is not the jealous type.

We decided this was a good time to do laundry. We found the laundry building, and after pushing some wrong buttons and losing a few dollars, Norm pointed out the instructions, that were actually in English.  I didn’t think I had to actually READ, after all it’s just a washing machine – I’d been using these for decades!  (Perhaps next time I will actually have to take the time to read FIRST). We then spent the next couple of hours doing laundry, or more accurately, until the coins ran out.   I wonder where all of this dirty laundry comes from.  Do we generate this much at home?

Suspension bridge over gorge

We met the neighboring campers who were from Fresno, California.  They were meeting up with another couple that has traveled in their tiny little Volkswagen Campervan.  Looked like something out of the 60’s.  They traveled over 300,000 miles in the two they had owned.  Wow.  Talk about “roughing it“!  They shared their knowledge of the Maritimes, and had some great stories.  Very nice group of people.

The next day we headed out to hike and/or bike.  We drove to a nearby mountain and decided due to the extreme haze (and it was pretty hot and humid, even for us) to only do the waterfall hike at Canyon Ste-Anne where the total change in elevation of the falls is greater than Niagara Falls though not totally vertical. It was a very pleasant hike over several suspension bridges, down to the bottom of the gorge (which included a 200 step staircase) and made me realize again just how out of shape I am!  The waterfalls were amazing.  

Tiny little electric bus in Old Quebec City
So cute!

After the hike we decided to do a drive thru Quebec City checking out where we might park the next day to see the sights and watch the two free performances (at different locations) later that night.  

 After getting a feel for the city we went to Costco to get a couple of things and to discover how Canadian Costco differs from ours.  We found, at least the one in Quebec, that they don’t carry any organic meats and very little natural or “healthy“ foods.   I was quite surprised at that, since I always thought Canadians to be very health conscious.  Perhaps it is due to the already exorbitant cost of regular food that would make “organic” prohibitive, or perhaps their regular local produce is already healthy enough.

We went back to camp, made a delicious pickerel dinner, talked to the neighbors, worked on the blog and went to bed.   

Saturday July 14^th

Busy city street
note the Funicular ( elevator ) at the top 

Today we got up, enjoyed some coffee and spent the morning finalizing the next phase of our vacation.  Most of the fellow RV’ers don’t make reservations, but we were glad we did since several of the places either didn’t have any availability, or in the case of Forillon National Park which is a “must do“, had only one spot left.  The difference may be that where we plan to stop, there are definite things we want to see and do - hike/golf/mountain bike, etc. - where  others may not really care if they have to drive another hour to find a place for the night.  

After we packed all we would need for a long day trekking around Quebec City, we headed off for our pre-determined parking spot.  We found a nice place for lunch across the street and spent the next hour or so talking with a couple from Vancouver also on their way to Newfoundland. 

It was another picture perfect day and as we strolled up and down the narrow streets of Old Quebec City we admired the architecture and the many art galleries and boutiques.   Quebec City is another UNESCO site rich in history and culture and is the only fortified city north of Mexico.

Our meticulous planning included dinner in the vicinity of the 9PM free show of Cirque de Soleile.  We also figured that if we were at the restaurant by 6:30, we would not have any trouble getting to the show grounds by 8:30.  Wrong.  We made it out of there a little late, but managed to hustle over to get in the throngs of people waiting to get into the show.  When they opened the gates, there was a lot of pushing, shoving, and running to spots on a hill to watch.  We had no idea where we were going, but we just kept running.  We ended up with a lovely viewing spot!  Near on outhouse too, how perfect is that?  Interesting – the venue for this free nightly outdoor performance is under a major highway right in the city.

We left the terrific show 15 minutes before the end (as planned, of course) and quickly made our way back the half mile toward where we parked the car to see a sound and light show.

Norm and I were so proud of our perfectly executing our plans when we heard an announcement (surprisingly in English) that the show had been cancelled for that evening.  Oh well, so much for that!

 We drove back to the RV park and crawled into bed.

Cirque du soleil
Note the highway overpass above it

 

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