Quebec City

Nancy and I went to Quebec City over Halloween weekend. Nancy had been before, years ago, but I had not. (It's my third year in a row taking a foreign trip in the fall!)

Quebec is an old city, having been founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain. They celebrated their quadricentennial a year ago. After spending the winter of 1608-09 in Quebec, Champlain discovered Lake Champlain in 1609 (the same year Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River). The Lake Champlain region celebrated its quadricentennial this year.

Champlain chose the site for the city because it made a good place to defend the interior from attack by sea. Quebec means "where the river narrows." Any military force sailing up the river had to pass close to the city. And the city is located high on a bluff above the river, which gives it a commanding presence over the river and also makes it difficult to attack the city itself. This view looking upriver gives you an idea of the location's command over the St. Lawrence River:

The photo above shows the upper end of the Promenade des Gouverneurs, a delightful walkway. Note the refinery across the river at the left. I'll refer to this in a later post.

We spent most of our time in "Old Quebec," which is now mostly hotels, restaurants, shops, churches and museums. Here is one of the touristy areas (du Petit-Champlain):

The skyline of Quebec City is dominated by the Chateau Frontenac, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway starting in 1893:

Here is another view of the Chateau Frontenac, from the lower end of the Promenade des Gouverneurs mentioned above:

We did not stay at the Chateau Frontenac, but we did take a tour of the hotel. That was one of the highlights of the trip. Behind me in the photo is the lower end of the famous toboggan run on the Dufferin Terrace. Check out this video (not mine).