A Busy Day in Montreal

Monday, September 30

We awoke to some ethereal views along the St. Lawrence.







When we landed in Quebec City several hours earlier than expected yesterday, our cruise director, Temu, had described the reason as a jet stream of a current. Apparently, the converse can be true as well.

As we were eating breakfast Monday morning, we learned that some river equivalent of a headwind of a current had slowed our progress and we'd be landing a couple hours late.

On an ordinary day, this would be only a modest rearrangement of tour buses, etc. On the all-important day of disembarkation, this was actually a pretty big deal. It was definitely not the time to envy our cruise director or the two tour leaders their jobs.

They had lined up cabs and other transport for 35 people. Rescheduling our two buses and local tour guides for the 76 or so of us Road Scholar types was relatively easily arranged. We would have to give up some of our planned stops (oops, there goes our Montreal bagel tasting!), but we weren't having to worry about train and plane connections like some of the other travelers.

We had to vacate our rooms by 8:30am. This allowed our cabin stewards to start their thorough cleaning in preparation for the group of folks that would be boarding in late afternoon for the return/reverse trip to Boston.

Though we docked around 10am, our rescheduled buses hadn't arrived. So there we all sat in the lounge with our hand luggage for a couple hours. No place to go and not much to do. We made a bit of a show of bidding our departing friends adieu as it was announced that their cabs had arrived. Eventually, our Road Scholar buses showed up, and we headed off the boat to identify our larger bags and assure they got onto the correct bus. We were taken to a spot in the old section of the city to begin a walking tour. The bus then delivered our bags to our hotel. A fairly nifty system, really, but the logistics of moving around as a group of nearly 80 has grown a bit tiresome.

We walked through a historical area with a local tour guide. The centerpiece of the walk was the beautiful Notre Dame Basilica. It was very crowded, but it's beauty still shone through.

















We walked across the Place d'Armes (same as in Quebec, it means a former military parade ground) and got a quick tour through the historic Bank of Montreal building.





Then we walked to meet our now-returned buses. We drove through Chinatown, past the thriving McGill University, and then up to Mount Royal (or Mont Real, the source of the city's name). In the spirit of transportation glitches, we got caught in a construction-caused traffic jam that slowed our progress noticeably. Eventually, we made it to the top of the hill, but were only allowed to jump off for a quick photo. (Our other bus didn't even get to do that. They simply drove right on through the park.)





We all met up again at Montreal Brisket for some of the famed Montreal smoked meat. The sandwiches were very moist and tasty and came with a local beer, Griffon Red.

Next up was a visit to the Olympic Stadium. This didn't sound very interesting to me, but turned out to be pretty fun. The odd-looking stadium has a leaning tower, on the face of which is a large funicular. Turned out we were going to be riding up to the top, where we were able to walk around to see the views in all directions. Not being a person fond of heights, I initially wondered if I should wait this one out. But it looked kind of fun, so up we all went. I loved the view on the ride up and down, and enjoyed seeing the views of the city and river.











The afternoon stop we had to forgo was a visit to the botanical gardens, which are supposed to be pretty special. However, our buses drove right past the gardens and delivered us to our hotel. A number of people were pretty disappointed, but most of us were flagging and ready to get checked in.

After all, we had only 45 minutes to get to our room before we had to meet again to board those relentless buses. Off we were whisked to our final group dinner in the old port section of the city.

By the time we returned to our hotel, it had been a very long day. Since we had initially planned to disembark around 8am, most of us had started the day pretty early. Outside our hotel was a big festival celebrating the kickoff of the hockey season (could there be anything more quintessentially Canadian?), but we were dragging. Instead, we made our final farewells and hugs with new-made friends, found the business center so we could check in for our flights and print boarding passes, then headed to bed. Who had the time or energy to get sentimental about a trip coming to an end?







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Unique and Wonderful Quebec City

Sunday, September 29

We were all eagerly anticipating our arrival in Quebec City. We had been sailing for 390 nautical miles and just short of 2 days and were ready to be on land--not to mention the draw of the city itself.

It is such a unique spot. My reaction to it, when we visited back in 1997, was that it could be nowhere else in the world. In some ways, it's wonderfully Old World and European, with its cobblestones, city walls, and everyone around you speaking rapid-fire French. But then there's the deeply entrenched history of North America at its heart as well. Quebec is, in fact, one of the oldest cities in North America and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's an intoxicating combination.

We awoke to some pretty views as we sailed along Ile d'Orleans, just a half hour outside Quebec City.








There were many of us on the bow of our ship to watch the approach to the city. It's a strikingly pretty setting, with the hill crowned by the Chateau Frontenac.




There were three large cruise ships in port--the Veendam (yet again), the Silverseas Silver Whisper, and the Celebrity Summit. Two of these are really big ships, so the city was going to be hopping.

Several of us were beginning to wonder where we were going to dock. We ended up turning into an opening in the sea wall behind the Silver Whisper. We entered a small inner dock area. Rather than simply parallel parking along the dock, we proceeded to completely rotate (with very few inches to spare) and come alongside, facing back out onto the river. Two river pilots had come aboard our ship about dinner time the night before, but a special harbor pilot had boarded a couple hours before this delicate maneuver.








Because we had previously spent several days in Quebec City, we decided to forgo the cruise-offered tour and simply walk and enjoy the city on our own. Since we had arrived a couple hours earlier than anticipated, we had a full 6 hours for our explorations. Yahoo!

There is an upper village--Haute Ville--near the Chateau Frontenac and most of the historic sites. There is also a lower village--Basse Ville--close to the riverfront, at the foot of Cap-Diamant. We started out by climbing up the hill, stopping at Parc Montmorency, with its ramparts and cannons (some of which were amusingly aimed at the cruise ships below).







Then as we climbed a bit further up, we were passing the Anglican cathedral just as the nice, ordered bells for 10 o'clock chimed. We love hearing church bells, so we stopped to listen. When the bells stopped, we started to move on. But then the bells started chiming very differently--more freely and melodically. After about 10 minutes more of this joyous chiming, we decided we were going to have keep moving. Those fabulous bells rang for a full hour. We were certainly in the right place at the right time.





We stopped in at the Place d'Armes, the center of activity in the Haute Ville. Even though it was a Sunday morning, things were already busy. Tour buses were starting to arrive, and the horse-drawn carriages were doing a brisk business. We walked to the Latin Quarter, the oldest residential area of the city, and along the old fortified walls and gates of St. Jean and St. Louis. We climbed up a hill then sauntered our way back to the Place d'Armes. Things had gotten a lot crazier. There were jams of tour buses and double decker buses, and walking tour groups all over the place.














We headed out to the Terrasse Dufferin, with its sweeping views to the river and the lower town.











We made our way down the windy road toward Basse Ville. We should have visited it on our way up, because by midafternoon, it was a sea of people. You could barely look right or left, just keep moving in the flow. Not only were there all the many thousands of cruise ship tourists, but also many bus tours. And, being a beautiful 75 degree fall day, every Quebecer (or Québécois in French) was out and about too.








We moved with the crowds on rue du Petit-Champlain and visited the Place Royale with its Notre Dame.





Finally, it was time to board our ship and get ready for the last leg of our journey--225 miles to Montreal. We had some folks seeing us off. It's kind of a funny (though not bad) feeling, being someone's Sunday afternoon entertainment.





A bientot (until later) Quebec!

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