October 24-25 -Quebec City

October 24-  at sea around the islands and heading down the Saint Lawrence River to Quebec. This was a long haul. 

October 25 -Quebec City

When we arrived in Quebec, we had snow flurries! It melted as it hit the ground, but it was so pretty. We knew there might be rain but its cold enough to snow, especially when that icy wind blows. This was our view from the dock, and you can see the beautiful Chateau Frontenac on top of the hill in the walled old city. There’s a funicular (small tram) that can bring you up and down the hill, and the lower portion has lots of lovely shops that look straight out of France.

We started off early with a bus tour to take us around Quebec, then onto an artist’s copper studio who is a beloved artist in Quebec, then the Sainte Anne de Beaupre church, and also the Montmorency Falls, which, on arrival, we remembered we had been there before on our trip 5 years ago.

To answer the most anticipated part of our trip, yes, we've seen lots of Fall color. Not as much of the vibrant red but still there. Saw more gold and orange with the occasional red, and mostly seen in PEI and Quebec City, both being farther north. I haven't found any maple leaves to bring home but did snatch this one from the Montmorency Falls yesterday. Most photos had to be taken from the bus window as we were driving by.

Artist’s studio

Our first stop was at the artist studio of Albert Gilles, a beloved Quebecoise artist, whose family still runs the business after he passed, and carry on the art of copper repousse (embossing). Our tour there was done by his daughters. Very finely detailed artwork was all over the building but I wasn’t allowed to take photos.  http://albertgilles-copper-art.com/en/

The most amazing section of the museum were many huge panels he had done of scenes from the bible (there’s a video of them on the website), and we were told about the large front doors he also did for the entrance at the Sainte Anne de Beaupre church, which we would see later.

They had a lot of little souvenir samples you could buy, like maple leaves, etc., but we decided to buy a small 6 x 7.5-inch picture, where even the frame is part of the single piece of the embossed copper, and the colors were enameled on. Its very heavy, and reminded us of Xmas, and was signed by Albert Gilles.

Sainte Anne de Beaupre Church 

Here are the copper panels and doors done by Albert Gilles, that we stood in front of at the church.

I love the beauty of the insides of churches.

Our final stop was at the Montmorency Falls, which on arrival, we realized we had been here before on our last visit.

After our tour was over, we headed back to the ship for some lunch, and rest up before our evening tour that left at 7pm. This time we were headed up to the mountains by Lake Beauport and the Cabane a Sucre “sugar shack”, one of the places where they make maple syrup in Quebec. http://www.erablierelacbeauport.com/accueil/nos-installations

On our arrival it was dark, and in the lights, we could see snow flurries coming down. And yes, it was cold. It got down to 28d. We visited the museum and gift shop first while we waited for the previous tour group to finish their dinner in the main hall. We heard the history of how maple trees were tapped for the maple water, and made into syrup, and compared to more modern methods of making it, which isn’t much different. Instead of just hammering a tap into the tree with a bucket, now they have long tubes to go into bigger vats.

 We had some time to shop in the gift shop where I bought some maple butter. I was really excited about this because I’d had some years ago and tried to make it by blending butter and maple syrup, which didn’t work. Turns out that’s not what it was. Its just whipped maple syrup and it turns to “butter”. Its soooo good on pancakes or toast.

Our family style dinner was finally ready for us, and we all bustled in there. It reminded me of some of the Amish dinners we’d had in Pennsylvania MANY years ago. This is a family owned business and they have a restaurant that serves traditional Quebecoise food along with music and dancing. We were served "moose brandy" to start with that has wine, brandy, and maple syrup in it, and it’s guaranteed to knock your socks off. Our meal included homemade bread and butter, yellow pea soup, excellent fried chicken, ham, baked beans, beef pie, fried potatoes, chitlins, coleslaw, and scrambled eggs (which was really custard and tasted wonderful with maple syrup). Everything could have syrup poured over it. Dessert was crumb-topped apple pie (tart apples with syrup poured over, yum) and crepes, again with syrup. All their food uses maple syrup in it but its not overly sweet, and we even added more on top. This first photo from their website gives you an idea of the different things served.

 

 

During dinner, a Quebecoise musician played fiddle music for us and afterwards, we could join in and dance to it.

A final dessert was outside in wood trays with ice, where they poured syrup onto troughs of ice and when it started to hardened, you rolled it up on wood sticks and ate it like a lollipop. Believe it or not, we were not sugared out. (photo below from their website).

It continued to snow as we made our way back to the bus and the ship for our last night on board.

      NEXT DAY -- https://2018fallcolorscruise.blogspot.com/2018/11/october-25-quebec-city.html