Our vacation is nearing the end but we still have the train trip to look forward to. And believe me, we are looking forward to it. Dad is tired of driving and we are both tired of walking. I am tired of trying to find a place to eat that both satisfies our appetite but doesn’t cost a bunch of money.

Tonight we did have a very nice meal but were disappointed at the choices. More about that later, however.

I was so tired last night that I went to bed very early, so both blog entries were made by Dad. I slept rather well but we can’t open the windows in the B&B and I don’t like sleeping in stuffy rooms. Guess this is one of the drawbacks to living in the city, especially a very old city where the houses are all very tiny and close together. Actually, I would not even call this a house. It is a building that has been divided into apartments but these apartments are on each floor up very narrow stairs. This is a fun place although to move about the room, you have to duck as we are up in the attic and the ceilings all slope. But it has been fun and we are so close to Old Quebec, we can walk everywhere. In addition, this is a very very hilly city, but everything goes up from our B&B which means in the evening when we are very tired, we only have to walk downhill to get back. Phew!

We started the day by turning the car into the rental company. Dad had estimated we would drive about 700 miles but it was closer to 1400 by the time we turned the car in. Wow! That was a lot of driving for 14 days. But, we enjoyed all the scenery and only having a car could we have done and seen what we saw.

From there, we walked along toward the old port. We came upon the old marché which is very much like Pike Place Market in Seattle only not nearly as big. The fruits and vegetables looked scrumptious. We were disappointed that we were unable to buy anything because we are leaving tomorrow, but we did get a couple of homemade pastries and enjoyed them while sitting along the Vieux Port. Since we are on the same time zone as Michelle, we decided to call and bug her. Actually, it was noon and we figured she would be at lunch but she wasn’t.

After talking to Mish and eating our snack, we wandered around looking for the Civilisation Museum which we don’t think we ever found, but we found another just as interesting. It was the Musée du Fort which actually was a 30 minute presentation on how the fort was built and used in defense of Quebec over the years. It helped us to better understand the layout of the city and the history the French and British created here.

After that experience, we bought a sandwich and some chips and sat on a bench and ate lunch. We just wanted something to curb the hunger so we could go have an ice cream, but never did get one.

We began walking and ended up near the Plains of Abaham which is where several battles took place in the 1700s between the British and French in their struggle to control Quebec City which is right on the Saint Lawrence River and in a very well-protected area for defense. The French actually lost Quebec and Canada in the Treaty of Utrecht, I believe.

We didn’t walk all around the Plains of Abraham because it was mostly uphill and very very large. We did end up at a building we thought was the chocolate factory, it wasn’t sad to say, but was another exhibit on the history of Quebec but surrounding the battles of the Plains of Abraham. We did enjoy that presentation as well because it gave us a better understanding of how Quebec actually developed.

We did finally find the chocolate factory which was very big and they had finished making chocolate for the day BUT we did buy some yummy chocolate. We have no room in our suitcases or hand baggage for any souvenirs or gifts, so we have decided to just buy souvenirs we can consume and not worry about finding room for them in our luggage. The chocolates were yummy and I think we have a couple left for our trip to Toronto tomorrow.

From here, we picked up some sandwiches to take on the train tomorrow and then we set out to find a place for dinner. Every place is so very expensive! Dad wanted moules et frites and I didn’t really care what I had although chicken and fries sounded good. We walked all over looking at menus and finally settled on a place that advertised moules et frites and pork steaks and fries. However, when we tried to order, we found out the pork and fries were from the lunch menu and no longer available since it was evening and they had not received their delivery of moules, so no moules for Dad. Boy, were we disappointed. However, Dad order a filet mignon brochette and I ordered trout and were they ever delicious and filling. We did end up happy with our meal in spite of the initial disappointment.

We are now packed and ready to leave in the morning on the first leg of our train ride. Only one more day of walking, the day we spend in Toronto and no more driving. Dad was really tired of driving because he also missed some of the sightseeing since he had to watch traffic and where he was going. So today, in spite of tired feet, he felt he was finally able to enjoy all there was to be seen.

Best wrap this up since we have to get up at 5am to catch a taxi by 6:30. Our train leaves at 7:50 but we need to check in and having never done this before, we want to have plenty of time to orient ourselves. I hope the train has electricity so I can work on organizing my photos. We won’t have internet on the train but should have it tomorrow night in the hotel.

We’ve had a nice time but are looking forward to getting home. I, especially, miss the dogs. We have seen more dogs the last few days and they make me think of our babies. Three weeks are too long to leave them. We’ll take shorter vacations in the future or try to go in the motorhome more.

Luv y’all,  Mom