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Quebec City, Quebec October 7, 2006
On July 3, 2008, Quebec City will celebrate its 400th anniversary since its founding by French explorer Samuel de Champlain. Few cities in North America have reached this milestone. When Champlain chose the location of his settlement, he named it "Kebec," a word from an Amerindian language meaning "place where the river becomes narrow." During the 17th and 18th centuries, Quebec City was the center of New France and its enormous territory. At the time, this territory covered all of what is known today as Eastern Canada, the Eastern United States, the Great Lakes and Louisiana, extending from Hudson's Bay in the North to Florida in the South. In 1608, Champlain established a French civilization in the New World. He chose to build his first dwelling at the foot of Cape Diamant, in a neighborhood known today as Place-Royale and is considered to be the cradle of French civilization in the Americas. In 1759, the famous battle of the Pains of Abraham altered the course of the colony's history that had been, until then, relatively uneventful. The English won the battle and took control of the city and later, the colony. The following year, France sighed the Treaty of Paris, thus transferring ownership of New France to England and putting an end to the Seven Year War. In 1775-1776, American troops tried and failed to capture Quebec City. The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the "Province of Quebec" into Upper and Lower Canada and designated Quebec City as the capital of Lower Canada. In 1841, the Union Act united the two Canada's. Following the adoption of the British North America Act in 1867, Quebec City became the capital of the province of Quebec. From its origin as a fur trading post to its present status, Quebec City has been restored and celebrates elements from its past. It is said that the best way to explore this historic city is to stroll along its narrow streets lined with stone houses. So that is what we decided to do. We left the ship and walked uphill three miles to see a part of it and then turned around and walked uphill three more miles to return to the ship.
This is a statue located outside of the hotel Chateau de Frontenac
This couple were entertaining the folks by singing for donations. They weren't bad either. Statues of all types were everywhere.
This is a flower bed alongside one of the governmental buildings. The photo on the right was taken while standing on the top wall of a fort looking down to Quebec City. Everything is either up or down in Quebec. Now you can understand how we could walk uphill both ways. The photo on the right is of a side of a building. All of the detail on the sidewall is painted on it including the person standing on the balcony. Unfortunately, the sky was overcast as we had few occasions for sunshine.
We are standing in a park looking down on the port. The sun poked through for a couple of minutes. Chateau de Frontenac is said to be the most photographed hotel in the world. It is the tall building highest in the photo. Yes we walked past it. The photo vantage point of the previous photo was taken from the Dufferin Terrace, which offers a magnificent view of the St. Lawrence River and the surrounding area. This last photo was taken from our ship about an hour after we reboarded. It was the only time that the sun shown (about an hour) that day. As you can see in the photo, there was extensive cloud cover.
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