The Best Walk

A few years ago my son and his wife drove North to Montreal, the to Quebec City. When they returned, the raved about Quebec city saying that although it was much further than Montreal - it was well worth the extra time. They said being there was like being in a European city. French is the dominant language, the city is walled, the streets are narrow, etc. Their favorable review was all it took to convince my wife and I decided to take a drive.

We chose Columbus Day weekend to travel. This gave us an extra day at the risk of competing with other North bound travelers. To beat the traffic we left work early Friday afternoon. We arrived at our Hotel Friday night. Early Saturday morning we were ready for a walk. It was October and there was somewhat of a chill in the air. We dressed accordingly. From our hotel room we walked to the first intersection. To the left we could see a long string of outdoor cafes on both sides of the street. We took a right heading towards the city walls. We walked through the entrance to a vary well decorated area. Most of the buildings were of brick construction and had window boxes. As you would expect, this was a commercial district with every thing from t-shirt shops to high end restaurants, yet the area had a great feel to it. We walked to the end of that street and over to another. And yes, we did stop a couple of times. (Did I forget to say my wife was with me?)

It seemed that the more distance we left behind us away from where we entered, the more the scenery improved. We just kept walking around. A little bit later the weather became much warmer. We were delighted that we picked such a perfect day to explore Quebec. We found ourselves removing our jackets as we watched a street performer. Next we saw that there was another lower section to the city. For couple of dollars we took a funicular - a glass elevator down. The short ride offered a view of Saint Lawrence River and the lower city.

Now it was lunchtime and the choices were overwhelming. Since the weather was warm enough we decided at a simple sidewalk cafe. The food was good and the atmosphere was very relaxing. Just about everyone around us spoke French. The wait staff spoke English, so ordering was easy. Since we had much more to see, we didn’t linger. Back to the walk.

We walked along the river for a while, then up the street. We spent the rest of the day and some of that night continuing this walk.