Quebec City - Train/bus station and another fountain

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Sadly, this is our last full day in this wonderful city.

What luck - the bus tour company returned my umbrella to our hotel. We would need it because the forecast was for rain on Saturday. This would be a good time then to take a bus tour to the falls out of town. Originally, I thought of renting a car and driving to it and beyond. There are lots of places out in the countryside to explore if you have the time. But, seeing the traffic, knowing it was going to rain and feeling plain lazy, I decided I'd rather just sit on a bus.

But first... with the assistance of our most helpful Irish doorman, Glenn had packed up his bulky Auberge Saint-Antoine housecoat among other things to mail home. The post office around the corner is closed on Saturdays so we were going to hike up to the one in the Upper Town via the funicular. But the doorman suggested trying the bus station, which is down where we are, in the lower town. Seemed like a good idea. We took a cab over since the box was a bit heavy to carry for several blocks. The cab was cheap but the mailing was not. $47.00!!

Free of the package, we were able to walk back toward our hotel.

Gare du Palais - the train & bus station. The front part was designed in the Chateau Frontenac style by a New York architect.

I understand these interesting chairs, by Michel Goulet, were a gift from Montreal for Quebec City's 400th anniversary.

"Rever le nouveau monde." To dream the new world?

Glenn figured out that the line connecting the two chairs depicts the St. Lawrence River! How clever. I notice that chairs and benches in this city seem to always be clean, as if someone routinely wipes them down.

Now here's one of those slightly disappointing fountains. The vertical spirts of water don't quite make it, to my mind. But I like it anyway for the big slabs of bronze and the way the water washes up onto them. This 1998 fountain is called "Éclatement II." ('Bursting?') I'll bet it looks nice lit up at night.

Vieux-Port scenes. There are some interesting European clothing shops down here.

Now we were free to eat so we returned to the Cochon Dingue restaurant in Quartier Petit Champlain for that inexpensive breakfast. Surprise - that deal does not apply to weekends, but we ate there anyway. I noticed that all the patrons within earshot were French speaking.

I thought this circle in front of the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church in Place-Royale was just a design element but then I read on the internet that the church was built in 1688 "exactly where Samuel de Champlain built its 'Abitation'. On the ground, you can see a stone circle made with a different colour and circling the church that defines where that Abitation once stood." I don't know what that word means exactly but our friend Ron thinks it would be a fort or a home where the settlers lived.

I hiked up these stairs to see what was at the top.

They may have led to here because this photo was taken around the same time.

'Toast!' Another well-known restaurant in town.

We went back to our hotel and got ready for the bus tour.

Quebec City - A figurehead & a fountain

I'm not a fan of water features. There is something about them that always leaves me a little disappointed. I especially dislike ones that have water sounds. No gurgling fountain or babbling man-made brook in my yard, thanks.

Trust Quebec City to come up with one that I love, a figurehead fountain. It is located just a couple blocks from our hotel at Place de la FAO - FAO being the Food and Agriculture Organization founded here in 1945. The water doesn't even spray. It just bubbles out, flows down and disappears.

This says La Vivrière and shows the three artists' names. The date, 1995, marks the 50th anniversary of the organization.

Now they take this wave design and run it right across the street! Who would think of that? I wonder how they did the brickwork.

Bravo, Quebec City.

Quebec City - Continuing the walk

Friday, May 15, 2009

A WALK - PART 2

Now we turn left off Grande Allee. The Quebec Parliament Building was built in the late 1800's. A ceremony was going on when we arrived.

Above: The 7 metre high Fontaine de Tourny was one of two created in France. Over a century later a businessman spotted one of these fountains, in pieces, being sold in a market so he bought it and donated it to Quebec City. The four figures on the bottom represent rivers.

This one is my favourite of the 22 bronzes around the building.

"The Pause in the Forest" was displayed at the Paris World's Fair in 1889.

Statue of Wolfe.

Walking back toward our hotel we came across more sculptures. There is probably a reason for the Gandhi one being here but I don't know what it is.

This one was to do with the Boer War I believe.

A cute horse.

I ran up onto the gate for a look around.

Another horse and buggy.

We don't really know where we are but it looks like we're heading to the lower town. Down some side streets...

... and looking back up the stairs we'd walked down.

It looked like somebody carved their sketchbook drawings into the wall. I don't care for them but while we were marvelling at the fact that the city would put a tiny sculpture in a case out in a public place, a raggedy-haired fellow came along and started talking to us about history and the city. It's too bad that we were running out of steam at that point because he was all ready to give us a walking tour. He was the sort of person who I think would have been interesting to chat with for hours in a coffee shop. We had a similar experience riding up in the funicular one day, but the man we met there was at the other end of the fashion scale. He was in his 30's or early 40's, dressed in a sharp suit, and he told us a bit about the history of some of the buildings and seemed fascinated to hear of our impressions of the place. These events surprised me because so often we, in the west, hear stories about the French being unfriendly, yet here were two people who had nothing to gain financially by talking to us but did as if we were lifelong friends. I can't imagine this happening in Victoria.

This monument had something to do with the Irish in Quebec City. At the start of the 19th century about a fifth of the population was Irish Catholic.

St. Patrick's Church.