Plains of Abraham, The Citadelle, Notre Dame

Our first full day in Quebec City, we decided to walk around the city and see all the sights.

But we started out our day with walking downtown and going to one of the many "Creperies" for breakfast.

Our choice for that morning was "Le Petite Coin Breton".   

It was fun because the waitress was dressed in traditional costume and the crepes were fantastic!

Then we headed over to the "Plains of Abraham" which is a huge battlefield turned into a park.

On the way over, we came across a big race.  Curiosity got the best of me, so I asked someone what the race was all about.  The person I asked said, "It is just for good health."  Good for them!

Our first stop was the Plains of Abraham Museum

It was small but informative.  They had some nice reproductions of soldiers' uniforms.

I had to put this guy into the stockade

But relented so he could play some music for the crowd.

It was an extremely hot day and we walked and walked and walked.  The Plains of Abraham is huge, and we didn't even walk around the whole thing.   There were steps leading from the upper city to the lower city  (I believe around 400) and people were using the stairs as exercise...jogging up and down.  We chose not to!  

Finally we made our way over to the Citadelle.  This was originally a fort, but now is the home of the Governor of the Province of Quebec.

They have a Changing of the Guard

This soldier is not happy with his position! 

 We didn't take the tour of the Citadelle, but we did walk all along the wall on the outside of it.  It's shaped almost like a big star if you see it from above.

As we worked our way back toward downtown Old Quebec, we could see the huge edifice of The Hotel Frontenac.   It's the most iconic image in Quebec City.   It was a tad bit out of our price range.

But you could go in and gawk in the lobby!

On our way back, we came upon this alley filled up one side and down the other with artists.   We bought a small painting of the entrance to the Walled City.

And finally we saw the Notre Dame Basilica

As evidenced by all the streets with names starting with "Saint", Quebec City is very Catholic and Notre Dame is very well-known.

My patron saint,  St. Anne

By 5 o'clock in the afternoon we were exhausted and very hot.  So we came back for a nice relaxing swim in the hotel pool.

Then back into the downtown for dinner at another beautiful outdoor cafe.  I have to say all the food in Quebec City was delicious.  It put all our other vacations to shame.

  And of course more ice cream at Chocolato!

Our Quebec City Vacation

Our Quebec City Vacation started with a stop at Tilt'n Diner on the way up Route 93 North.  (This is becoming a great habit!)

We arrived in Quebec City in late afternoon after a very nice, easy ride.  We stayed at the Delta Hotel, right outside the "wall" that separates Quebec City from Old Quebec City.  That first night we wanted to just walk around and get a flavor of the city.  About a block from our hotel was one of the entrances to the Walled City.

This wall was built in the 1700's to keep opposing armies out.  Since then, they've redone a lot of the wall and made it pretty for tourists.  They also made parts of the top of the wall into parks.

The view from the top of the wall is beautiful.

The gate we went through led to Rue Du St Jean, which is blocked off in the evenings and filled with stores and restaurants.

We ate most of our meals on this street.....and enjoyed ice cream each night at the Chocolato!

Soft serve ice cream, then you can pick from about 20 different "dips" (raspberry dark chocolate or maple......) and you could also add toppings.

We walked all around the city and found ourselves along the outside wall near the waterfront.

We had a lovely dinner the first night at a place called D'Youville.  We waited for a while because we wanted a table sitting outside.  As it turned out, we ate almost all of our meals outdoors.  It was lovely!  I had a very delicious salmon dinner.   I must say, all the food in Quebec City was delicious!

The walk back to the hotel was easy until the very last street, which was quite uphill!  (We learned later to take a different route that was a little easier.)

Our plan for Day 2 in Quebec City was to walk around the city and see as much as possible.

Birthday Fun

Lucky for me, my birthday this year was on a Sunday.  I was quick to inform Hubby that the day was going to be all about MOI!

The plan was to go to Gloucester for the Cape Ann Artisans Open Studio Tour.   They give you a map with about 20 different artist studios listed, and you drive around and visit the different studios, where the artists are in residence to show you their craft and to answer questions.

We started out the day at George's.....a tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that has delicious breakfasts!  We only had to wait about 10 minutes but we didn't care because it was a perfect sunshiny day!

Hubby asked for three pancakes, but the waitress warned him they were HUGE!!  So he got two, and she was right!  They were bigger than the plate!   He barely finished them.

And I ordered "Breakfast Boats".....which were potato skins filled with scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese!  They were delicious!

We then started around on the tour and visited some artisans.  We saw wire art, fabric art, paintings of all types, jewelry made from sea glass and......my favorite.......pottery.   The pottery place we stopped at had a wonderfully friendly woman who answered all my questions, gave me a demonstration, and might have even hooked me up with someone who can sell me a kiln!

There were bright pink flags indicating where the studios were.

The best part was that it was a gorgeous day and the scenery was so beautiful!

Hubby's favorite Beach Roses

After we'd been to five or six places, we continued around the peninsula which brought us through Rockport.   We decided to park the car and go into Rockport and go onto Bear Skin Neck.   And that was the end of visiting the art studios!   We love Bear Skin Neck, and spent the rest of the day there!

Iconic Motif #1  - one of the most photographed images.  I might have a few other copies of it from years gone by!

Rockport Harbor

At the end of Bear Skin Neck

We had to visit the Country Store with the player piano

We got some ice cream and sat on a bench to people-watch, and Hubby's dream car went by!

Then we walked down to Rockport Beach

And I got to put my piggies in the water!

We finished off the day with dinner at my son Doug's house.  He made some delicious chicken on the grill.  My daughter-in-law Kara made some interesting and tasty side dishes. and they baked some brownies with ice cream for a birthday dessert!

I got to visit with my grand daughter Emily, who told us all about her trip to Universal Studios.  And we played a rousing game of Clue!   Perfect ending for a perfect day!