Finding the Unexpected in Vieux Quebec

Our stop in Lévis, south of the City of Quebec, landed on our itinerary as a "stop of convenience" - meaning that it is along the way and we need it in order to avoid unduly long moves.  We visited Quebec quite a few years ago, but explored it deeply, including walks all around Vieux (Old, or Historic) Quebec, a very memorable bike ride out to Montmorency Falls, and some tasty French-Canadian cuisine.  For that reason, we weren't planning to spend too much time in this city this time.  As we arrived, the very stormy, cold climes further limited our options by handing us favorable weather for only one full-day walk around the city.

So we made the most of it!

Having our Jeep gives us such a feeling of freedom compared to Great White, our loveable but oversized Freightliner diesel truck.  We can go anywhere in the Jeep.  And we've been in Canada so often and so long that we're very comfortable dodging all sorts of traffic, even when the signs are in French and distance is measured in kilometres.

Being so flexible, we found a nice little parking lot on the Plains of Abraham next to the Musée des Plaines d'Abraham, housed in a beautiful old stone French-style massif:

Our plan was to walk around the old fortifications - the fort wall - surrounding old Quebec, then to have lunch somewhere in the old city, follow that with a stroll through the touristy Quartier Petit Champlain, and finish up with a walk back to our car over the battlements and across the Plains of Abraham.  So, first, we had to find the fortifications wall.  That wasn't very hard.  Here's the view on into old Quebec, with Chateau Frontenac in the background, from the top of Port Saint Louis, one of the gates through the wall:

We turned left (north) and walked along the top of the fortifications:

Along the way, we were struck by many historic buildings, including this one, Les Oeuvre de la Maison Dauphine, which was converted by the Jesuits into a residence for homeless youth:

Further on, we had a chance to walk through the Artillery Park:

David seemed very comfortable manning the cannons on the battlements:

David casually took the photo below of the Monument de Monseigneur François de Laval, with the Post Office in the background, and little did he know that it would take us maybe half an hour of research to figure out what we photographed and where it was.

All this walking and photographing and mapping and research is too exhausting.  Let's have lunch.  So, after a brief stop at the tourist center near Chateau Frontenac to orient ourselves, we set out through the old neighborhoods to find "the one best restaurant" in old Quebec.

We didn't do half badly.  We found Restaurant L'Improviste, a beautiful, quirky little restaurant that barely announces itself on Rue des Jardins, but held many unexpected pleasures.  Below, David examines the wine list, which is cheekily printed as a label on a wine bottle:

David chose the deer stew (Grand Veneur style, if you want to know), and paired it with an Australian cab-shiraz.  Kathy, on the other hand, wanted all things Canadian, and opted for a poutine haute cuisine, along with a caesar cocktail:

One thing the French understand is portion control.  Just as in Paris, we were happy to discover that the portions were perfectly modest and suited our elder metabolisms.  We dined until we were satisfied, but we did not overeat.

Thank goodness, because we still had a lot of hiking to do.  After lunch, we strolled back past the Place d'Armes --

-- and back to the promenade by the funicular down to the Quartier Petit Champlain, where we listened to a street saxophonist blowing classic jazz under the Monument Samuel-de-Champlain.  Turning north, down we went via the Breakneck Steps to the Quartier Petit Champlain:

No, dear, we did not break our necks.

The quarter was bustling with early spring Saturday tourists and the Festival de Magie de Quebec (Quebec Magic Festival).  On every street corner, some magi was performing feats of legerdemain to awe the masses.  Below, we attended a crowd who were in turn attending a magician, who in turn was performing in front of the Quebec-Lévis Ferry:

As we turned back up the Rue Sous le Fort, we got a grand view of the funicular reaching up to the Chateau Frontenac promenade from our lower level:

As we strolled, we happened upon a crazy pig.  We're not sure why he was trying so hard to get into that store:

At the end of Rue du Petit Champlain we found the Frescoe de Petite Champlain:

This fresco was created in 2001 by Murale Création, a Canadian group founded in June 2000 by French artists from Cité Création and Quebec painters from Sautozieux Création. It depicts various stages in the history of Cap-Blanc, a working-class port neighbourhood located on the narrow strip of land between Cap Diamant and the St. Lawrence. The mural portrays the fishing and sea trade activities that once were the at the very heart of the area's economy. It also includes locals, historic visitors and fictional characters. Among those depicted in the fresco are Captain Bernier, a Quebec explorer sent by the King of England to the North Pole; Lord Nelson, a British officer that fell in love with a local woman and had to be dragged back to his ship by his fellow crewmen; sail repairer Gustave Guay; and a sailor's wife anxiously awaiting her husband's return. A number of major historical events are also depicted, such as a devastating fire in 1682, a military attack in 1759, landslides in 1889 and a number of other disasters that befell the Cap-Blanc/Petit-Champlain area over the years.

After exploring the Quartier de Petit Champlain, we dutifully marched back up the Breakneck Stairs to the promenade in front of the Chateau Frontenac --

-- overlooking the St. Lawrence River, and gazed eastward, with the mountains of Jacques Cartier National Park to the left, and the long stretch of the Gaspe Peninsula to the right in the photo below:

It was time to turn our steps back to the Plain of Abraham and return to our car.  Luckily, others had come before us and marked the way.  Kathy followed faithfully:

By the time we completed our tour, the sky had turned blue and the temperature warm, although it was still very windy.  We found our way, along the St. Lawrence, then across the bridge back to our RV park in Lévis.

A nice enough day, we'd say.