Day 40 Quebec

Being Sunday we were hoping there would not be a lot of traffic in the downtown area. We also found a brochure about a walking tour through Quebec. We managed to get to the city and parked just in time to join the tour.

The guide was very enthusiastic both about the city and its history. We started up by the Plains of Abraham where the battle between the French and British occurred in the 1700's. We walked down Grand Alley past Parliament House and then through the gate of the old city wall into Old Quebec.

Some history of Old Quebec- It was first discovered by Cartier as a suitable place to form a settlement. It was Champlain in 1602 who actually settled the city in the name of New France. The area was chosen as the river is narrower at this point and the land is defended on three sides by high cliff walls. In 1759 English General Wolfe defeated French General Montcalm and so the territory came under British Rule. The siege started in March with 5 months of the city being bombarded and ended in September. The battle lasted 30 minutes as approx. 2000 English did scale the cliffs a little way from the city walls and then formed up in two lines on the Plains of Abraham. They waited until the French were 36 metres away then in turn each line took aim and fired one round at the oncoming French. Both Generals were killed.

From our extensive reading it appeared that the French troops were not well disciplined and they started shooting at 130m away, well beyond normal range. Whereas the English troops were well disciplined and held their shooting until they were within 36m of the enemy. It was interesting to note that a number of the streets are named after both British and French generals and prominent persons.

We also learnt that a law was passed in the 1970's to make French the official language of Quebec Province. Whereas Canada is bilingual and both languages are spoken (mainly English) and all signage is dual language. Quebec is French. Language comes under Culture and that is the jurisdiction of the province not the nation, hence enabling the law to pass.

If you come to Quebec from an English speaking background you may send your children to an English speaking school. If you come from a country of other origin your children must attend a French speaking school. Signage is not in dual language so at times we are guessing, from memory of high school French (and our visit to France 2 years ago), as to directions or instructions.

After the tour we headed back to the car that was in a 90-minute parking spot. We had been gone for two and half hours! We were parked approx. 2 kms away Old Quebec. Fortunately, they were as good monitoring parking time as they are in monitoring drivers speeding.

We went to Isle d'Orlean, the island in the middle of the St Lawrence River. We were told it was a pretty drive with lots to see. The island is very quaint and it has a major road that circles the island (67 km). It has lots of farms and restaurants. The sun was not in the right position to make the most of taking photos.

Then a drive passed Montmorency Falls (we were not paying $24 dollars to take photos of a waterfall) and on up to Sainte Anne de Beaupre. There is a massive Cathedral built to honour the saint. We continued our drive up to Saint Anne Canyon but the gates were closed for the day. Turning around we headed back to our apartment.