Day 6

Québec City

This morning we woke up and took showers. Talked to a man in the bathroom who accused me of bringing the heat with us up from Philly. He was from, as he put it, “the civilized part” of Ontario. We left and went north on Trans-Canada 2 looking for a place to eat breakfast.

We crossed the line into Québec and soon found a place to eat. The heat was beginning to set in and it was evident that it was going to be a hot one. This place was nice and clean, but had that generic look of a dentist’s waiting room. The food was good and not too expensive.

Our waitress was a timid, young girl who spoke French before English, but had no problem taking US dollars. She gave us an exchange of ten US dollars to 13 Canadian dollars. Now that we were out of New Brunswick, we were back in the Eastern Time Zone and it was now 9:30 not 10:30. I told Sergio to look at the clock hanging on the wall behind him, knowing he would be surprised. He looked back at me with that “this is crazy” look once he saw it was not 10:30. He didn’t understand the strange time zone boundary we’ve been crossing for the last couple days, it’s definitely not the straightest line.

We continued driving and stopped at an information center. The guy in there gave us some info on Québec City and Montréal. We kept going on this overcast, hazy day. Passed through the town of St.-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! and St.-Honoré-de-Témiscouata on our way to the St. Lawrence River. What is it with the names up here?

We turned southwest on Route 20. This is like an interstate and is not much for scenery. From Rivière-du-Loup, where we got on the highway, it was about 120 miles to Québec and 260 miles to Montréal.

This road basically follows the south side of the river, although the river is too far away to see. It’s also very flat here and the unusually warm temperature doesn’t make it any better. It’s green but it’s so hazy today that colors appear dull. Before long we were in Québec City. We crossed the river on Route 175 and drove northwest into the old part of the city.

The old city is the small part of Québec City sandwiched between the St. Lawrence and the St. Charles Rivers, similar to the way Pittsburgh is sandwiched between the Monongahela and the Allegheny.

The topography in Québec City is quite strange. Most of the city is elevated from the river on a plateau. The banks of the river are wide enough to support a whole section of the city, which is somewhat isolated from the “downtown” section found on top of the plateau. The old city is on the very edge of this plateau and uses the high cliffs as part of its protection.

The sides of the city opposite the cliffs are surrounded by walls built in the 19th century. The old section is fortified on all sides and on one end of this fortification is the Citadelle, a star-shaped fort built between 1820 and 1850. Obviously, these fortifications were built when the city was first founded; there is no need for them now, although you never know the way Québec is today.

We parked on Avenue Laurier next to the Drill Hall and the Parc des Champs-de-Bataille. This park was the site of a battle between the English and French armies in 1759. We needed Canadian coin to feed the parking meters so we went into the Y, which was right across the street, where we got change.

We began walking into the old city, walking through the gate that provided an opening in the fortifying wall. The gate was like something you’d see in Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, except there were no huge wood doors, since the street shared this passage as well. Passing through the gates was like walking back in time. While there were cars driving around and horse and buggy tours, the streets are now much narrower and the buildings are older, smaller, and more like an old European city than something you typically see in North America.

We walked straight for the Château Frontenac and the outer perimeter of the walled city. This side of the perimeter overlooking the river has the advantage of the cliffs that elevate the city from the banks of the river. Once out to the immense palace, there is a boardwalk that traces along the cliffs.

The weather was so hot that the heat was just billowing off the worn planks of the wide walkway. The painted wooden railings overlooking the river were too hot to rest your arms on without being burned. The refreshment and ice cream carts were making a killing today.

We took our obligatory pictures of the château and got off the boardwalk—the heat was wearing me down. The château was completed in 1893 and named after Count of Frontenac, governor of New France. Now it’s a hotel and holds on to its historic roots by giving tours—we didn’t go in to see how much the rooms were. Around the château is a small square with trees and statues. Everyone on the streets was huddling in the shade of the trees or buildings.

We walked into the ice-cold, air-conditioned post office and Sergio sent some postcards back to Italy. We then headed for the car, walking through the narrow streets and inhospitable heat. We eventually made it back to the car after passing a park where people were swimming in a public pool, it was tempting. Once we arrived back at the car, we took some of the water we had left and sat down at a picnic table in the shade in the park beside the car. We rested a bit and then figured out how we were going to head toward Montréal and where we were going to sleep once we got there.

Highway mishap

Now we had to drive 253 kilometers, or 158 miles, this time driving along the north bank of the St. Lawrence. We drove out of the city the same way we came in, but this time took Route 540 out to Route 40, a straight shot down into Montréal. Unfortunately, this was a highway, but we had a lot of miles to cover so this was probably best. The sun was low in the sky when we got onto the by-pass (Route 640) around Montréal.

Montréal is on a large island and north of this island is another island which is the city of Laval. We were above this island heading for the closest campsite on the map—Oka Provincial Park.

We were driving along on Route 640 (I would consider it to be about rush-hour) when all of a sudden a loud noise hit the back of the car. I looked back to see the rear window totally shattered. We pulled over and listened to the window subdivide into tiny pieces; cracking and splitting again and again. It was obvious that the window was not going to survive long—as we drove away tiny pieces of glass would continuously fall into the back on top of all our stuff in the back seat. We got off at the next exit and looked for a place to get a temporary fix. We stopped at a gas station in Laval and I went in to the cashier, but she didn’t speak English so Sergio turned on the French and I think she recommended some other places to go.

We drove down the road a bit to another gas station, but they had nothing that would help us. They told us to try a glass shop a mile or two further down the road. It was after 6 p.m. now and I was worried that stores would begin closing. This was the case when we got to the glass shop, so I figured the WalMart that we passed might have something to cover the window. We ventured into the mammoth store and Sergio found someone to cut us some clear, thin plastic, the kind you buy from the fabric section. With that, and some duct tape, we went out to the car and sized up the situation. There were many stares and one comment from woman who first spoke in French but then translated her question in English asking, “Did the sun break your window?” One more reminder of the intense heat and humidity that they seem to be unaccustomed to up here.

Oka

After a thorough, air-tight, water-tight tape job, we made our way back out to the highway and toward the park so we could get some food and sleep after this long, hot day. We arrived at the park (without incident) and got a campsite. This park is more of a recreational park than a natural park. It sits on the banks at the head of the Ottawa River, which feeds into the St. Lawrence River, so the main activity here is swimming but there is a lot of biking too. There are a ton of campsites as well. We were in the “Les Dunes” section with probably a hundred other groups.

It had just rained here, and everything was very wet. While driving up the road these tiny, gray frogs kept leaping from the road. I was afraid we would squash one. We set up our tent and unpacked some things. We were in a fairly thick coniferous forest and there were evergreen needles everywhere.

The sky turned gray and threatened us with rain. Once we got the stuff unpacked we went to find something to eat. We drove to what seemed to be the central meeting place for all those staying in the park. They had a small snack bar where we ordered but then found out that they didn’t take US currency. So we counted up our Canadian funds that Sergio had collected and were still a dollar or two short, so we tried to explain to these girls behind the counter that we would just pay the difference in US dollars but they had no idea what we were talking about so this kid behind us overheard the conversation and translated to the girls. They were making money on the deal so I didn’t see how they could refuse, even if they put their own Canadian money in the register and took our US money home to exchange themselves. So for all our trouble, we purchased two grilled cheese sandwiches and two cokes.

By the time we sat down the rain had begun and it was coming down hard. The cafeteria where we were eating was full of people now, since it was raining. All kids too—mostly teenage and preteen. The absence of parents makes me believe this is one of those places that parents come to vacation with the kids and end up taking a vacation from the kids themselves. The power went out a few times and sent the place into hysterics, kids screaming, the usual kid stuff.

As we were finishing, these two girls approached us and started talking in French. So Sergio started talking to them. The conversation was short and I asked him what they wanted and he replied, “They wanted to know where we were staying.” I asked him, “You didn’t tell them did you?” He said he told them the right section but not the campsite number. So sure enough, the two girls were standing in the road just at the turnoff of our camping section. I don’t know what they teach the kids up here because these girls were young, I mean very young, like between ten and thirteen. It always boosts your ego to have pre-pubescent girls trying to pick you up (eek!).

At any rate, we drove right past the girls standing in the road and hit the sack. Tomorrow we will see Montréal.