Cruise Day 1- Quebec City

We flew in to Quebec City and went through a brief, and actually pretty easy process to get set up on our cruise ship.  It did not take very long.  We were given a key card that would really be our main tool on the entire cruise.  it would open our cabin door, it would get us back on the ship.  We would use it to get on and off of the ship.

Next, we went through security.  There were metal detectors and all.  It wasn't exactly airport security, but maybe airport security in the 90s.    We spent the first day on the boat, but we were able to explore Quebec City pretty thoroughly the following day, then we headed out on the ocean that evening.

So, we spent our first few hours out on a walking tour with a very sweet lady who was French Canadian and said her name was pronounced pretty much like Carol... but a little different.  This was our first excursion set up through the cruise company and we really enjoyed it.

She explained how there was French rule, and then British, and how you can notice the different influence in different areas of the city.  She talked about several specific buildings, the fort, and conflicts that occurred in Quebec City.

There was a beautiful, multi-storied painting about the history of the area that all stopped to admire.  Our guide was asked about touch ups and repaints, and she said that the town is respectful, and that there has been little concern for vandalism or that sort of thing.

After the formal tour was over, we went back to see some of the city on our own, visiting some of the areas mentioned on the tour.

We saw several impressive street musician.  There was one lady who had a haunting voice singing opera style songs.  We noticed her during our tour but when we went back to buy her CD, she was gone.

We went in to several shops on our own while we visited.  Some were very unique, some upscale, and there were many standard trinket shops.

The place felt appropriate for the season, and we saw pumpkins and Halloween decorations everywhere.

We briefly visited the extremely popular bakery/coffee shop La Maison Smith where I ordered a hot chocolate to go.  A couple of very kind young people took care of our order and it tasted great!  VERY chocolaty and hot on a cold day!  There was a little bit of language confusion as this is another very French spot (I think most people hear speak both French and English) but another person working there helped sort stuff out for what was a humorous (and hard to explain) bit of language confusion.  After that complicated, and generally unnecessary story, let me just say that La Maison Smith made about the best hot chocolate I have ever had.

Quebec City is absolutely a town we want to get back to soon.  Seeing it briefly from a cruise ship was not enough time at all.  It is very French, and very old.....  and as far as North America goes- it has a very foreign feel.

And it is unintimidating.  We saw no one acting aggressively or strange.  No one approached us asking for money or anything like that.  This is a classy, old, and cool place.