Friday, August 3, 2018 (Part 2) (Quebec City KOA Holiday, Quebec)

After a wonderful cruise on the St. Lawrence River, it was time for more walking. We wanted to check out the general area of Place Royale, so after leaving the ship, we headed across the street. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is a festival going on in this area so we thought we'd find out more about it.

The historical New France Festival is wonderfully entertaining, with a program featuring gourmet activities and approximately 400 shows, demonstrations, re-enactments and conferences. The festival is a celebration combining pomp and humour of the period during which Québec City played a major role in the development of the continent. Dynamism, heritage and gastronomy are the three words that summarize this event to be held from August 1 to 5, 2018, in Old Québec (Petit-Champlain Quarter and Place-Royale).
We talked to a fellow manning a kiosk selling tickets for the festival. He suggested that there are a lot of festivities that you can see without purchasing tickets....check that out first. So off we went...(yes, that's Chateau Frontenac standing majestically up on the hill)....

Just love all these old buildings...

Lots of folks in period costumes...we entered the basement on the left...

Very cool! These used to be storage areas

A band was playing in the square and there were way too many people!

The Notre-Dame-des-Victoires at the end of the square...

Inside Notre-Dame-des-Victoires...Stone church dedicated to St. Genevieve, dating to 1688 & rebuilt in 1763 after the Siege of Quebec.

Remains of the Gaillard and Soulard houses...

Beautiful mural...

At the end of the street you can see the Funicular (tram) that takes you back up to the Dufferin Terrace and the Chateau Frontenac. We plan on taking it when we finish touring around...

Furs hanging in the windows...

Would you like to buy a pistol?

This fellow was only to happy to pose and smile when he saw Steve take his photo...

We wanted to take the Old Quebec Funicular...
A funicular is one of the modes of transportation which uses a cable traction for movement on steep inclined slopes.
A funicular railway employs a pair of passenger vehicles which are pulled on a slope by the same cable which loops over a pulley wheel at the upper end of a track. The vehicles are permanently attached to the ends of the cable and counterbalance each other. They move synchronously: while one vehicle is ascending the other one is descending the track. These particularities distinguish funiculars from other types of cable railways. For example, a funicular is distinguished from an inclined elevator by the presence of two vehicles which counterbalance each other.

...back up the hill but it was super busy...the line-up was huge...so we found the road (a very steep road, I might add) and we walked.

Looking down on the remains of the Gaillard and Soulard houses that we saw earlier...

Nice view of the festival down below...

Look at all the people walking down from the Dufferin Terrace...

After a walk up the steep road, followed by a bunch of stairs, we were finally back up top. We were amazed to see two RV's driving through this area...

A couple and their son in period costume...just playing around on Dufferin Terrace...

The last thing we wanted to see today was the Saint-Louis Forts and Châteaux National Historic Site. Access to the site is at Frontenac Kiosk, located on the Dufferin Terrace. After paying our admission fee...$3.90 each...we descended down beneath the terrace. The archaeological crypt reveals what was, for more than 200 years, the official residence and seat of power of the French and British governors.

In the background you see the Chateau Frontenac which didn't exist and different stages of the old Chateau Saint-Louis. After it burned down a wooded terrace was built over the old foundations.

After finishing our tour of the ruins, we ascended back up to the terrace...

After all that walking, we were ready to sit down...so we found a little spot just down from where we catch the shuttle. Bistro 1640 has a nice little patio...a perfect place to sit, relax and have a cold brew as we wait for our transportation back to KOA...

Shortly after 6:30, we were on the shuttle...actually, it was a new, very luxurious double-decker bus. Steve took a couple of pictures along the way home...

After getting off the bus at the KOA, Steve took a picture of the bus before it left...

Our walk down the hill to our site...

What a fabulous day we had! The past two days have been amazing...Old Quebec City is so cool and so much history! If you ever wanted to experience France but know you'll probably never get there we highly recommend Montreal and Quebec City...especially Quebec City. This is really some of Canada's oldest beginnings and history.

Unfortunately, I must end this post with some very sad news. A couple of days ago we received news that a good friend that we see each year in Quartzsite, Arizona had suffered a brain aneurysm and was in a coma. Gerry Burns passed away today, after being removed from life support, in Colorado with his family by his side.
We were camped across from Gerry and Linda last season and got to know them a little better. If memory serves us Gerry served as a medic in Vietnam, and he and Linda fostered many kids over the years...more than a 100! Some with disabilities but mostly severely troubled boys. What a sacrifice these two have made! Gerry will be sorely missed by all who knew him....