Category Archives: R. Doug Wicker

Greens, Yellows, and Reds

As we strolled through the streets of Quebec City, Ursula and I were not disappointed in our introduction to the area’s fall foliage. The colors were stunning, and of a far wider range of colors than the fall foliage we sought out in our trip through New Mexico’s Enchanted Circle (Part 1; Part 2; and Fun Photo Friday favorites). Whereas that trip gave us impressive yellows and golds set against a backdrop of mostly dark greens, this foliage was an explosion of reds and oranges in addition to the yellows and golds, and the backdrop consisted of lighter, more enticing shades of green:

Seeing red in Quebec

This next image allowed me to capture a subtle, graduated transition from reds at the top to oranges, followed by yellows trailing into light greens:

Graduating from orange, to yellow, to light green

Of course, it’s always fun to play around with depth-of-field (see: Controlling Depth-of-Field):

Playing with depth-of-field

But enough fall foliage today. Let’s take a look at scenes Quebec City has to offer year round, such as the Monument Samuel De Champlain:

Monument to Samuel de Champlain

The base of this monument is also photo-worthy, especially if you can compose another landmark behind it such as the dome topping the Louis S. St. Laurent Building:

Champlain Monument and Louis S. St. Laurent Building

So, you think finances are boring? Au contraire, mon ami, as they would say around here. Take a look at Quebec City’s Ministry of Finance:

Ministry of Finance Building (1887)

Ministry of Finance Building (1887)

Another view of the dome atop the Louis S. St. Laurent Building with just a hint of fall foliage thrown in:

Louis S. St. Laurent Building

And, finally for today, I’ll leave you with this Jean Lasalle sculpture commemorating the 325th anniversary of the death of Marie of the Incarnation, an Ursuline nun who was canonized April 2, 2014.

Jean Lasalle sculpture—Ursuline School for Girls

One of Quebec’s famous fresco murals

In early October of this year Ursula and I flew to Montreal, Canada, where we spent two nights before taking the train to one of our favorite destinations, Quebec City. Flying into Montreal was much cheaper than landing at Quebec’s airport, so this is why we went this route.

Louis S. St. Laurent Building

Our reason for going to Quebec was to catch a cruise ship to capture the colors of fall in the Maritime Provinces and Maine before the ship headed south on a reposition to Fort Lauderdale, Florida via a stop at Cape Canaveral. So, in a few weeks’ time, you’ll be seeing the Kennedy Space Center and some great stops along the west coast of Florida as we drove up to Tampa for the flight home.

Quebec wall

We arrived into Quebec City on October 7, 2019, and boarded Royal Caribbean’s ship Adventure of the Seas. Adventure of the Seas is one of five Voyager Class ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet, and despite their age, this class is a favorite of ours.

Chapelle des Ursulines

Although we boarded on October 7, that’s not to say we departed Quebec City on the 8th. We didn’t. We were using Adventure of the Seas as our hotel stay in Quebec, as the ship was not due to depart until the morning of the 9th. And since we were here in October, we got to view how Quebec decorates for Halloween:

City Hall Park (Jardins de l’Hôtel-de-Ville) dressed for Halloween

Strolling around the Old Town section of Quebec City you’ll find one of the most magnificent hotels anywhere. This is the fabulous Château Frontenac opened in 1893. As you can see, this 18-floor, 262-foot/79.9-meter tall hotel dominates Quebec’s skyline:

Château Frontenac

The pictures he see above were taken on October 8th, as we did not venture into the Old Town on the 7th. It was getting too dark for that by the time we arrived by train, took a car, and checked aboard the ship. But that doesn’t mean we did nothing that first night. Ursula wanted to see the Quebec skyline by night, so we walked off the ship and headed over to the Quebec City Ferry Terminal for a round trip excursion via the Quebec City-Lévis ferry. Along the way I managed to snap this shot of the Quebec skyline:

Quebec spires at night

Once we boarded the ferry I began clicking away with abandon:

Château Frontenac dominating the Quebec skyline

During our St. Lawrence crossing we even got a good view of Adventure of the Seas:

Adventure of the Seas in Quebec

But probably the prize shot of the evening was this water-reflected image of Quebec:

Quebec at night