Our first sight of Québec from aboard Holland America‘s MS Maasdam:
Our First Sight of Québec City
Just down the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, a short 160-mile cruise or so, is a quaint little village called Québec City, also known as Ville de Québec. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It’s the capital of Québec Provence in Canada. As Québec is the letter “Q” in the NATO/ICAO phonetic alphabet I’ve spent most of my life actually knowing how to correctly pronounce it (one of the educational benefits of working in Air Traffic Control for 34 years): Kay-Beck rather than the Kwah-Beck so often heard here in the United States.
Basse-Ville Fountain and Statue
Over the next six normally scheduled blogs — including the next two Fun Photo Fridays — I will offer you a sense and even a taste of this wonderfully charming city at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and the approach into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Lower Town Café
We will tour about the town and take a look at such wonderful sights as the stunningly beautiful Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, the charming square outside Notre-Dame-des-Victoires in the Lower Town section (Basse-Ville) of Québec, and even take a ride on the Old Québec Funicular (click here to read about funiculars) before we begin our tour of Upper Town (Haute-Ville).
The Old Québec Funicular saves you a climb
The grand Fairmont Le Château Frontenac sits atop the hill
Additionally I’ll be having two bonus blogs this coming weekend aimed (pun intended) at you lovers of Old West firearms as we look at the 19th Century version of an “assault” rifle — the famous Winchester lever-action rifle — the “Rifle that won the West.”
Meanwhile, click on any of the images below to begin your tour of Québec.
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 