A great last day in Quebec

Wonderful weather has made this walking day so very pleasant. The weather has been fabulous! First, breakfast and a couple of crepes were most definitely in order!

Day-starting stop... Parliment.

Everything at the Citadel is enclosed in 20 ft stone and earthen walls. 

Two Guardsmen stood at attention to the entrance to the Citadel

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike 'selfies'?

Approaching the Plains from the Citadel

And so ends my time in Quebec...steeped in Canadian history where battles, building, settlers and ghosts fought each other, invaders and the elements.

A night with the ghosts

After such a great day, what could be better than hearing a little history and walking the streets and alleys down through the old town. First comment-does this city ever have a lot of canons! 

Our guide, dressed in period clothing and painted up to look very corpse-like, entertained us with crime and punishment from the days when the stocks, hanging in the public square, breaking a confession on the wheel and drawing and quartering were the way crimes were handled.

The 90 minute walk ended in Place Royale, which looked quite different than it did earlier in the afternoon.

The moon was still big, bright and full and looked amazing over the St. Lawrence

This time up, the Funiculaire called my name and the ride up, avoiding the stairs was more than appreciated - and one MUST ride the Funiculaire at least one time! My story-sticking to it...

Tomorrow, after breakfast, the Citadel and the Plains of Abraham.

Checked in

A bit of a break to check in and cool down a bit...it's 32 here today!

The St Lawrence in the background

The Citadel and the Plains of Abraham....right outside my hotel...this is the view from the 20th floor!

And on the other side of the hotel...I think I'm on 'restaurant alley'!

I'll go here tomorrow...tonight I have a 90 minute walking Ghost Tour of Old Town!

Quebec City

A couple of days of sight-seeing in beautiful Quebec. First, a delightful breakfast at the Hotel Frontenac.

Spent the morning and early afternoon walking around Old Town, both upper and lower. Visited a couple of museums and numerous art galleries. What a gorgeous city this is! 

Sometimes it's good to be short!

A bust of Louis XIV in the centre of Place Royale

Someone must shop at Walmart...best use of Walmart goods I've ever seen!

Staff in period clothing were seen everywhere

A playground in lower Old Town

Art? Or decoration????

Tuesday - Wendy's birthday

My last full day in St. John's so we had to make the most of it! Richard made breakfast (after all...it was Wendy's Day) and then we drove around to a few city spots.

Walked up and down and up again on The Battery - Middle and Upper Battery for a spectacular view of the mouth of the harbour.

View inwards

One of the murals on the retaining walls

A pretty narrow entry, but the cruise ships make it!

During WWII, Newfoundland's ports and shorelines were VERY well protected - steel netting kept U-boats out, not to mention LOTS of mounted guns. Most of them are gone and there are only the platforms left...but this one is still standing on guard! Interesting "Spin Them Guns Around" mechanism.

The amazing St John's basilica.

Before heading back for birthday festivities, we also did a flash-tour through The Rooms - St. John's new art gallery and museum - a fantastic building and impressive collections. The gallery was featuring a Rockwell Kent exhibit at the time, which was something to see. There was even a first edition Moby Dick on display - Kent did the original illustrations for the book.

And then it was Happy Birthday Wendy time....it was great to be there and to be part of it all!

Monday - a thrill a minute

Sunday - Dog Show day and had a great time. Saw some lovely dogs and awarded Best In Show to a Labrador Retriever.

And then it was on to more sight-seeing in beautiful Newfoundland.

The lighthouse on the most easterly point of Canada

Me at the lighthouse - so you all don't think I just paste internet pics!

A Newfoundland original - Fish and Chips with Dressing and Gravy! 

Wendy, Richard and me - Rockin' our survival suits...hot or what! We took the whale watching tour in a Zodiac and it was absolutely thrilling

There are 22 types of whales to be found in and around Newfoundland waters and while We saw quite a few whales, even a few families of three swimming together, we only saw two types - Fin (the second biggest whale) and Humpback. First we saw a couple of Fins but as soon as they flashed their tails, they dove deep and disappeared. Then we found two different families of Humpbacks and they were much more willing to flash their tails a couple of times.

Sometimes when they breech, they just spray and then roll their body up out of the water, but a few times they got high enough to flip us their tails!

And then we zipped across to Gull Island and did a little bird watching...lots of different types of gulls, and the provincial bird...the Puffin!

Can you spot the Puffin trying to get up off the water?

The island is a protected sanctuary and unless it is for scientific reasons, no one is allowed to step foot on.

Monday night - Wendy and Richard hosted us to a Lobster FEAST! Delicious doesn't begin to describe!

The Screeching In

Wendy and Richard's backyard.

And the deck that Richard built. 

A pitcher of Sabgria well shared and then it was off to dinner.

Jack at supper, indulging in fresh oysters! I had the lobster...delightful!

And then.......

Are you a Newfoundlander?

Indeed I is?

A toast after the downing of the Screech and the kissing of the Puffin. Sandy and me with our host Richard.

Newfoundland...first day on 'The Rock'

Arrived just fine in the late afternoon yesterday, got all settled in and went out for a great seafood supper - even tried my first Cod Tongue - the smaller crispy ones are quite yummy.

My first sight-seeing day dawned bright and blue...and I'm glad I have this day to zip around and gawk as Hurricane Aurthor is brewing in the south and will be hitting the Canadian border later in the day. The big storm is expected to rook by a fair distance from here...but the fringe weather may make tomorrow less blue!

The typical 'salt box' house that can be seen everywhere in the older neighbourhoods. If you build new in some of the historical areas, you have to conform to style to preserve the neighbourhood feel. 

Quidi Vidi - one of the little coves where in times past, small communities tucked in. In times past, the fishermen weren't allowed to live on the island, they were supposed to fish and go back to the mainland. British gunboats would score the coastline looking for lawbreaking settlers, so many of the families built their homes tucked into coves like this. The gunboats couldn't see them from the mouth of the cove, and were too big to make it through the narrow, shallow inlet. 

A few icebergs still floating through. This on is miles out, so it is quite a big one. Notice that in the space of about 20 minutes, the clouds rolled over. A bit of a fog bank out there.

By the time I walked up Signal Hill, well the speedy clouds have rolled on a bit.

This is where Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal on December 12, 1901. Marking a new era in world communications!

Walked to the other side of the hill and noticed another iceberg way out there. You can see it just over the small hillock. The clouds have scurried along and it's blue and warm again.

One of the four Peter Pan statues in the world. This one resides in Bowring Park and is an absolute jewel in a magnificent setting!

Some of the detail around the sculpture.

Off to the other side and a quick picture of Bell Island that used to be the site of a huge coal mining endeavour. The tunnels go out under the sea for miles. No longer in operation, they do still give guided tours down into the tunnels.

Middle Cove - part of the beautiful rugged shoreline.