10 AUG 2010

We awoke to sunshine this morning excited about the cirque du soleil plans for tonight. Of course the first task was to get to Quebec City. The GPS worked like a charm as we manoeuvred our way through the city towards the trans Canada. If you have ever driven this route you will know that following a string of spaghetti in a bowl might seem easier. I drove and Wes navigated following the instructions from the GPS. Ok, seeing mounted police in a park was exciting memory to exit Montreal.

On the freeway where the posted speed is 100, but if you are traveling that speed you being passed constantly and some even express concern about my inability to actually drive the car. So 110 is more likely accepted in the SLOW lane. We are thinking that we will be getting to New Brunswick tomorrow and I have not talked to my Aunt yet. Hard to plan too far ahead, but this is cutting it too close. So time to hunt down the numbers.

Quebec City (we are staying at the Laval University and busing downtown) is a fortified city with gates to enter the old part. It is an atmosphere of energy – which is good since it is full of hills, stairs and views. Hotel Frontenac stands over all and is impressive. I can not imagine how long it would have taken to build such a massive size building from stone. We walked along the promenade overlooking the river. This river is a major reason for Canada’s existence and still today is used for both pleasure and work.

We walked up the Governor’s Promenade which was built to provide incredible views of the river. At the top we found Battlefield Park, a view of the Plains of Abraham and the edge of the Citidel. This means that we walked around the top edge for a bit, down to the pedestrian entrance.

We learned of an English tour starting shortly so we signed up. We got a history lesson with a Quebec point of view which was very good for us to hear not that I agree with all the comments made.

Some of the sites we enjoyed were the history and importance of this location, the history of Quebec’s fortifications and of course who did what to whom and when. What was more interesting is the displays available set up in unused buildings....like the jailhouse. (Note that this is a working military base and the Governor General’s summer residence is located on site.)

In particular one building had miniature figurines displaying some of the battles that happened around Quebec City. The citadel itself as it is now was built by the British in the 1800’s fearing an attack from USA. It has never seen battles and is the largest fortification in North America. There is so much I could say about the tour, but will not bore you with it all. However, there is one story, when the guide was describing how the magazine storage building was constructed to ensure that if an explosion did occur the blast would go straight up and avoid killing men in the fort.

One of the tourists piped up with “very considerate of them” and this started the comments – like what a “blast” that would be etc. Very corny but also good laughs.

After we finished the tour it was time to figure out dinner plans and map a plan to get to the cirque du soleil big tent. Turns out it is not a long walk and using the BB GPS we created a walking path and walked to the site. Needless to say we have been watching where we went so we could back track for the homeward trip.

Cirque du Soleil = WOW. Totem ‘s theme was the evolution of man but really was hard to follow that specific theme. Tt was really was beyond words. For 2 hours we sat totally awed at the talents and acrobatic skills of so many people. All the announcements were in French but since no one jumped screaming for the door, I figured my lack of understanding was not critical. The performances were almost all music and action. The clowns spoke but their actions were louder than the words so also very enjoyable. I have to wonder how people can be so strong and flexible... my bones ached thinking about some of the positions they were in. This performance had it all, aerial, dance, roller skates, bikes, etc. I highly recommend attending. Unfortunately I was not able to get any photos to share.

After the show we managed to backtrack to home. By the way, buses in Quebec City are $2.60 and there is no change available.