Day 46, August 11, 2007

Day 46, Saturday, August 11, 2007
We were up early again today to catch the early shuttle into Quebec City the old town. Today was to be spent shopping. We arrived at the Hotel Frontenac at about 9:30 am. We found a coffee shop then proceeded to hit all the shops Willa and Tegan could find. Up near the Citadel there are all kinds of little shops, then you go down into Old Town and there are several more streets of shops and very little duplication if any at all. There is very little you can’t buy. Some of the merchandise is made locally and most is brought in. Some of the shops carry very expensive items but most are what I thought was reasonably priced. The girls had a good time but even they got shopped out. We could have taken the late shuttle home but they wanted to go home on the early shuttle at 3:30 pm. You walk into these buildings and you are in awe of the age and history that is all around you. The oldest house in the Old Town was built in the 1600’s. and one of the streets was the oldest street in Canada or North America, I can’t remember which. There are street entertainers, people that will paint your portrait for you while you wait or in full colour if you have an extra hour to spare to come back and pick it up. These people are very good at what they do. I bought a cd of two guys playing a guitar and harp with a canned back ground melody, all popular songs but almost haunting to listen to. The guitarist picked the tune as apposed to playing cord to the background music. Every corner had an entertainer of some sort and all licensed by the city. Jugglers, one man bands, fire eaters. They floated around the city and you could see them in different locations at different times of the day. Very impressive. I was going to do something else besides look in stores but ended up following the girls around and did a little people watching and talking to other people. I noticed this one chap doing the same as I was. Although I couldn’t understand what he was saying in French, I caught the jest of it. “What another shop, its just like the last one you were in.” I saw him and motioned him to come over and sit on the window sill where I was. He came over and I gestured he had three girls shopping and I had two, sit and enjoy your wait and we did. Thousands of people the streets were literally wall to wall. Some of the shops are quite small and others are a good size. The last thing before we left town we did a tour of the town in a horse drawn carriage. The girl was good and told us about some of the history of the city. Her and Tegan got to talking about the horse, which was a Canadian. On the way back the shuttle was too full and several of us had to stand. I had a seat but a young lady came in and would have had to stand so I gave up my seat. Now this sounds like the gentleman thing to do but I was looking after my own interests, what if she fell on me in a corner. I could have had some tall explaining to do to Willa. When we got back to the site it was a long walk to the motor home. From the office to our campsite must have been 1000-1500 feet and you are already tired from shopping and walking all day. The family next door we had met the day before and visited a bit and then met them in town also. They invited us back to their campsite to enjoy the campfire with them. We did and we did. The weather was warm and sunny all day but the motorhome cooled down once the air conditioner went on and after the windows open kept a breeze coming through. Again all I can say is the history that Quebec City holds is fascinating. Well it is up early tomorrow and we are off. Want to make Winnipeg in 3 days but we think it will take 4 days with some pretty long days.