TUESDAY, MAY 28th:

  We have been so very fortunate with the weather and blue skies and sunshine again became the order of the day. We went out to the Cafe Paillard round the corner from the hotel for an excellent breakfast of croissant and coffee. 

    We are now in a very different Canada from our previous journeyings. For centuries the clifftop site of Quebec City was occupied by the Iroquois village of Stadacona. Although Jacques Cartier visited in the sixteenth century, permanent European settlement did not begin until 1608 when Samuel de Champlain established a fur-trading post here. An imposing statue of him stands opposite the Hotel de Ville. French missionaries and traders began to arrive as the seventeenth century progressed and by 1663 the entire French colony which stretched from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico was known as New France and had become a royal province. However, long-brewing struggles between England and France had continued and in 1759 during the Seven Years War, the most significant battle in Canadian history took place here in Quebec when General James Wolfe led British forces up the Heights of Abraham and in a battle that lasted barely twenty minutes, defeated the French forces under their commander, the Marquis de Montcalm. Both leaders were mortally wounded in the battle and Quebec came into the hands of the British, a state of affairs that were ultimately confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

   This morning we were taken on a city tour with our excellent driver/guide Francois. We made a stop on the Plains of Abraham, of iconic significance in Canada's history and looked down at the place where the British forces made their assault. We also had a conducted tour of the Citadelle which, covering forty acres, is the largest North American fort still occupied by troops; it's home to the Royal 22nd Regiment, Canada's only French-speaking regiment. The strategic site, a hundred metres above the St Lawrence River was first built upon by the French, but the British constructed most of the buildings under orders from the Duke of Wellington who was anxious about American attack after the War of 1812.

   We also stopped for a while in the old port area and walked along fascinating old streets up to the Place Royale, with its bust of Louis XIV. 

It has all certainly been very good for my French and I've enjoyed speaking it again.

     After the tour Robert and I ventured to eat a typical Quebec dish called a "poutine" which is really chips in gravy with melted cheese on top. Quite nice, but probably would  not rush to have it a second time.

We then wended our way around the old city and visited both the Roman Catholic and Anglican Cathedrals. In the latter it was interesting to see that the 10th Bishop of Quebec was born in Barrow-in-Furness in 1925. I wonder if he was an old boy of Barrow Grammar School where I used to teach?

   We walked up to the Chateau Frontenac, the hotel on the the top of the hill that often affords the iconic view of the city and walked through the plush lobby area. There we saw Alan from our tour group and had a coffee with him at the 1640 Restaurant opposite the Hotel de Ville. 

  For our evening meal we walked down to the lower town and found an excellent place to eat, the Bistro du Cap. The patronne was German, from Koblenz, though she had been in Canada for many years. Our young waitress was from Montevideo, Uruaguay! The bistro only had eighteen places so it was pleasantly intimate and we chatted with the girls at the next table who were on their first trip to Canada from Dusseldorf, Germany. We chose the table d'hôte which for me brought lentil and carrot soup, medallions of beef in pepper sauce with mashed potatoes and greens followed by orange and saffron rice lauding. All very tasty. We then proceeded up the hill and back to the hotel after an very interesting day getting to know Quebec