Heading Towards Canada

Having started the route North on Monday, Tuesday is about the journey through upper Maine into Quebec Province, Canada.

Bienvenue de Quebec

Breakfast

Before we go onto the journey, a brief outline of our early morning. I woke and got up at 3.30pm  and loaded photos from yesterday's travel to Flickr and wrote the blog post of the first journey, while remembering how lovely last night's food was. I made coffee for Drew at 5.00am and at 6.00am showered, shaved etc before going to breakfast at 7.00am

I must highlight breakfast, when we first came to the USA in 1974 Bed and Breakfast was almost unheard of, you might get coffee and a donut/muffin if you were lucky, but nothing more. It meant we would travel for an hour or so and buy breakfast along the way. Over the years this pattern has changed and now most hotels, especially the mid-range travellers style hotel, like the Fireside Inn and Suites, Belfast, have a breakfast with a mix of hot and cold items ready. Indeed our selection of the Choice brand of hotel (which this one used to be) is because of the consistent nature of their breakfasts which suit us ready for making an early start on our day's journey.

My Sausage and Scrambled Egg

Drew's second course of danish pastry and muffin

Departure

After Breakfast we checked out of the hotel and got into the car. At 7.30 we were on our way, this early in the morning the temperature was only 73℉ but as we travelled it soon got back to 80℉ (27℃) but came back down to 75℉ as we headed North. Today's route follows the US137 from Belfast, on to the US201 up to the Canadian Border and then on to the Quebec Route 173, which leads to the Quebec 73 towards Quebec City.

The journey followed this path:

Belfast to Quebec City

We travelled through pretty towns called Knox, Fairfield, Skowhegan, Solon and even a place called Moscow. Who knew the US had its own Moscow!

The road then goes into a forested area with trees and lakes on either side, some of the views, though hard to capture on camera, are amazing. We pulled over for a while at Wyman Lake, just north of Moscow, to capture some of the amazing scenery.

The road into the mountains

Wyman Lake through the Trees

Wyman Lake has a marker showing the exploits of Benedict Arnold (when he was still on the revolutionary side) who took this route in an attempt to take Quebec during the revolutionary war/war of independence in 1775.

The US201 then travels through The Forks and Jackson (the last town before the border, advertising cheap petrol for the journey North), until it arrives at the US - Canada Border at a place called Sandy Bay on one side of the border and Armstrong on the other.

Into Canada - Au Canada

141 miles from our starting point in Belfast we came to the Armstrong–Jackman Border Crossing which is one of seven border points between Quebec and Maine and one of only two which runs 24 hours a day. It wasn't busy when we arrived at 10.40am. There was one vehicle pulling away ahead of us, and it only took us two minutes to show our passports, answer some questions from the very friendly Border Guard called Monsieur La Chapelle, have our passports stamped, and be on the way at 10.42am.

This way to Canada

About to enter Canada

Bienvenue Quebec - they have let us in

We travelled along the Quebec Route 173 (also called the Route-du-Président-Kennedy) which was very quiet for the early part of the journey. At 11.30, 29 miles from the border we came to the City of Saint-Georges where we stopped for our first Tim Horton's Coffee of the trip. It immediately became clear we were in Quebec as the transaction was undertaken in French. I could manage "Deux cafés noirs s'il vous plait" but struggled when the reply was: "Mélange Original ou Torréfaction Foncée" until I could see the menu board and stammer "Dark, s'il vous plait"

At least the payment machine allowed me to use English once I had put my card in, though it defaulted to French and I had to select Anglais to make it work in a way I could answer its questions and enter my pin!

It became clear as we travelled the 66 miles from Saint Georges to Quebec City that this area is very French. I had mistakenly assumed that it would be bilingual, like it is back home in Wales. There the only question is whether Cymraeg or English will be on top of the other, based on what part of the country you are in. Not here, the signs are uncompromisingly French with no hints or clues for two non-francophone Welsh men!

Quebec City

We arrived in Quebec City at 1.30pm and went into the first Car Parking we could find. This was under the City's Hilton hotel, which was a good landmark to find our way back later in the day.

Quebec Old Town is a sight to behold, a magic place that mixes the busy feeling of a major tourist centre with the old world charm of one of the oldest cities on this continent north of Mexico. It is also the only walled city on the continent. 

We began by finding an ATM and taking some Canadian Dollars (Loonies as the natives call them, after a bird called the Loon, not a mad person)

We spent four hours wandering the streets and wondering at the sites. There is so much to see, and all will be recorded on Flickr, but my wifi connection is not perfect today, so the photos may be a little late in arriving.

Quebec City is built on a mountainous outcrop, and the Old Town within the walls is really two towns one at the base of the outcrop and the other at the top. 

Highlights in the Lower Town include  the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec, Church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, the Petit Champlain district.

Quebec Cathedral

Our Lady of Victories

I found the story of St François de Laval, a saint I had not previously heard of, fascinating. He was the first Bishop of Quebec and is remembered still for his love and care for the poor and sick people of the town. He was canonised by Pope Francis in 2014, a day of great celebration in Quebec. His body and memorial are in the Basilica of Notre Dame.

The Grave of St Francis de Laval

Stained glass showing Saint Francis de Laval offering himself at the crib of the Baby Jesus

We travelled from the Lower Town to the Upper Town via the Quebec Funicular from the top of which are wonderful views along the St. Lawrence River and across to the City of Levis on the opposite bank of the River. 

Across the St. Lawrence River

Across the St. Lawrence River

The upper town is the original Fort Saint Louis established in 1608. It includes the famous Fairmont Le Château Frontenac Hotel which is such an iconic symbol of the City. It also includes the Hôtel de Ville Québec (Quebec City Hall) and many other remarkably French style buildings. 

Fairmont Le Château Frontenac Hotel

Quebec City Hall

One less French looking building was a Church off a side street in this part of the City. It was called the Chalmers-Wesley United Church. As its name implies it draws together a Presbyterian tradition with a Methodist one (Chalmers was a founder of the Scottish Free Presbyterian Church and Wesley the founder of Methodism). Unusually from my experience of presbyterianism it contains some stained glass in the windows, a tradition I associate with Catholic and Episcopalian traditions. 

Presbyterian-Methodist Stained Glass

Two friendly people, Marcus and Sue, showed us around the Church and shared its history with us.

As we came to the Walls of the Old City a group of people were reenacting the defence of Quebec from the perfidious British. They put on a display of musket fire, as used at the time, Drew, drawing on his knowledge of Sharpe said Baker Rifles will fire accurately for 300 yards not like muskets.

Haydn and the Quebec Defenders

Musket Fire

From the Old City we walked down to the Provincial Parliament Building I remember many heated debates from this chamber during the referendums for independence in 1980 and 1995.

Quebec Parliament - National Assembly Building

While it rained when we first got to Quebec, a passing thunderstorm that we missed by having a coffee, it soon dried out and by the time we left it was 85℉ (30℃) (Note we are back in a country where Celsius is more commonly used than Fahrenheit). We got back to the car at 5.30 and headed to our hotel for the night.