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Quebec City, and Blues for Breakfast- A Photo Essay

Thanks for reading this week’s post, Quebec City, and Blues for Breakfast. This is a long post- my apologies.

When last we met, the Kumiskis had spent a day in Montreal. We returned the next day for a second round. The parking garage we had used, at 25$C, was closed. We went to the next one. They wanted 35$C. I thought 25 bucks was a little high. Thirty-five, I turned around. We left Montreal, and ended up at a winery. Not what we wanted to do, but not a bad trade, either.

The Abenaki spent the winter in birch-bark covered structures like this.

We left Montreal the next day, heading to Quebec City. On the way we stopped at the Abenaki Museum (good use of our time), and then had a wonderful lunch at a place called Le Grek, near Tres Rivieres.

The home range of the Abenaki.

Late in the afternoon we found our campsite, a fantastic place full of old apple trees and wildflowers- I counted sixteen different species of wildflowers, all in bloom! The apples had been neglected, and were all wormy, but still- very nice.

One of our campground neighbors was this nest of paper wasps.

A storm blew our screen house away and tore a screen. Susan repairs it.

The next day we visited old Quebec on our own, just wandering around the streets, taking in the sights. Although very touristy, it was fairly delightful. I wished the skies were blue for photography, but that would not happen during our stay.

At a park in Quebec City, a child runs through the fountains.

In old Quebec.

Detail from same street in Quebec.

Our best stop was the Museum of Bad Art. This is such a fantastic concept- there is so much bad art out there! It was hilarious, and fabulous, a great stop.

The day following, we met Pierre, our tour guide, at 1100. He showed our group around old Quebec, telling us about the history and architecture, things we would never have known had we not taken the tour. Did you know no one knows where Champlain is buried? Did you know no one knows what he looked like? One of the more important figures in the history of North America is a mystery and an enigma. Who’s buried in Champlain’s tomb?

Pierre the guide.

Looks like a castle, but it’s a hotel. Roosevelt and Churchill met here twice during WWll.

Quebec is still a walled city.

Flowers and street art everywhere!

We spent a day touring the Ile d’Orleans- fruit stands, fromageries (cheese manufacturers), boulangeries (bakeries), wineries, chocolatiers- oh yes, it was fun.

We bought strawberries, and maple syrup, and blueberry liqueur.

At a farm, where we bought a strawberry pie.

By an art gallery…

…as was this…

…and this.

At the fromagerie!

At our picnic stop!

We’re now at Grand Isle State Park in Vermont, on Lake Champlain. Again, yesterday we were wandering around, checking things out. I wanted to find a place to photograph the sunset. We didn’t find one, but we found the Snow Farm Winery. On Thursdays they have a free concert series, one that’s been running for 20 years! We stayed for the first set of Blues for Breakfast.