After breakfast in the main dining room, we headed back out to Quebec City. The tide was higher first thing in the morning so our ramp off the ship was a bit more steep. We saw low tide in the afternoon.
What a difference a day makes, from the mid-forties and windy/rainy (with a moment of sleet) the day before, today we enjoyed seventy-plus temperatures with generous amounts of sunshine, probably a rare temperature to be outside and enjoy fall colors in Quebec.
We walked up the steep streets to get to upper town and visit the Basilica of Notre-Dame. The museum and climb to an observation point were closed but the church itself is magnificent. It reminds me of the old churches in Europe. Here are some photos:
We then wandered the shops as we meandered down to the lower town and Market.
The Market, not too far from the docks, had lots of produce, meat, cheese, maple syrup, and other local products. This was a place where we felt like we were surrounded by locals instead of the tourists that walked the streets of lower and upper town. We both found lunch here and then had a chance to take more photos of the ship and harbor before our excursion.
On our way back to the terminal to meet our excursion, we were fortunate to be able to watch the lock and drawbridge in action. (I love locks and dams!)
We were on the 12:30 p.m. Beaupre Coast & St. Anne Canyon & Winery excursion through Celebrity. I understand there was a traffic accident on a major thoroughfare so our bus was late picking us up. Our first stop was a winery on Ile D’Orleans. On our way there we got a glimpse of Montmorency Falls.
The winery was called Isle de Bacchus and the views and fall colors were spectacular. We received a tour of the winery and then tasted five of their wines. My husband especially loved the ice wine. One of the other wines we sampled included one with maple syrup added to it. It was very sweet but I loved the maple syrup in it. Not wanting to deal with the hassle of bringing any wine back we elected not to purchase any.
The last two pictures are of the grapes that will be used for ice wine. They had already harvested most of their other grapes in the past couple weeks. These grapes will need to wait to be harvested until there are three consecutive nights with minus 10 Celsius temperatures.
We drove past the Basilica of St. Ann which is known for visitors experiencing miracles after visiting.
Here is Mount St. Ann with its ski slopes.
Our last stop of the excursion was to Ste-Anne Canyon. This was one of the highlights of our time in Quebec. The waterfall combined with the fall colors and even a rainbow was breathtaking. I only wish we could have spent more time here.
Looking at the pictures above, I’m sure you noticed the hanging bridges. I thought the first one was bad with the way it moved as people walked. At that moment though, I didn’t realize how much more difficult it would get. The last bridge is made of metal grating that you could see right through (compared to a wooden, solid walkway on the first). Additionally it was not a flat bridge so it was full of half steps and more like a ramp at the bottom with some small pieces of wood for foot holders. Fortunately we did not have to cross any bridge twice to get back to the parking lot. (I’m not sure I could have done another bridge.)
On our way back to the port, we encountered heavy traffic (perhaps due to it being Canadian Thanksgiving; people were coming back from a holiday weekend). That combined with the fact that we had started our excursion 30 minutes late, meant we were not going to be back on board the ship before its departure time of 5:00 p.m. This was an excellent opportunity to recognize the advantages of taking a cruise sponsored excursion as the boat waited for us. When we arrived at the port at about 5:30 p.m. people lined the decks of the ship and clapped and cheered for us. We were also ushered through security faster than I have ever seen. It was like we had the VIP treatment.
Even despite two days of significant touring, we found the energy to enjoy another very delicious meal in the main dining room (here is a link to the menu) and a night of entertainment.
We strolled through the Photo Gallery as we often do in the evenings and now that we had pictures from both formal nights and with the Captain (among many other photos), we sorted through them and decided which ones we wanted to purchase. They had a special of $100 for 5 photos that we could take advantage. It was interesting how few people even had their pictures taken, a huge change from 10 years ago on our wedding cruise.
On the way to the Rendez-Vous lounge for “Are you smarter than a ship’s officer?” I picked up a Martini at the Martini Bar Crush. They know me by name there. When I went back for my second martini they gave it to me half-price and drew a heart in syrup on top. I don’t know if my husband should be jealous. ;)
The “Are you smarter than a ship’s officer?” was a lot of fun. Our Cruise Director participated. He is by far the best cruise director we have seen. He has a maturity that matches with the tone of Celebrity Cruises. Additionally, he makes minimal announces and when he does make announcements, he tries to combine it with other things like right after the Captain’s 10:00 a.m. daily status update.
The show was Band Artisque. Marie-Claude is an opera singer who with Emile puts on a comedic, musical, variety type show. This was one of our favorite shows yet this cruise.
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