A little outdoor dining in #Palace Royal at #Borgia's
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 20
This was a tidy up day - a day to retrace the steps in the #Old City to catch up on the details we missed on round one wIth our guides. We took our time packing up to start the day as we would be out and about doing our thing, until our 9 pm meet up with the shuttle to take us to the train for #Halifax.
Needed to be strategic with the packing - sorting out our carry on from the checked baggage. This was an overnighter in a sit-up seat for our last leg on the train to complete "The Ocean." Needed access to toiletries, clothes and medication in the carry on and need to ensure each bag passes the weigh in requirements for #VIA rail (they have been quite pedantic about the upper limiits - weighing every bag as you stand in line to check in.)
Absolutely milked that time in #Les Lofts and didn't take the life until 10 minutes for the allowed checkout time. Started our luggage drag by heading back to #Nectar for a revisit of the hot drinks and pastry. Again, everyone was on their computers making the world go round.
Took the back street today (much less pedestrian traffic) to complete the 1.3 km drag of the luggage back to #Gare du Palais to store our luggage and embarked on a final walk around the waterfront to end up at #Place Royale.
We had missed this with the tour guides so had to rely on a combination of #Google Maps and the #Quebec Guide Book to zero us in. This was the original site of settlement in #Quebec City in 1608 by #Samuel Champlain and the square here is a celebration of #France and #English architecture. The house facades have been recreated, the #Louis IV bust has been re-erected and the #Furniculaire transports visitors between the levels of the city. The streets have been transformed to be lined with cafes and souvenir shops an coincidentally we bought something at one of each type of shop!
Lunch was perched up a set of stairs at #Borgia's (delightful interpretation of nachos - there was even an option for additional cheese - gobsmacked by the amount of cheese already on it, and had no idea where "extra" would have resided) and couldn't resist a Maple leaf scarf that caught my eye (I only have 50 alternates already.) Tempted but resisted the handbags on offer in the leather shop .
Determined to keep our stair count up, next on the list was #The Governor's Promemade. This series of staircases ran in front of the walled fortifications and announced themselves as 311 in total. Why not? Don't mind admitting that we took it slowly and showed long and lingering appreciation at various stops we made to appreciate the new views of #Levis (and yesterday's rouge stirs), the river with its ferries and cruise ships and of course back down the boardwalk to the #Old Town.
As the last step up was conquered we found ourselves conveniently at a rotunda where an #English speaking guide was giving his spiel, so we just hung around the edges for a freebie of revision.
And finally, found ourselves on #The Plains of Abraham - the location of the decisive battle led by #Wolfe and #Montcalm. Today, just a large open park marks the spot of that 1678 battle that according to @Kim was over in 20 minutes.
Sensibly took the embankment trek down and a little bridge over the fortification ditch for the return journey and took up a spot on the #Boardwalk to watch the 6 pm sail-away of the #Crystal Serenity before heading back to find dinner. Rejected probably 40 food options before falling into #Verve for last drinks and last supper in #Old Quebec.
Then the waiting began. Collected our luggage from storage and joined the shuttle to take us to #Sainte Foye . A little chaotic at the station and we were surprised to learn that in "economy" there are no seat allocations - it is every man for himself. @Mac reminded me to "Move quickly and not let anyone duck under my leg," bringing back memories of our #China experience.
Got the anxiety levels up just a little because as @Mac was online and reading the fine print - it stated very clearly that seats together could not be guaranteed in "Economy." Oh dear. Unfortunate if i have to tuck up next to a stranger with my open mouth, drooling while sitting up sleep pose. A definite and literal "not happy Jan" moment.
As the announcement of the arrival of the train was made, we did an "every man for himself" dash and piled onto the platform with hordes of other travellers. The train was too long for the platform- so the train pulled in with the first half of the carriages stopped adjacent to the platform and the "Sleeper" carriage passengers boarded. A repositioning of the train and we were ready for the mad dash as the "economy" passengers were invited to board.
Happy to report - much better than we had expected. It was possible to ditch the crouched start of the sprint - I didn't have to worry about duckers and weavers. There was no chaos at all. Quite the opposite. The staff called on a family group of four first to seat them together as a group - and then called passengers "travelling as a pair to #Halifax" to board. That was us. And once on board, the staff had reserved seats for each of the pairs. No hassle at all - and definitely no passengers attempting to crawl under my legs AND no need to sleep with strangers. Crisis averted.
It was 10.30 pm as the train left the station. Seats are incredibly spacious and reclined. Our luggage was in - all we had to do was settle in and relax. Theoretically, a little snooze overnight and we would arrive tomorrow afternoon at 5 pm. Our last train ride for our Trans-Canadian adventure and we will traverse #New Brunswick before reaching our final province of #Nova Scotia. Ticking of so many provinces on this west to eaast journey
Toot toot. For a moment @Mac really did think he had to help the engineers with navigation. The first part of our journey was an incredible 30 minutes of reversing. Definitely heading in the wrong direction. We had to reverse out of the station and head back over the bridge before we could point the engines in the right direction. Maybe this was a slight hint or premonition of the journey ahead.
Meanwhile in 🇪🇺 Europe with M&I
Reaching new heights in their adventures- enjoying hot air balloon ride over #Florence. So AMAZING they have told us to put it on the agenda for our next trip.
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