Our All-Day Excursion to Quebec City and Montmorency Falls

Rita wouldn't have signed us up for such a long bus-tour (3 hours in each direction), but she was glad I did as the day unfolded.

We caught a cab from the hotel at 7:30 a.m. for the 10-minute ride to the Gray Line office. The taxi driver, with his back to us, of course, said, “How was your food tour?” He was the same driver who took us there yesterday! It was fun to reconnect with him.

There were 70 passengers signed up for the tour, requiring two buses. As we joined the crowd heading to the buses, we feared that we would be at the back of the bus, but to our surprise and delight, the loading of the first bus was cut off with the passenger in front of us and we were the first people on the second bus — getting to sit in the front seat! We were so excited, I had to take a picture recording it!

The 3-hour ride to Quebec was broken up with a 15-minute stop half-way, which was great since Rita and I hadn’t even had coffee yet. The coffee was good, but the apple turnover was GREAT — the best either of us had ever had. Again, I had to take a picture of it — and buy a second one for later!

(The bus stopped at the same place on the way back, and I bought a 3rd one for tomorrow’s breakfast!)

En route we noticed the beginnings of the fall foliage season. This was the best of several pictures I took. (So great to be in the front seat!)

Crossing the St. Lawrence west of Quebec (they don’t say “City” when talking about it), I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the old bridge next to the modern one we crossed. The engineering design of it was something I had never seen and couldn’t imagine working!

From there we drove along the most beautiful parkway several miles before arriving at the old center (and port) of Quebec. (If you’re subvocalizing as you read, like I do, pronounce it “Kaybek.” The “u” is not pronounced.) There was a traffic jam because a cruise ship, the Emerald Princess, had just arrived, so this was our view for several minutes:

Here’s a closeup of that inflated pink sculpture atop the building at the left:

It is part of an extensive collection of similar pink “mignons” throughout Montreal and Quebec from April through this weekend. Here are a couple others in Quebec:

This link tells the story of this year’s installation of “Mignonisme” and its artist, Philippe Katerine.

Speaking of art, here’s a picture of an outstanding example of trompe-l'œil artwork on the flat wall of a building in that area:

This link tells the story of this work and what it represents — the history of Quebec.

We strolled the streets of “Old Quebec” with our amazing and wonderful guide, Katia. She’s half Mexican and half French Canadian, but she has lived here most of her life (I think). Here’s a picture of her:

From the old town, we boarded the bus with Katia for a visit to the Montmorency Falls, about 10 miles east, across from the bridge to Isle d’Orleans, where Rita and I spent two nights in June 2019 at a wonderful auberge. The falls are taller than Niagara Falls, although not as spectacular, of course. I got as close as they allow and shot this video:

Then we returned to the old town where Katia left us for a couple hours of free time. We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant, where we were served the best French onion soup we’ve had in decades, plus fried calamari, fish & chips and deep-fried ice cream. I took this picture of Rita enjoying the onion soup:

Returning to Montreal, our bus driver kindly dropped the passengers off at each of their hotels, which was such a gift after our long day. The description of the tour had said we’d be delivered back to our starting point at the Gray Line office. We tipped him well!

I know I haven’t shared the trove of information we learned about Quebec and its history, but I hope you got your money’s worth anyway!