Quebec City

 

Day 4 (8/7/24) Quebec City

In contrast to Toronto’s contemporary architecture, Quebec City is steeped in history. Built on a bluff overlooking the St Lawrence River Quebec City was the last bastion for the French troops in Canada. Nearly the entire old city is surrounded by walls. Sailing into Quebec City leaves quite an impression. We once again started the morning with a walk around the city. Since it is built on a bluff we figured the best thing to do was go all the way to the top and work our way down. Fortunately we got an early start because it soon got rather warm and crowded. We slowly worked our way up past the “Chateau Frontenac” to the “Plains Of Abraham”, the site of the final battle between the French and English which saw England the victor. Chateau Frontenac dominates the landscape from the moment you come into the harbor. Although it has always been a hotel it is the embodiment of every fairytale castle imagined. Everywhere you look in the city is a piece of history. After leaving the plains we worked our way past the Citadelle. We thought about watching the changing of the guard but we weren’t sure that we would have made it in time and were on a very tight schedule so we continued working our way around the back of the fort and started down through the city. In the afternoon we had a tour scheduled. It turned out to be a bit of a letdown after our wonderful morning. The tour started with a trip out to see a local waterfall. It was a rather long ride and after seeing the waterfalls of Iceland and Norway I guess we were a bit jaded. When we got back to town we ended up going to much the same area we had seen in the morning so when we finally got off the bus we asked permission to walk back to the ship on our own. Quebec City is beautiful and definitely somewhere that I would love to spend more time at.

Chateau Frontenac

Pink Guys all over the city

One of many many canons 

Plains of Abraham

The Guards

Eileen's Guardian Angel

More of the Chateau

One of the many Sculptures

Fishing at the Falls

The Falls

The mural I thought I missed

Trois-Rivieres

 Day 3 (8/6/24) Trios-Rivieres

We docked early in the morning at Trois-Rivieres. It promised to a beautiful day. After a quick breakfast we headed out for a walk around the city. Unlike Toronto, Trois-Riveres was easy to tour on your own. Those are our favorite type of city. Although it did not boast Toronto’s contemporary architecture it had its own European charm. After lunch we had our first trip out on the Zodiacs to tour one of the rivers for which the city got its name. On the tour we got to watch one of the science teams placing their fish baiting cameras that they use to help identify the health of the fisheries in the area. It was a pretty mellow tour but the driver did open it up a bit on the way back to the ship. He told us that all the zodiacs GPS was tracked on a screen back in the bridge. Later we decided to check out the pool and spa area. It was supper time so we had the facilities to our selves. The spa consisted of a jetted pool, sauna, sweat room, hot tub, cold bucket shower and snow room. We gave everything a try. After that we watched as the ship pulled away to continue our journey.  

Unique Store

Down town

Town Square

A couple neat sculptures

Musical I presume 

Another sculpture

Science team placing cameras

The Pool

Leaving Trois-Rivieres

The Locks of St. Lawrence

 

Day 2 (8/5/24) The Locks of St. Lawrence

We decided we would treat ourselves to room service coffee and stay in and watch going through the seaway from our room. It was the first of three scheduled "At Sea Days". There are three US locks and two Canadian. It is pretty interesting ordeal going through them. After entering they lower the water to the level of the other side. Our cabin window actually went below ground level as they drained the water out. It was raining the day that we went through but that didn’t keep people from watching the spectacle from the decks. For a better view we eventually went up on top ourselves. It took all day to get through the five locks. It was beautiful coming into Montreal as the sun was setting. We didn’t stop at Montreal but pushed on to Trois-Riviers where we docked the following morning.

Local Osprey

Sunrise

Could be Wisconsin

Playing Chicken with Freighters

First Lock

Before draining

Leaving the Locks

Highway under channel

Eileen out enjoying the ride

Sunset

Montreal

Viking Polaris Cruise (Toronto)

 

Day 1 (8/3/24) Toronto

After we landed in Toronto we were gathered up at the airport with some other people who were going on the same cruise and taken to the ship. After processing and a brief safety demonstration we had the rest of the day to start to get to know the ship. We found our room, unpacked and then went in search of food. It didn’t take long to realize that we would not starve. The ship was not scheduled to leave Toronto until the next evening so we had some time to explore the views and watch a beautiful sunset over Toronto. The next morning we woke to a warm beautiful day. We were scheduled to take a bus tour of the city. We found Toronto to be a little large and busy for our taste. Apparently it is one of the most diverse cities in the world and is known for its contemporary architecture. They were hosting a Caribbean Festival and Island music could be heard everywhere. When we got back to the ship it was almost time for the send off party. Overnight we traveled the length of Lake Ontario and started our journey up the St. Lawrence River the next day. 

Party Ship 

New City Hall

Arp Sculpture

Old City Hall

There is a wonderful story behind the
 grotesque faces on the building.

Toronto CN Tower

Skyline

Cormorants

Toronto in the rear view mirror