Quebec City

We spend the next day and a half working our way to Quebec City. The Confederation Bridge is quite an engineering feat. It's 8 miles long and is as pretty as the 7 Mile Bridge we had marvelled at last winter in The Keys. And taking the ferry to PEI and the bridge out proves considerably less expensive. The toll was $55...(they only charge on the way out, so the ferry was free on the way in)....would have been twice that much if we'd done it in reverse.

Had a very hard time finding a place to stay last night because the 2007 Woodall's Directory must have been written before the new Transcontinental Highway 2 was built. All the directions were from off the old Rt. 2 and the exits on the new road are different and few and far between. We finally find a place in Grand Falls (which I cannot describe to you because we hightailed it out of the Paradis de la P'tite Montagne campground quickly this morning). They bill it as quite a place...it's not.

We had hoped to stop at Robinson's Farmer's Market before we left PEI...never found it. So we are pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel for dinner. Had bought a large flat bread and put it in the freezer weeks ago. Also there's andouille sausage in there and marinara sauce in the pantry. Had stopped a ways back to buy milk and picked up some mozarella. Sauteed green peppers and onions, built a pizza, topped it with fresh parm and popped it in the oven. Exactly what we needed. To top off the evening, we are able to get Maine television and, political junkies that we are, are thrilled to find the Democratic convention on.

We get to Camping Transit (dreadful name) in Levis about 1 pm. It truly is in the middle of cow pastures which you can smell, if not see. The grounds are pretty plain, but there is a pool, hot tub, playground and a small restaurant. The people are very nice and though, French, speak almost flawless English and don't mind speaking it. We dress and take off for Quebec City via ferry. It's about a 15 minute drive to the dock...we decide to put the car on...it's $8.75 for all of us...runs every half hour, takes about 10 minutes to arrive in Old Quebec and is extremely efficient.

I haven't been in Quebec City for probably 20 years....and never in the summer. In another life, always came to ski at Mont-Sainte-Anne de Beaupre. Vieux (Old) Quebec is like being on the Left Bank in Paris...winding...oozing history and charm. We just walk and walk, do some reconnaisance at stores I want to revist tomorrow and get a handle on the schedule for activities going on celebrating the 400th anniversary of Quebec.

One of my favorite hotels in the world, the Chateau Frontenac is now a Fairmont. Instead of the traditional lunch there, we opt for cocktails. The Chateau is as grand as ever and the view of the St. Lawrence River and it's boardwalk is still mesmerizing.

Cocktails and bar peanut mix almost fill us up...take the ferry back to Levis...pull left-over grilled steak from the freezer and make a just-what-we-needed-after-so-much-seafood salad.