Quebec City, Quebec, Canada....

Sailing from Montreal during dinner last evening, I was able to capture some photos along the St. Lawrence River. It’s nice to have a window seat on the best side for the particular sailing…  As usual, I got up very, very early to capture Quebec City from a different perspective on our eastward sail in…the Pierre Laporte Bridge, the Citadel and the Chateau Frontenac the jewel of the Quebec skyline. Right after our arrival at Quebec City we were off the ship to further explore this beautiful city. Quebec City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and history can be felt everywhere in old Quebec, at every street corner, monument and historic site. The best way to appreciate the long history is to walk the cobble streets of upper and lower town. The ship parked in at a different location on this visit which gave us an excellent view of the Customs House, our first stop in the Old Port area, before heading east along Dalhousie Street, past the Museum of Civilization arriving at the charming Lower Town area known as Petit Champlain and Place Royal.  We explored the nooks and crannies of this area and before started our ascent to upper town. The funicular was not open that early in the morning when we started our tour, so we used the staircase and steep streets to climb up to the Chateau Frontenac. We found a set of stairs at the Museum of Bad Art, then climbing up the Mountain Side Street to Montmorency Park with a statue of Jacques Cartier overlooking the park. Crossing the bridge over Mountain Side Street we climbed the Frontenac staircase to the Dufferin Terrace and Château Frontenac. To get a better angle on the Chateau and the citadel, we walked along the Dufferin Terrace. We heard the bells from the Basilica and made our way to Notre Dame Cathedral…today is the 414-year anniversary of the city of Quebec, we briefly attended a special mass being held at the Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral-Basilica to commemorate the anniversary of our he city’s’ founding…guests were being welcomed by His Eminence Cardinal Gerald C. Lacroix…what a beautiful church. Just adjacent to the Basilica was the Jesuit Chapel and next door, a gate led to into the lovely grounds of Laval University and the former home of Jesuit Quebec Seminary. Meandering the through the picturesque streets, we came upon the Ursuline school, Anglican Cathedral Holy Trinity modeled on London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields Church was the first Anglican cathedral ever built outside the British Isles. We revisited the Lower Town of the charming Rue du Petit Champlain area again before returning to the ship…great weather, a beautiful place, life is good on the Zaandam.  I decided that I would go out for our sail away, seeing the sights along the way as we made our way down the St.  Lawrence…  Once again, I saw the Montmorency Falls…  they we just gushing away…  It was another fabulous day…  getting pretty tired with all these early sail ins…  Still loving every day!!!