October 19 – Quebec and train to Halifax

Today we hung out at the hotel until checkout time (noon) with the plan to join Jim and Phyllis for a walk to the local market for lunch.  However, it turns out that Phyllis is coming down with a cold so they opted out.  So we bundled up and walked through some of the old city streets to the old city market.

The market is an authentic old market with vegetable and fruit vendors, butchers and fish mongers, all products maple, and a few souvenir shops.  

It was obviously apple season as many of the merchants had displays of numerous types of apples.  

There was one small eatery so we picked up lunch.

We then walked along the waterfront where we saw cruise ships (someone said these were probably the last of the season), ferries and excursion boats.  From there we had great views of the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac.

We also found the section of old town located below the citadel and the base of the cliff.

The streets now cater to tourists with lots of clothing and souvenir shops and they were all ready for Halloween.  

We found a modest, old church, Notre Dame Victoire on a square. 

We eventually ran into Phyllis and Jim.  They were coming from their “longest lunch ever”.  Apparently the restaurant was verrry slow.

Since we had already checked out of the hotel we didn’t really have a room to warm up in so we all camped out in the hotel lobby for the late afternoon until dinner time.  We were picked up and taken to our dinner venue, a restaurant in a house built in 1672.  Cool building, good food.

Jim and Phyllis took a taxi back to the hotel while we wandered around at the top of the hill taking pictures of the old town and the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac.  Everything was lit up and very pretty.

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More photos of Quebec
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Back at the hotel we were picked up about 9:15 pm for our transfer for the train station at St. Foy for our overnight ride to Halifax. 

Our sleeper cabin seems smaller than the earlier one but probably isn’t.  The bathroom includes a shower.  We have decided it is the smallest bathroom/shower combo we’ve ever had.  Even smaller than the one on the Wessex Rose.  And that is saying something.

The beds were hard and the train rocked a lot.  Neither of us slept very well.