DAY 16---QUEBEC CITY, CANADA

 

                                       

        We docked in Quebec City at 7:30 this morning.  The skies are low overcast and it's a chilly 55 degrees outside.  

QUEBEC CITY

         Quebec City is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec.  The city population is 550,00, but when you include the surrounding communities, it grows to 840,000.  This makes it 7^th largest metropolitan area in Canada.  It has a humid continental climate with warm summers and cold, snowy winters.

        Quebec City lies on the north bank of the St Lawrence River.  The 90% of the city residents are French speakers.  But 1/3 can speak both French and English.  (Good luck with that!!)  Most jobs are in government administration, defense, services, commerce, transportation, and tourism.  Much of the city’s traditional architecture is located in Vieux-Quebec (Old Quebec).  The area has a European feel with its stone buildings and winding streets lined with shops and restaurants.  We have visited Quebec City twice previously and found the Chateau Frontenac, a neat Fairmont hotel, to be most interesting.  You could spend days touring this charming city. 

LAST EVENING

        The doors for the Krew Kapers show opened at 5:45.  We arrived at the theater balcony just after 6:00 and it was nearly a packed house.  We stood in back for the show.  I had a good view for photos.

                                                 She had a great voice and show presence.

                                                                 Bali candle dance

                                                                      

                                                                        Great duet.

      These guys were a hoot.  They acted like they were doing synchronized swimming.

                                                                       Great dancer

                                 As always the crew show was a big hit with us passengers.

        After the show we headed to the Meridian Lounge for a cocktail and some jalapeno poppers,  We got there just before the show had completely finished in order to beat the crowd.  Good thing as later the lounge was packed.

        We headed to Compass Rose at 6:45.  Funny as only 2 walkers sitting out front.  Where we live there would be 20!

                        As always, Shane and Monique greeted us and took us to our table.

                     We both started with a shrimp cocktail.  OOPS!  Forgot to take the photo.

                           I also had this roasted mushroom soup.  Very hot and very good.

        David stopped by to say hello.  He works on the other side of CR so we had not seen him before tonight.

           We both had the beef Wellington.  Our cuts were small so ordered another one to share.

                       I had this pecan pie cheesecake with ice cream.  Very yummy!!

                           I went to Tom's show but Rebecca headed back to our suite.

  He was a pretty good comedian but talked fast so missed some of his jokes.  My ears are slow!

TODAY

        Up just before 7:00 and the Captain was still "parking" the ship.  Opened drapes to find a yucky day.  Low overcast clouds and cold (55F).  

        View from our balcony.  Not good.  This is not the same dock as we have arrived at on previous visits here.

        We had both ordered cheddar cheese omelets from room service.  It was white cheddar so I did not care for it.  The bacon was too crisp and not nearly as good as where we live.  I'll go back to getting a muffin.

        I was booked on a 3 hour "Walking Tour & Tasting" tour at 9:45, but not going.  There is a shuttle in to Old Town.  Not sure, but may take it later this morning when it warms up some.  We will be back here on the 10th as part of the next cruise segment.

        At 8:30 I was working on this blog post when I realized it was SUNDAY.  Caviar Day!!  So I raced up to La Veranda and Dara made this plate of caviar for me.  Yummy!

        Then I headed down to chat with Elisabette, the Executive Concierge.  If you have a problem she is the one you go to.  Every few days before today I would go to her and say, "I have a complaint".  She would ask what it is and I would say, "My complaint is I have nothing to complain about".  But today I mentioned that the boutiques (all ships) never sell Regent logo t-shirts or other logo items. Only way you can get them is to play the games on the ship to get "Regent reward points".  Then at the end of the cruise you cash them in for shirts, caps, or other logo items,  I do not play the games!  I told her I would be happy to buy a t-shirt so she is going to look into it.  Last cruise they just gave me a couple t-shirts.

        I went down to Destinations Desk to book a tour in Montreal for tomorrow morning.  Weather there tomorrow is to be nice.

        WOW!  They will be showing 5 NFL games on our tv today.  Now we are optimistic the Cowboys game next Sunday may be televised.  This is a huge change Regent has made by showing games.

        Rebecca headed to the treadmill and I got cleaned up for the day.  Then I decided to take the shuttle bus to town.  I later found out that these grain silos were for wheat which was to be loaded cargo ships.

                                   Heading off.  They have a jetbridge from ship to terminal.

                                                      Loading some supplies today.

        The shuttle was packed full.  Captain Ubaldo and his two cute daughters were seated just behind me.  I asked him about being docked at this terminal in the middle of a cargo port.  He said we should be docked at the good terminal when we return if a few days.

                                                               Some little house boats.

        What a waste of time!  The shuttle just dropped us out of the port area.  It was still a very long walk into the city.  I took these two photo and jumped right back on the shuttle.  Besides it's Sunday and everything is closed.  

        When I got back to the suite a Regent logo t-shirt had been delivered.  My chat with Elisabette worked.  Nice white t-shirt.

        Lunch in La Veranda.  I had bouillabaisse with seafood, roasted pork loin, cordon bleu, and vegetable ratatouille.

        We got our tour tickets this afternoon for the next cruise segment (Montreal to NYC).  We both have going through them to see if we still want to do them or change them.  Rebecca is turning in all of her tour tickets.  The Destinations Desk people come back on duty at 4pm so I will go down to speak with them.

        We are also watching the Giants/Redskins (sorry they are not the Commanders) game.

        It is now 2:45 and we will be sailing again in a few minutes.  Will be arriving in Montreal tomorrow morning around 5am.  Disembarkation and embarkation day tomorrow so big day for the crew.  There will be 560 folks disembarking and probably same number embarking.  So there just under 200 of us staying on for the next segment.  Speaking of the crew, some left the ship today and more leaving tomorrow with replacements arriving.

        There is a pre-dinner show this evening at 6pm.  Linda Gentille will be doing her second and last show as she is disembarking tomorrow.  We will be going to that show.  Cocktail in Meridian Lounge will follow.

        Tonight's Compass Rose menu.  We call the last night of a cruise's dinner, "The Last Supper".  Fortunately we are staying on for the next segment so not ours.  No after dinner show, just lounge acts.  We can watch football.