Quebec City

 I didn't post yesterday because all we did was drive. We left the courteous Ontario drivers and encountered the crazy Quebecois ones. Alberta drivers are aggressive but the ones here leave them in the dust.

We found our hotel without any problem and are glad we decided to stay two nights. It was  very nice not to have to go rushing off this morning. We went to old Quebec today. Spent a couple of hours in the Citadel, an old fort that is still used today as the headquarters of the Royal 22 Regiment, the first French-Canadian Regiment in the country. Since it is an active base, you can only see it via a guided tour which was very interesting. And there were lots of nice young soldiers all over the place. There was a museum about the regiment too. I remember hearing about the "Van Doos" somewhere. That's the 22nd Regiment. They started calling themselves the Van Doos because that's how the English pronounce "vingt-deux," twenty- two in French.

Wandered around the old town. It is high up over the St. Lawrence, and looking down we saw that a cruise ship was docked there. It turned out to be the Volendam, the ship we took our Alaska cruise on. The old town reminded me of Victoria's inner harbour, lots of tourists and businesses catering to them. The old town was nice to walk through, I guess lots of people find the old-world European feel to be charming, but (I don't want to sound superior here) we see lots of old buildings and neighbourhoods when we visit Anne.

This is really cool. It's a tobaggon run by the Chateau Frontenac that was built in 1864 and is still used today in the winter. 

We're going to try to get to Amherst tomorrow. An eight- hour drive, but we're ready to get somewhere and stay for a while.