Breakfast was delivered to our room at 8 am. A cute little basket was hung on a hook on the outside of our door. Inside was today's weather forecast (which was wrong) and all sorts of breakfasty goodies. I love this hotel! I will try to get a picture of our breakfast tomorrow.
We took off in our rental car to retrace the steps of one million tourists per year and visit the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. This is a basilica, not a cathedral, and it is worth a short trip out of town. This site has been occupied by a chapel or church since 1658. The current basilica was built in 1923 in the Romanesque style. It is filled with magnificent mosaics, stained-glass windows, and wood and stone sculptures.
Sainte Anne
I thought it was quite interesting that most of the mosaics and carvings featured local animals and plants. Each pew had a different local animal carved into the wood. There were small mosaics on the pillars, each depicting one local wildflower or mushroom. The floor contained mosaics of local animals. The stained-glass windows also showed non-traditional scenes, though I couldn't figure out the significance of the places named on each window.
A series of arches in the ornate lower level each revealed a different snowflake mosaic.
On our way to the next attraction we were passed by a pickup truck towing a trailer with low sides. Lying in the trailer - and partially out of it - was a dead moose. That's not something you see every day, even in Alaska.
Our second stop was Montmorency Falls. We took a cable car or tram up to the top of the falls. From there it was possible to walk across the suspension bridge
at risk of life and limb
and then walk down 437 steps (one of us)
or go back across the bridge and take the tram back down (the rest of us).
Next we crossed over a bridge to l'Île d'Orléans. This is an island 20 miles long by 5 miles wide in the middle of the St. Lawrence just upstream from Quebec City. Our plan was to make a circuit around the island, stopping wherever we felt like it, and snacking as we went.
The island has a rural feel. There are small farms, orchards, vineyards, and agrotourism. There are cidreries (cider), fromageries (cheese), confitureries (jams and preserves), boulangeries (bakeries), chocolateries, wineries, and sugar shacks. Unfortunately, a lot of these were already closed for the season. Some of the places we wanted to visit were closed. Some were just disappointing. We had a hard time finding picnic foods.
The first farm stand we came to was wonderful. We bought FRESH, perfect strawberries, apples, and unpasteurized apple juice. Fantastic. I think it was called Polyculture Plante. Seems like an odd name.
Our next success came at a chocolaterie. I may have a photo of an empty box to post here soon.
Then we had a series of disappointments. The "maritime park" was a stark park with one building that had an entrance fee. It didn't look interesting enough to pay to go there. It looked more like a little shop than a maritime park. The cheese shop had one kind of cheese. Other places were closed or hard to find or they had a couple of tour buses there already.
We stopped at one farm stand that advertised hot corn on the cob. They had a small greasy restaurant sort of like a hot dog and hamburger stand. We went into the restaurant to see if they had corn. It must have been field trip day at the senior center. Every table in the place was filled with little old blue-haired ladies. We backed out slowly and then ran away.
We just kept driving and could not find a deli or a sandwich shop. Finally we stopped at a bakery that was open. It smelled wonderful inside and they had lots of mouth-watering treats, so we bought some pastries.
When we came to one of the larger sugar shack operations, the sugar shack part was closed, but the store was open (of course). The prices in the store were significantly higher than prices we had seen for the exact same products elsewhere. Buying at the source ain't necessarily the way to go.
Evidently, they connect blue tubes to all the trees. The sap runs downhill to the sugar shack and there they process it and end up with maple syrup. (I prefer Aunt Jemima, myself. I find the maple to be a little too mapley.)
Even though the tourist opportunities on the island did not live up to our expectations, the trip was worth it. The island is beautiful, the views are beautiful, it is tranquil and rustic and relaxed. Almost every house on the island is over-the-top charming. If I were a rich Canadian I would definitely live here, and I would drink cider every day.
We went to a bistro called Le Pain Béni for dinner. We liked it mostly. The menu was limited and not good for a vegetarian. Ken and I ordered the fondue for two, described as a sharing dish, for $55 (Canadian). I haven't had fondue in 30 year, and it seems to be a big thing here, so I wanted to try it. The cheese was pretty good but there wasn't much of it. We each got a small place with about one quarter of an apple (cut up), 8 grapes, and a handful of bread cubes (stale). Really? We ran out of the cheese before we ran out of the bread and fruit. I asked the server if we had gotten the appetizer portion or the main dish portion and she said it was the main dish portion - with a straight face. To her credit, she did give us a free dessert. I had an excellent bread pudding (with cheddar cheese on it!) and Ken had a dark chocolate cake with chocolate moose and sorbet and other interesting things.
Some of the food was quite good, but I would not go back here.
I have skipped several days of blogging and I have lots of stories to tell. I hope to find some time to catch up soon.
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