NOV 01: Montreal to Quebec City

 

We had another leisurely start to our day with a nice dejourné continental breakfast at the hotel. It was much more than the average continental breakfast. 

A short taxi ride took us from Hotel Nelligan to the train station, where we boarded a ViaRail train from Montreal to Quebec City, scheduled to depart at 12:45 and arrive at 4:18.

The train was running about 20 minutes late. As we boarded our car, the attendant told us without apology that it was open seating rather than the assigned seats we had. This made for a rocky start to our rail adventure.

We found some reasonably good seats and settled in, minimizing that kerfuffle.

The train backed out of the station and traveled several miles to reach the main track and proceed forward. Soon after moving ahead, we crossed over the St Lawrence River and the St Lawrence Seaway, seeing a ship approaching the first set of locks. Westbound. This section of the seaway is known as the South Shore Canal. It has two locks – St. Lambert and Ste. Catherine - 14 nautical miles from the Port of Montreal to Lake St. Louis.

The seaway was still recovering from the impact of an 8-day strike that backed up 100 ships needing to transit it. 

Having assumed that the train would run along the northern shore of the St. Lawrence River, we were surprised to find ourselves well inland, south of the river, where we raced along at a speed of sometimes over 90 mph.

We did, however, experience something about which my sister Connie had warned me, which caused her unexpected delays on a train trip she took with her husband, Paul. At one point, our train pulled onto a siding and stopped to let a freight train pass. In Canada, freight trains have the right of way, even if running behind or ahead of schedule. 

There was snow on the ground in wooded areas beside the tracks and on distant higher elevations.

We recrossed the St Lawrence River just west of Quebec City, then went west briefly so that we got a good few of the river on our side of the train.

We arrived at the terminal about 30 minutes late.

After waiting in a queue for about 15 minutes, we took a taxi to Hotel Frontenac.

Friends had encouraged us to get a room on a high floor facing the river. Great suggestion.

At the recommendation of friends, we had dinner at Aux Anciens Canadiens. It was touted as serving traditional Canadian dishes.

venison, bison and elk

poutine: duck confit on top of french fries and cheese curd

Pam decided that she had to try poutine, a traditional dish in Quebec. After doing so, she decided she would never try to emulate it at home. The meat pie with fruit ketchup she had as an appetizer was much more to her liking.

My maple syrup pie for dessert was excellent. What is not to like in a pie for which maple syrup is the primary ingredient?

The restaurant was close to the hotel, which on a cold night was just fine with us.

We went up to the lounge of the 14th floor to look out a different direction before returning to our room with a final look there before pulling the shades.

Quebec City Parliament Building

moonlight across the St. Lawrence River

We look forward to continuing our exploration of the city tomorrow.