more Quebec City

July 30- We did NOTHING today but a couple loads of laundry. There was a big gathering of people to play a bocce tournament in fromt of our rig, as we are parked on the former volleyball court. i would like to say that as we have traveled through the Province of Quebec we have seen people bicycling. Sometimes it appears that it is a club biking together. we have seen children practicing Soccer with their coach. at that recreation area there is a hockey rink that appears like an above ground swimming pool. we have seen alot of the hostas with purple blooms.
July 31-We took the ferry back over from Levis to Quebec City. we chose not to go to the top today. we took a horse drawn tour that took about 35 minutes. Some additional information given. i was impressed that the lower city had been built on been on filled in area that had once actually been the St Lawrence River and thee are two streets that flood occasionally still. We ate at an Italian restaurant called Spag&tini/ le risto! We walked around for a bit for MORE photo ops and then returned to the RV.

campground residents playing Bocce

Le Chateau Frontenac from the St Lawrence

William and Rose/ Kate

train/bus station

     

hospital built by nuns

bascillica of Notre Dame

 

street scene





Another street scene

  

 Spag&tini restaurant

this skyscraper was designed after the empire state building
the Premier of Quebec still today lives in the top

      

old Post Office

YES we rode one of these

 

Montmorency Falls

Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls) are at the mouth of the Montmorency River where it drops over the cliff shore into the Saint Lawrence River. the falls were named by Samuel de Champlain in honor of Henri II, duc de Montmorency, who served as Viceroy of New France from 1620-1625. These falls are 98 feet higher than Niagara Falls the basin at the foot is 56 feet deep.

Until next time

Quebec City

We are camped on the opposite side of the St. Lawrence Seaway from Quebec. So we began our touring Quebec by boarding a ferry from Levis over to the city. We took a bus tour of Old Quebec(Vieux Quebec) Quebec was settled by French explorer, Samuel de Champlain in 1608. He chose a steep plateau to establish the capital of the New France. We took a cable car up to the old city. It indeed went straight up. The highlights of the bus tour were the Chateau Frontenac (the prominant structure of Quebec's skyline), the Citadelle, the Battlefields Park,and the plains of Abraham. This area is named after Abraham Martin who pastured his livestock on the lands of the Ursulines.  After the tour we ate at a restaurant that was recommended by a Canadian lady, Chantal Lahaie, who we had met with her husbacnd at MB. the name of the restaurant is Le Cochon Dingue/the crazy pig. i had porkabobs with a sweet and sour sauce with rice and veggies. bruce had a Caesar salad and french onion soup. We both enjoyed the food and the streetside cafe dining. It was a bit noisy but much cooler than inside. We got back on the ferry and called it a day.

Quebec from the St. Lawrence

Le Chateau Frontenac

          

the Parliament building

the old city is still walled today/ the gate Port Saint Louis

    

tourists for sure

the Citadelle/soldier changes guard every 2 hrs./entire facility is walled 

street scene

Rue du Petit Champlain/Little Champlain street

(red awning) Le Cochon Dingue/the crazy Pig

                 Until next time

je ne parle le francais

one of many churches in Levis/built in 1850

NO ONE speaks English well enought o give directions. We have spent today getting oriened o the area. We found a Wal Mart-no purchases. ALL labels were in French!! We did buy some groceries at a IGA grocery store. had some great sandwiches on bread we had purchased for our MOD. We spent alot of time in Levis today. both of these stores were in this town. levis is just across the river from Old Quebec City. We searched and searched for the Ferry that we will ride to catch a bus tour of Quebec tomorrow. It took MANY tries to find it. Lots of construction going on near it. Oh well. we will try again tomorrow

Beaumont, Quebec/Canada

the farmland stench of fertilizer is AWFUL as we pull out to leave this AM. A lady passed us walking the campground. she was wearing a cap with Obama on the front. I gave her a thumbs up and she came to talk to me. she was SO nice. Her name was Marie and was raised on the Gaspe Peninsula. She was an English teacher. she could speak English!!!! We stopped at a service area off I 40. Diesel was $4.92/gallon. It took 33.5 gallons.
We are seeing so much farming. Alot of hay in the fields to be stored. As wepassed Yamachiche I40 went very near theLac Saint Pierre. As we passed St. Maurice de Carrieres, we all three made use of the rest stop at an Esso truck stop. a very nice couple stopped and told us that our lights were not working. we knew there was a problem, but that waws so nice.  We made it thru Quebec with NO problems. we got to our destination in Beaumont, the campground had gone private and all they would say was that Camping Carol did not exist. They would not even let us turn around in their campground. Of course they spoke ONLY French. we were literally on the road. We drove on about one mile and found a campground with a site with full hookups in the sand. But we are good. At least we are not on the road. The view is absolutely magnificent!!!
Until next time  

Montreal

We awakened today to an overcast AM in the 60s!! Quite a change. we followed directions to find the Bastille of Notre Dame. Unfortunately, we wee on the right road and the right direction, but neither of us liked the looks of the area we were in???? SO we found a Shell station that repaired a right front tire that was leaking air. the worker found the nail and patched it in very short order and the manager said $15. Bruce said that he could have got that done for free at Garrison's store. Oh well we sure did NOT need a flat tire.
We did find a beautiful church in Masouche so i took pictures of it.
oh by the way, Canada does have Wal Marts. we just cannot figure out how to get off the exit to get to it. The exit has a way to local and also on to another interstate. ????
We found a Mc Donalds to eat a MOD. We each had a classic burger and an order of  'poutine' each. poutine is french fries with fresh cheese curds and brown gravy over them. I liked them alot. A lady Chatal Le Haie from the Montreal/Quebec area that we met at Myrtle beach told us to be sure to eat them when we got here. So we have and will stick with the regular french fries.

This afternoon, it has rained alot and had some thunder and lightening with it. After the rain stopped, we took a walk thru the campground and there were four young men playing a type of golf through. the campground. Different?? for sure.

A beautiful church

                       
Until next time

Parisse St Henri of Masouche

Canada

Today, we traveled to our first Canadian destination. We left Fort Drum after Bubba had come by at 6 AM. this was so good to see him again and he got to play with Petie and Petie LOVED it. it was raining as we left and rain and was cloudy most all day. It was only 63 degrees outside and 69 in the rig. It was COLD  Ha! Ha! We did use the heat some to knock off the chill. Going across the border was not bad. Questions like: "Passports?", tag #? (luckily, Bruce has that on his key ring, How many people are on board?, firearms? Petie was barking at the woman voice taking the information.
Canada has alot a desolate land. At a Rest Area, a trucker told Bruce that this was the first rain in two months. We had trouble finding the campground near Montreal., but finally found it! try reading signs that are in French. We puleed into what turned out to be a vegetable stand to ask directions and while bruce got the rig situated, i bought some tomatoes and cucumbers.
the Camp Horizon campground is beautiful. The guy declares that we have 50 amp electical service. But we only show 30 amp service on our meter. Our site is grassy and we pulled into it instead of backing into it.

crossing the border

welcome to the Province of Ontario

   

we made it to our first Canadian destination

Accueil/the Office

our site #801

A beautiful street in the campground

Another street scene in the campground

Alot of beautifulpermanent sites in this campground

moving on

This evening Bubba and Kelly and we had dinner at Maggie's restaurant in Watertown. A GREAT place to be. i had an interesting dish. Mac n cheese with lobster in it. the topping was bread crumbs and coconut. AND it was good.
We walked  down to the Black River that goes behind the restaurant with a river walk. Bubba tells us that the undertow is so strong that he could not stand up with it only ankle deep. he fishes in this river and loves it.

Maggie's

the Black river

       

the NY  Hamricks

the NY Hamricks and the NC 'Pop'

the NY Hamricks and Mom/ Mom in law

             Until next time

Alexandria Bay, NY

We have spent this am cleaning our RV. we stripped sheets off the bed, swept, vaccumed, mopped and cleaned leather furniture and cleaned sinks and shower.
Bubba went fishing with his friend and Kelly worked this AM. We went over to their apartment about 4:45pm. We picked them and their friend up and traveled north to Alexandria Bay, NY. We ate at a restaurant there in A Bay called Brass Tacks.

Brass Tacks

                                                                             


Then we boarded a boat tour by Uncle Sam's boat tours. this was at 7PM, so YES we got to see the sun set over the St. Lawrence River!

boat tours 

top deck gives a great view



Cherry Island's Casablanca/built 1872

                                                                        




A home on Millionaires row













                                                                      


 



mother in law's house

    











Boldt Castle on Hart island

             










Boldt's Clock Tower/Powerhouse/small castle appearance
 connected to Haart Island by the stone bridge

beautiful viewof St. Lawrence River

left island in Canadian waters/right island in American waters
Zavikon Island has the shortest international bridge in the world

we were told about the tragic love story of this castle. George Boldt was building the castle for a summer home his wife Louise. she died before it was finished and he stopped the construction and it was never completed. After years of vadalism and neglect the thousand Islands bridge Authority purchased the historic castle and  has done major restoration and rennovation to show it's grandeur. #1 attraction in the 1000 Islands Region.







boathouse sinking /unable to save
 as a historical structure



Until next time