Quebec City Stay

Sorel Marina

Trois-Rivieres Marina Garden

Trois-Rivieres Marina

Coast Guard Working on St Lawrence

Ste Anne de la Perade church

Lise and Agathe

Riding in a Miata

Francine and J.C.

Lise and Claude toasting their anniversary

dinner at Poisson d'Avril

Mom the 90 year old hotrodder

Claude Laberge visits

with Dave and Andree

Claude's wife, Lorraine

Louis-David and Jessica

Left Montreal for Sorel and Trois-Rivieres then on to Quebec City to arrive at low tide. In Sorel, they gave us the wrong dock and Mike went stern in with fenders touching the next boat. Mike finds it easier going stern in. He'd never tried it before not knowing how it would be. Big storm at dusk. One boat was just arriving as the storm broke so they had to wait it out near the marina. The next day we stayed in Trois-Rivieres marina which is near a big pulp and paper mill. Ah! the smell of sulphur. Brings back memories of my youth in Shawinigan. The next morning we left in time to arrive in Quebec city at low tide. As we neared the Quebec bridges, I called Lise J. to tell her to go to her balcony as we neared their home. There she was waving a big white cloth which I saw with our binoculars. We were lucky to visit with them on that evening as they were leaving on a camping trip the next day.

Notes on our stay in Quebec city from July 14 to 22, 2011

July 14: Arrived at Bassin Louise around 3 pm. We had reserved from July 15 to 22 but, in Three Rivers, decided to go with the tides and would arrive in Quebec 6 hours later. Approaching Quebec, I called to ask if we could change our arrival date to Thursday instead of Friday. The girl answering my call said “bonyeux”4 times before saying she'd call me back. 'Do you have my phone #? ' I ask. She says yes as it's in my file. So Mike shut off the engines and we coasted on the St Lawrence while having lunch. Fourty minutes went by so I called them back. They didn't have my phone # after all so they had emailed me 10 minutes after the original call to say they had room. Of course I hadn't checked my mail so lost half an hour. No sweat. As we neared the Quebec bridges, I called Lise Julien to tell her to go to her balcony and see us come by her house. With binoculars, I could see her waving a big white cloth to signal she could see us. We didn't think we'd get to see them as they were leaving on their camping trip on the 15th and returning on the 22nd the very same dates we would be there. So we got lucky and got to visit with Lise & Agathe on Thursday night.

July 15: orientation day in Quebec. Went to the Vieux Port market. Wonderful place. Got strawberries from Neuville. Delicious!!!

July 16: Found the Metro store so did a food shopping. Decided to go and see Mom. Missed the Ecolobus and then found out that, if we took regular bus, we would need to tranfer 3 times before getting to Place d'Youville. Got on the 1st bus but was too tired and cranky to go on. Walked back to the boat. Took 30 minutes. Not happy campers. We don't handle heat and humidity very well.

July 17: very interesting day today! Mike went to get ice and had the ipad with him hoping to get a signal. He dropped the case and broke the glass on the ipad. It's repairable so we went by bus to Place Ste Foy to the Apple store and they gave us a new one for free!!! Then we went over to Lise & Claude's for drinks and dinner at the Bamboo restaurant. Very good food. Went back to the boat by Navette Desjardins. For 3$/day you can use the navette all day. Very good deal.

July 18: As we needed to have internet to reload Navionics on the new Ipad, we went over to Cafe du Monde for a cappucino (me) and a beer (Mike) and downloaded the software. Lunch menu looked good so we had a delightful lunch. Got back to the boat at around 1:30pm. Went to Francine's today. JC came to pick us up at about 2pm. Had a wonderful day with them. Swam in their pool and they even lent us their Miata for a drive around the lake. Saw the Laberge estate. It's for sale and Dave is selling it. JC drove us back around 9pm after a lovely meal of General Tao food.

July 19: took the bus to Can Tire and bought propane. Lise & Claude picked us up & drove us around to run errands, go to get $$s and dropped me off at Mom's. They then drove Mike to the boat while I had a visit with Mom. Unfortunately Mom sleeps from 1pm to 2:30pm so didn't get to talk to her. So we went to the boat, had bubbly for L&C's anniversary, wine and nibbles then for dinner at Poisson d'Avril. Then L&C went home on the Navette and picked up their car at the Aquarium parking lot.

July 20: Another hot day in the city. In the morning Mike and I took the Ecolobus ($1) and #25 bus to St Brigids. I went to visit Mom and Mike went to Maguire and the park. Had a nice visit with Mom. She's very confused but did recognize me. We went for a tour of the garden. She insists on wheeling herself around. Strong arms! I left her just before her lunch. Mike and I met a noon and had a nice lunch at the St Germain. Then we shopped at IGA and took the bus back to the boat.

Dave & Andree came over to the boat and brought along a nice surprise. Claude and Lorraine Laberge! Hadn't seen them in 10 years. As a bad thunderstorm was coming, we all went over to Dave's for dinner. Bad storm. Lots of wind but it passed. Had a great time. Claude drove us home. Upon arrival at the boat, Mike noticed the kayak was missing. Found near the next boat over. The winds were so strong, it had blown the kayak right off the boat.

July 21: rainy morning, lots and lots of it until around 2 pm. Wanted to play tourist today but that didn't work out. Both had showers. Went shopping this afternoon around 4:30pm. Came back to a major gas spill. Marina people very lackadaisical about it. Not impressed with this marina at all. No desire to ever come back. Bought strawberries from ile d'orleans. Delicious! Tried to have something to eat at the Riviera. Got a table but nobody came with a menu nor ask for a drink order. After a while we just left. Now we're having beans and eggs for dinner at 9pm. What a way to end our visit to Quebec!

July 22: Left Quebec under hazy skies with special guests (Louis-David & Jessica). I think they really enjoyed the trip to Portneuf. Had a great lunch with Dave, Andree and the crew. Still extremely hot. Still no internet here. Really disappointed. Will send an email to notify everyone. Not sure where we're going from here. Construction holidays are starting today so it's going to be crazy wherever we try to go on Richelieu, Lake Champlain. Mike and I have discussed anything yet.

July 23 & 24: Marina Portneuf. Stayed an extra day due to high winds. Had a lovely brunch at Littoral restaurant.