Day 3 - Country Tour (Montmorency Falls, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre)
The only thing we had planned on our final day was our country trip, which was to leave at 1pm and have us back around 5:30pm. We woke and packed our things. We felt a little sad leaving our nice room, but eventually made our way down to the front desk and checked out. We left our bags with the hotel as we walked out on the street looking for a place to have some breakfast.
It was Easter morning and the streets were dead. It was overcast again and a little cool. Luckily, not far from the hotel we found this little restaurant. When we walked in there, there were two big tables of families and the hostess quickly approached us. We asked if they were serving breakfast and she explained that the place was rented out for private parties but they had a small table available for us to eat. They had a special breakfast menu that consisted of the usual eggs, sausage, bacon, baguette and fruit. That was good enough for us and it was a perfect start to the day.
After yesterday's fiasco with the tour company we decided to be there at 12:30pm although they told us 12:40pm. We went back to the museum and waited. It was cold outside so we went inside the front doors to keep warm. Aleen felt a little weird so she went outside to check quickly and sure enough, juts around the corner of the building, out of sight from where we were standing was the tour bus waiting. Luckily, she had that feeling or we would have missed it again. I think in Quebec City that was the first time I have seen tour companies be earlier than their suggested pick up times. We got in and went to the Chateau to pick up everyone else and pay.
It was a small bus and it was packed. Our tour guy was an older gentlemen that spoke both English and French. The only reason he spoke French was because we had a couple from France on the tour. Our first stop was like 20 minutes away on the Ile d'Orleans. An island that produces lots of fruits and vegetables for Quebec, we drove through the small farming communities and got a nice view back towards the city. After the island we headed another 10 minutes towards Montmorency Falls.
These falls are a bit higher than Niagara, but much narrower. We pulled up to the base of the falls and it was a cool experience as the water rushed down. We rested here a bit before the bus took us up top where we could then walk along this suspension bridge that goes right over the falls. It was a weird feeling walking on top of the falls as you saw them come and go right beneath you. The park set up different vantage points to stop and take in the falls, which was nice. There were quite a few people there but we were able to get in some good pictures and videos before we left.
Our next stop was the magnificent church at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre. On our way there we drove through some small communities and took in the nice views of the St. Lawrence from our high perspective. Back on the main road we took a quick pit stop at this copper museum where we were shown how copper carvings were made. The importance of this was to show the detail and work into making such crafts, as this was involved in the making of the front doors of the church we were soon to see.
Back on the road, now about 30 minutes from the city, we pulled up to the church. From a distance this church was the biggest I have seen yet. Once we got closer the detailing of the outside structure was beautiful. The artwork of the copper doors was like nothing I had seen before and must have took hours to craft. Once inside we were in awe. The church was massive and the amount of people it could hold in its long halls was tremendous. The detailing of the artwork and sculptures along every part of the church was overwhelming and describing it through words does not do it justice. We spent a lot of time just walking throughout admiring the artwork. After 45 minutes we gathered back on the bus and head back to the city.
Again we made a quick pit stop at this honey place where we saw hundreds of bees working hard in their hives. We also got a wine tasting of the wine they make there of honey. Seven different types, of which we got seven different shots. Interesting taste but something we did not expect on this trip. We picked up some chocolate which they also sold there which was good as we were getting hungry and it was now a little after 5pm.
We got back just before 6pm and we picked up some McDonalds before we headed back to the hotel. We got our bags, the front desk called us a cab and off to the airport, which was dead, for our 9pm flight back home.
Last updated: April 2006
