Around Rue Saint-Louis

At the far end of Dufferin Terrace, the end with the Funicular, is the statue of de Champlain.

Statue of de Champlain at top of Funicular, adjacent to Chateau Frontenac

The eastern end of Dufferin Terrace is dominated by this statue of de Champlain. It's a popular spot for street performers during the night, but is pretty quiet on a vaguely wet weekday morning.

Champlain's statue looking at Recollect Monks monument in Place d'Armes

And de Champlain's statue (in the distance) is facing the Place d'Armes with its statue honouring the Recollet Monks (foreground). The Chateau Frontenac is to the right of this image.

A building along Rue St. Louis - a typical style of old building

A typical sytle of building in the old part of town.

A sign to be spelled carefully!

Ah, a name to be very careful saying, or spelling. Especially the first vowel!

Looking west along Rue St. Louis

Looking west along Rue Saint-Louis, the direction we'd be shortly heading, although not on this street - it's one way!

On The Bus

Somewhere along the road between Quebec City and Montreal.

View of St. Lawrence River, on

While we took the freeway for much of the journey, we did revert to Le Chemin du Roi the "King's Road", which is the original road, along the banks of the river. This is a view across the river, attempting to indicate the width of the Saint Lawrence River - you can just see a church with twin spires across the river.

Montreal Arrival

We were staying in downtown Montreal (see map), and the bus took us past the Olympic Village and main stadium on the way into town. I took no photos of these, as it's difficult to get a good angle from inside the bus. After some confusion as to which Delta Hotel we were staying in, we arrived at our hotel, and found that we were just a few blocks from the Jazz Festival site. And that we were "upgraded" to the Executive Levels of the hotel - the top three floors.

After settling in, we were scheduled for a "Welcome to Montreal" dinner at Le Latini Restaurant, about 6 blocks away. Half an hour before we were expected to leave, a thunderstorm struck, with torrential rain. The group split on how to get to the restaurant; I joined the group who decided to brave the elements and walk. After all, it's NOT a KPLU Travel Club tour without rain!

Turns out that some 50mm (2 inches) of rain fell in 2 hours, and that Montreal's drains can't cope with that much water all at once. It wasn't too bad for the walkers - we were drenched from about chest level down, but at least we dried out. And it was nice of the restaurant to let us drip water all over their floor. I also took my shoes off, to let them dry out, as the water at some street corners was deep enough to come over the top! Those who chose a taxi as transport of choice were somewhat drier, but by no means dry.

And, of course, we had a very enjoyable dinner, all the more memorable because of the wetness. I suppose the nice aspect of this was that it got the rain over with - well mostly; it did rain a little on Saturday, but was otherwise dry.

Last Morning In Quebec City

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