{"id":6397,"date":"2026-10-10T08:45:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T12:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/?p=6397"},"modified":"2026-10-10T08:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T12:51:23","slug":"montreal-and-quebec-city-day-5-october-2nd-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/?p=6397","title":{"rendered":"Montreal and Quebec City, Day 5 \u2014 October 2nd, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>On Thursday night, Nicholas said he would love to have authentic croissants, so on Friday morning, Nick and I, being the early risers in our family, set out to get some. We wore our rain jackets, which were useful in the light drizzle, but it would have been better if we had taken our walking sticks, because our walk required us to go up and down \u00a0many steep \u00a0hills. We came upon a local woman, and I asked her where to get authentic croissants. She replied, “France.” That was intended to be a joke. Then she indicated a street where we could find a shop that sells them. \u00a0After walking up \u00a0many more steep hills, and consulting another local, \u00a0we found the right shop, Chez Smith<\/em>. We had walked 2,200 steps to get there and would walk another 2,200 to get back to our suite!<\/p>\n

By the time we returned, Nicholas and Carla were awake, and we all enjoyed our light and flaky croissants. After breakfast, I reminded Nick that our guide in Lago Maggiore had been so informative, and I suggested that we get a guided tour \u00a0here in Quebec City. \u00a0It wasn’t easy, because most of them were already booked. Finally, we found one that was available at 5 pm, and we booked it.<\/p>\n

We were almost at the end of our trip, and we had yet to \u00a0follow the suggestion of our niece, Debbie, to be sure to try poutine. Poutine is \u00a0considered to be \u00a0the signature regional dish of Quebec. It consists of fries topped by \u00a0hot brown gravy and cheese curds. It’s surprising that we hadn’t seen a restaurant that offered them before, but we found a recommended cafe and ordered it. We thought the first few bites were tasty, but I can’t say that any of us wanted more.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After lunch we did more exploring. Nicholas saw a local shop that might have a pin for my hat. It did, and I immediately bought one and added it to my collection. Then we tried to get tickets to La Citadelle<\/em>, an active military base, but it had already closed to visitors for the day. Next we went back to the boardwalk for another maple gelato. Afterwards, we walked \u00a0up a high hill, where the battle on the Plaines de’Abraham<\/em> between the British and the French, took place in 1759.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Just before 5 pm, we met our tour guide, who was in costume as a young woman named Jeanne from the 17th century. During our two hours with her, we learned about the history of Quebec City \u00a0as \u00a0she took us to parts of the city that are visited by tourists as well as \u00a0sights we would never had seen on our own, all while answering our questions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Our first site was the oldest surviving house in Quebec City, built in 1675. We saw the Ursuline Convent <\/em>that is now a school, but originally it was staffed by nuns to teach \u00a0girls and women. Thhe S\u00e9minaire de Qu\u00e9bec<\/span><\/span><\/em>, founded in 1663, like the convent, helped establish the religious and educational life of New France as well as preparing hundreds of young men for the priesthood. Last year it took in twelve. We saw part of the original walls of Quebec City and also some of the original cannons.\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Our guide told us about how the city emulates a European winter village at Christmastime. \u00a0Like a \u00a0German market, \u00a0it is a feast for the senses, that includes lots of \u00a0music, lights, \u00a0hundreds of trees and \u00a0the aroma of pine. There are German and Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois food specialties, and many unique items available in the shops.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Carla was surprised that I was speaking some French and she asked me how I knew the language. When I a was a senior in high school, I took an accelerated two year French course in one year. That was many decades ago, but I tend to remember languages.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After the tour, we tried to find a place for dinner, but as \u00a0it was the dinner hour and we didn’t have reservations, we weren’t having \u00a0having much luck. Eventually we found an Italian restaurant that said they could seat us in 15 minutes. \u00a0Va Bene!<\/em> That means “Okay”, and it was also the name of the restaurant.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nicholas and Carla \u00a0ordered Pasta Bolognese. \u00a0Nicholas ate every single bit of it on his plate, saying, “Your Mom would be proud of me!” Yes, she would be proud of him and his sister, \u00a0but not only for their culinary preferences! Nick and I shared a lamb shank \u00a0with risotto that was prepared with saffron, just as my mother used to make it. I loved it as a child, and I loved it that night!<\/p>\n

19,668 steps, a record!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday night, Nicholas said he would love to have authentic croissants, so on Friday morning, Nick and I, being the early risers in our family, set out to get some. We wore our rain jackets, which were useful in the light drizzle, but it would have been better if we had taken our walking … Continue reading Montreal and Quebec City, Day 5 \u2014 October 2nd, 2026<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quebec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6397"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6452,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397\/revisions\/6452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pisarro.org\/aboutnick\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}