The Jacobsons' Journey: Nous Avons Adoré la Ville de Québec!

As this post's title says, "We adored Québec City!" It was the crème de la crème of our Canadian Road Trip. All the other destinations leading up to our arrival in La Vieille Capitale just stoked our anticipation for this final stop on our trip.

Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985, this more than 400 years-old citadel, still surrounded by its ramparts and defensive walls, sits on a cliff high above the St. Lawrence River. Old Québec City is divided into the Upper and Lower Towns with churches, government buildings and residential neighborhoods built within the citadel's walls at top of the cliff while the docks and commercial buildings were constructed below.

The Funicular, two cable cars that counterbalance each other on the cliff's steep incline, serves as a quick alternative to climbing one of the 30 sets of stairs--Breakneck Stairs being a prime example (oh, my aching knees!)--that link the towns. Purchasing tickets to ride the Funicular was the only time we needed Canadian dollars during our entire trip. Nearly everywhere else we were able to pay by credit card.

Our Airbnb

We spent five nights at an Airbnb originally built in the early 1700s within the walls of Old Québec City, but renovated with all the modern conveniences. That was barely enough time to soak in the history and French spirit of the city. I thought I'd need to brush up on the French vocabulary I learned in college prior to our visit. After all, French is the official language of the province. Approximately 80 percent of the city's population are native francophones so you'll hear plenty of French spoken everywhere, but I soon found that fluency in French is not necessary. Many, if not most, Québécois are bilingual in French and English. Street signs and restaurant menus almost always are written in both languages.

I'd recently read Bury Your Dead, by Canadian author Louise Penny, one in her series of murder mysteries involving Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of the series takes place in Three Pines, a fictional rural community in Québec, but this installment had Gamache investigating the murder of an amateur archeologist whose body was found in the cellar of the Québec Literary and Historical Society in Québec City. Naturally, I wanted to see the places mentioned in the book:

Literary and Historical Society

which is in the Morrin Centre

Notre-Dame de Québec Basilia

with its beautiful interior,

Le Petit Coin Latin restaurant

and the house purportedly owned by Gamache's mentor, Émile Comeau.

I convinced my family that we needed to dine at Cafe Chez Temporel, another restaurant mentioned in the book.

Baguette topped with goat cheese, tomatoes and herbs

Their open-faced baguette sandwiches were absolutely delicious!

La Maison de la littérature

Also high on my list of sights to see were the city's libraries beginning with La Maison de la littérature which was just around the corner from our Airbnb. In 2015, this circa-1840s neo-gothic church, once a Methodist church, since decommissioned in 1931, opened its doors as a transformed, gleaming public library with a permanent exhibition on Québec literature, a comic book studio, a residency writers program and writing firms.

The interior of La Maison de la littérature

On the day of our visit, sunlight bounced off the bright white walls highlighting the chandelier, itself a resemblance of the sun.

la Bibliothèque Claire Martin

We found another beautiful library on our way to the patisserie where we bought breakfast croissants nearly every day of our stay. La Bibliothèque Saint-Jean-Baptiste serves its patrons in the former St. Matthew Anglican Church.

The building was purchased for a symbolic $1 by the city of Québec and opened its doors as a public library in May 1980. When it reopened after recent renovations in June 2017, it was renamed la Bibliothèque Claire Martin after a well-known local author. I loved its stained glass windows.

But enough of my enthusiasm for Québec City's libraries and literary scene, let's look at the other sights of the city.

Québec City's iconic centerpiece is Le Chateau Frontenac which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. This historic hotel was built by a familiar name, William Van Horne, the general manager of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, whose summer home we'd visited in St. Andrews-By-the-Sea. Originally designed as a stopover for railway travelers, it has since hosted a score of famous guests including Charlie Chaplin, Charles Lindbergh, Winston Churchill, Alfred Hitchcock, Princess Grace, Sir Paul McCartney and Céline Dion. It's arguably the most photographed hotel in the world.

We met a Parks Canada ranger in front of the chateau on the Plaza Champlain where a statue of explorer Samuel de Champlain commemorates his founding of Québec City. Listening to the ranger talk, we learned that Champlain in 1608 built a trading post here and called it Kebec from the Algonquian word meaning 'the river narrows here.' As we strolled along the Dufferin Terrace, a promenade that stretches from the chateau to the citadel, our ranger spoke of repeated attacks by the English until in 1759 General James Wolfe led the British to victory over General Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham, land originally owned by farmer Abraham Martin just outside the city. Four years later, the Treaty of Paris gave Canada to Britain.

Hôtel du Parlement

Despite that transfer to Britain, Québec has made a concerted effort to retain its French heritage. At least that's what our tour guide at the Hôtel du Parlement (Parliament Building), the provincial capital, told us.

Interior where the National Assembly of Québec meets

Key to retaining that heritage and culture was the preservation of the French language. It's been over 40 years since Québec adopted its landmark Charter of the French Language--Bill 101--on August 26, 1977. The contentious piece of legislation required all government, businesses, workplaces and education system to use French exclusively. English-speaking Québécois struggled to find employment under the new law and many subsequently left the province. Elementary and secondary students are all taught in French and there is a push to extend that requirement to post-secondary schools. So, forty years later, the debate continues.