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.

Rue Saint Jean

When we had our fill of tours, we took to the cobbled streets.

Place Royale

Notre Dame Des Victoires

The interior of Notre Dame Des Victoires

We wandered through the city in search of its unexpected charms

 before stopping to people-watch at sidewalk cafes,

underneath the shadow of Le Chateau Frontenac.

We could almost imagine that we were in France.  Ah, la Ville de Québec!  How we adore you!

Driftless

After two nights in Prairie du Chien's Motel Six (Oh, boy!  Do we ever miss the bed in the RV!  But we've got to stay within our budget even if it means a couple nights in less than desirable accommodations.  Did I mention the police who knocked on our door in the middle of the night?  They were responding to a 911 call made from the motel.  Such an adventure!  But back to my point), we crossed the bridge to its sister city, Marquette, Iowa, to travel through the Driftless Area in the northeast corner of that state.

The Driftless Education and Visitors Center where we stopped in Lansing describes the terrain this way:  "Can you imagine this landscape at the bottom of an ocean?  Or as the only dry land surrounded by a sea of ice?  These geologic events shaped the Driftless Area long ago, and each dramatic epoch left its mark on the land.  Their legacy is this hilly landscape built from soluble rocks like limestone.  Geologists call this karst topography.  In Iowa, we call it The Driftless."

Up early due to a less than restful night, Tim and I arrived at the center at 8 a.m. just as the wildlife ranger was unlocking the door.

His assistant was absorbed in feeding the amphibians and snakes in their terrariums so we spent a quiet hour there learning about the ecology of the area, especially the conservation efforts of the wildlife service to replenish the freshwater fish and mussel populations.

Photo on display at the Driftless Education & Visitors Center

I was also interested in the exhibit about local farming techniques.  To keep harmful pesticides and sediment from washing into local waterways that drain into the Mississippi, farmers have left natural buffers, small tracts of land with permanent vegetation, to serve as filters.  We saw these as we drove to Lansing.  Such buffers reduce the migration of pesticides and herbicides by half.

After climbing Mount Hosmer to another scenic view of the Mississippi, we drove across the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing into Wisconsin.

A visit at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery, another Great River Road interpretive center, gave us a first-rate introduction to more than two dozen species of freshwater fish the hatchery is attempting to save.

I found it impossible to capture the many ponds where the hatchery is raising the fish.

Photo courtesy of the Great Road Interpretive Center near Genoa, WI

This aerial view of the Genoa National Fish Hatchery on display at the center gives a much better view of the scope of the hatchery.

 Some of the fish they ship considerable distances.  For example, the lake sturgeon they raise here are sent to stock streams from New York to Tennessee while the Higgins' Eye Pearlymussels (isn't that a great name?) go as far south as Gainesville, Florida.

Charles Bird King, Sauk Chief Makataimeshekiakiah or Black Hawk, 1837, Public Domain

Besides its obvious mission to educate the public about aquatic wildlife, it also has an excellent exhibit regarding the Battle of Bad Axe, the final battle of the Black Hawk War fought in 1832.

Map courtesy of the Genoa National Fish Hatchery Interpretive Center

This battle, if you can call it that, occurred just south of the hatchery.  It's another tale of broken treaties that led to the wholesale slaughter of almost all Black Hawk's band.

Then it was on to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where our attention shifted from the environment and the Black Hawk War to Catholicism.  At the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we joined other visitors in a pilgrimage to the Shrine Church which was constructed in 2004.

Along the way, we stepped into the Mother of Good Counsel Chapel.

Beautiful stained glass windows on three sides of the chapel formed a semi-circle around this pyramid of lit votive candles.

Statues like this one of Saint Joseph the Workman, a tribute to the earthly carpenter father of Jesus, drew our notice as we continued to climb.

When we reached the Shrine Church, we learned that a celebration of mass was in process so we hiked up to the Stations of the Cross.

The bronze relief sculptures like this one of Pontius Pilate washing his hands after questioning Jesus were especially moving to me.

The Shrine Church of Our Lady of Guadalope

By the time we returned to the church, the service had ended and a tour guide welcomed us to join him for a closer look at its architecture and ornamentation.

That was not the only church we visited in La Crosse.  Later in the day, we stopped at the beautiful Mary of the Angels Chapel on the grounds of St. Rose Convent, the motherhouse of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

Mary of the Angels Chapel

Since August 1, 1878, at least two sisters have maintained a 24-hour vigil here to pray for the Church, the community and the world.  This group of nuns have contributed so much to the city in the arenas of health care, social welfare and education.

The order opened St. Francis Hospital in 1883, now the Mayo Clinic Health System--Franciscan Healthcare in La Crosse.

In 1890 the sisters began St. Rose Normal School to prepare sisters to teach in elementary schools.  Today it's known as Viterbo University, a Catholic liberal arts university.

So in less than eight hours we went from being driftless in Iowa to examining the roots of Catholicism in La Crosse, all in a day's trip on The Great River Road.