Quebec City, Quebec

It was sunrise when the Viking Sun prepared to dock at Old Quebec City.  Hotel Frontenac welcomed us from its perch high above the St. Laurence river.  This is the most photographed hotel in the world.  After leaving Montreal, we headed back down the St. Laurence River toward the Atlantic Ocean.  In doing so, we are stopping again at Quebec City and Saguenay which we just visited a few days ago.  This is for the benefit of the 600 "short timers" (new passengers) that boarded in Montreal and will disembark in New York.  (Only 180 of us are booked on the half or full world trip.)

Our excursion today took us to the pastoral island of Île d'Orléans, one of the first areas of Quebec settled by the French.  Originally this was farm land, but today the island is far more valuable as a summer retreat for city folks looking for a place to unwind on the weekends.  There are, however, a number of small wineries here.  We visited one.

Its only 10:30 in the morning and look at all of the smiling faces. (Must be that its not raining.)

 Who said that Jan doesn't enjoy a glass of dry white wine before lunch?

Its easy to fall in love with this place.  Above, the vineyards in the foreground are flanked by a backdrop of beautiful fall colors, the St. Laurence River and in the distance, the Laurentian Mountains.  And they only have 150 inches of snow a winter!

Oak barrows are used to age the wine.  This winery considers itself small and only produces about 55,000 bottles a year.

Leaving the island, we stop to view the Montmorency Falls located at the mouth of the Montmorency River where it drops over the cliff shore into the St. Lawrence River.  At 272 feet high, it is 99 feet taller than Niagara Falls.  We boarded a cable car to reach the top of the falls where we could get a bird's eye view from the overhead footbridge.

View from the overhead footbridge.  Champlain named the falls  in honor of the Duke of Damville, Charles de Montmorency-Damville, Admiral of France and Brittany.

Montmorency Falls is without a doubt one of the most striking natural wonders in the Québec City area. 

Lunch was at a French Restaurant near the top of the falls.  Jan and I had pasta with vegetables and now know that the Italians are far better at pasta entrees than the French.

Nautical Term of the Day -- Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

The "devil seam" was the curved seam in the deck planking closest to the side of the ship next to the scupper gutters.  If a sailor slipped on the deck, he could find himself "between the devil and the deep blue sea."