Gene and Jan's Long Trip Too

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...

Day 28 we arrived in Quebec City and for the first time in a fortnight, the sun brightened our day!  We have toured the historic part of the city in the past, so instead decided to visit the Huron-Wendat (Indian) Village.  Located in Wendakt, the reserve is now totally surrounded by greater Quebec City. The early French explorers nicknamed the Wendat "Huron" (meaning boars head in French) because of the men's hairstyle. Arriving at the village we walked past the Wendat Nation's Church built in 1730.  The French  converted the natives to Christianity and today they are predominately Catholic. Across from the church is a park depicting the Nation's "Myth of Creation."  According to the legend, The "Sky Tree and Mother of Creation" fell into the "Water World" from the "Sky World" above.  Seeing this, the astonished geese, otter, muskrat and beaver sacrificed their lives to rescue her.  The turtle gave up his shell t...