Live from the Maasdam - And now for the Return trip - Aug 25 - Sept 1
Saturday, August 25th - Montreal
The last passengers were called to disembark at 10 AM and finally at 10:30 the ship was cleared. The people who were in 001 did not leave the ship until 9:30 so we weren’t able to move until 10:30 after the room had been thoroughly cleaned. At 10 DH went down to get his picture taken for the next segment per instructions that we had received. At that time he discovered that he did indeed have to have a new picture as his did not transfer over. But mine transferred over to the new ID card without any problems. At 11:30, the new passengers began to embark on the ship. At 1:10 an announcement was made that the staterooms were ready.
We did not get correct information when I told you that there was only 4 of us doing the back-to-back cruises. After we got settled in, we were roaming around and discovered that a gentleman (who has well over 700 days) and his cousin (over 500 days) are also doing back-to-back cruises. Later we ran into a couple of other people are who doing the round trip.
Shortly before 2 PM some of the fire doors closed without warning. The officer of the watch came on and announced that they were working on the problem.
There were a lot of people on our first cruise who had their own laptops or were using the ships internet. About halfway through the first cruise, we discovered that our cabin, 004, was in “hot” zone and I was able to use the internet from there. We are also able to use the internet from our new cabin, 001, as well.
After we had lunch yesterday, we tried to go for a walk but so many people were coming onto the ship, the people in the terminal would not let us use the elevator. The only steps were at the end of the pier -- almost 2 ½ stories which I knew I could never handle with my knees.
At the life boat drill quite a number of people arrived very late compared to last week.
The sail away party was once again at 4:45 and since we didn’t have to unpack, we were able to stay. They had nachos with all the trimmings and 2 types of wraps - vegetable and chicken. We stayed for about half an hour and were surprised that there were very few people there.
We are back in Quebec City. We arrived here around 3:30 AM. As we did not hear a crunch of the smoke stack, we know that we passed under the La Pierre Laporte Bridge successfully again - we were told that we had a 3 foot clearance.
We woke up to a beautiful day compared to all the rain we had on Friday. Sunny and warm -- definitely we wore Bermudas while walking around. After breakfast in the Pinnacle we headed out. Some of the roads are partially closed due to a marathon. For example the 4 lane road in front of the cruise terminal is just 2 lanes - one in each direction and there are traffic co-ordinators to assist people crossing the streets so as not to interrupt the walkers and runners.
Upon leaving the cruise terminal we cut across the parking lot to the left and headed out to Dalhousie Street where we turned left onto Cote de la Montagne Street. That steep street took us up the hill past the Montmorency Park. Do not confuse the this Montmorency Park with the one I mentioned before that is associated with the Montmorency Falls -- they are not in the same area. Once we got to the top of the hill we walked around the various streets viewing Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica (open daily from 8 AM to 4 PM), Museum of French America (open daily 9:30 - 5 June 24 through Labor day; Tues - Sun 10 - 5 the rest of the year), city hall, many shops and restaurants.
As we are here on a Sunday, those shops that chose to be open had hours from 9 AM to 2 PM. Of course we stopped by the Frontenac Hotel which is undergoing a face lift. As it was close to noon we thought we would stop for a drink at the bar but unfortunately it was not open. We also looked at the ruins of the old citadel walls dating back to the seventeenth century. We took pictures of the Church of the Holy Trinity, City Hall as well as statues and monuments to Cartier, Marquette, Joliet, and Montmorency. These men were important in the history of Quebec. Coming down we used a different route that paralleled the Funicular which took us along small, cobblestone streets. Our own walking tour took nearly 3 hours and covered almost 5 miles. We also passed by and took pictures of what DH called an artist’s “whimsy” - the artist painted the side of a 6 story building using scenes of Quebec dating from the 17th century to the present in 3 dimensional perspective.
You can use the Funicular to get up and down the hill, which will save you a half hours walk each way. It costs $1.50 per person each way. We did not see any roads that were wheel chair accessible to get to and from the funicular.
We spent a couple of hours out on the verandah this afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather, watching the sail boats and speed boats as well as a couple of Canadian fighter jets go by. This evening is a smart casual evening along with the production show “On Track”.
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Live from the Maasdam - And now for the Return trip - Aug 25 - Sept 1
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