--An Excellent Eastern Expedition--
DAY 7
Before bed last night, I put out a room service door hanger again, this time being a little more, um, restrained with my food ordering. I'd checked the "8-8:30" box and figured that by setting my alarm for 7:53, I'd be awake enough to answer the door when the person arrived.
At 7:52, they knocked. That's not a great way to be woken up! Totally disorienting. Still, I managed to stagger toward the door, let the guy in, and give him a tip before he left. Then I climbed back in bed, thinking the food could wait till I was coherent.
At 8:10, the room service guy returned & knocked again... because he'd forgotten to bring a bowl of fruit. I accepted the fruit and returned to bed.
At 8:20 came the shipwide announcement, welcoming us to Quebec City.
At 9:15, there was another knock at my door. Whether it was the room service guy wanting to take away the dishes (they couldn't know I hadn't eaten anything yet!), or somebody else, I'll never know, because I stayed in bed and ignored the knocking, and whoever it was, they soon went away.
Eventually I got up, ate breakfast, watched some Pride & Prejudice, and got ready to head out on the town of Quebec City.
In the cruise terminal, I passed by a room that looked like a conference room. There were tables and chairs and about 30 people were sitting in there, staring at their phones. The Wifi room! I stopped for about 10 minutes to use these services before continuing onward.
I used a map to find the funicular I had heard about in my QC research.
I paid $3 to ride to the top of this hill.
I thought, naively, that that would take me to the heights of the town, but no. You can go much higher. I found this out, much to the chagrin of my poor legs. I was following this path called La Promenade Des Gouverneurs, and there were about 300 steps to climb. Whiiich I didn't realize until I was halfway up, and I wasn't about to turn back.
I mean, great views, but wow.
Finally the steps ended at a park. From there, I made my way back "down" in another direction (avoiding steps.)
The architecture here was probably my favorite of all the cities I visited on this trip. Not by a landslide, just a margin... but still. How gorgeous!
I stepped into an old church, because of course I did.
I went down (not up, thank goodness) the hill below...
I went into an antique shop, where everything was très cher, even in Canadian dollars. Au revoir.
I took the picture below because I loved the crazy sidewalk pattern, but now that I'm looking at the building itself, I can't help being reminded me of something...
I stopped at a mini-mart, where water bottles were $1.89 each or 2 for $2. So naturally, I got 2.
I returned to the ship about 1:45. (Okay, first I made a detour to that Wifi room.) I went up to deck 11, where they were having a Poutine Bar at the place where they normally have the taco bar. You could order fries from the grill, and then top your fries with stuff from the bar.
I went with mushroom sauce, cheese sauce, and honey BBQ sauce, plus cheese curds. YUM.
Below is a shot of the pool deck, with its sun roof open. And though it may be hard to tell with the perspective, the chess pieces were the size of small children, and the Connect Four game was several feet tall.
Luggage tags arrived in my room today. Woe. Way to remind people that the cruise is coming to an end! (I envied those who were making the 14-day journey.) Even though 7 days on board is a good amount (for this traveler, anyway) I was sad to leave my comfy room and all the on-board amenities. The lack of responsibilities. The (relative) peace & quiet.
The perfect environment for a nap, in other words.
Around 5:30 I went up to deck 6 to watch the scenery. The captain announced that we'd be going under a bridge around 6:20 or so, so just prior to that, I grabbed my camera and went up to deck 13. It was less windy than it had been when we went under the Confederation Bridge, but it was still breezy.
He we are approaching the bridges... (yeah, there were actually 2.)
Lots of people were already up on deck 13. Like on PEI day, they exclaimed/gasped as our ship's mast JUST cleared the underside of the bridges. I wasn't too worried, personally. You have to figure this ship has traveled this route enough times... but with tides and rain and stuff, I suppose things can get iffy. Oh, the suspense!
I love that one lady's hand.
Around 7 I went up to Lido for my final dinner on board. I got zucchini bisque soup (SO good), a twice-baked potato, roasted veggies, asparagus, cheese & fruit, and a chocolate cream puff.
After dinner, I went back to my room and made an attempt at packing. As I'd be staying in Montreal a few days, it was mostly a matter of getting everything to fit and making sure the bags were about the same weight. (My luggage consisted of a Jansport backpack and a travel bag, which I could either hold by the handle or sling over a shoulder.)
On my TV, I could see that there was a pretty sunset happening, so I went out to deck 6 to get some photos. Unfortunately, the ship was heading right toward the sun, so the "sunset" view wasn't great from there. Up to deck 13 again! As I boarded the elevator at deck 6, a teenager hurried off, and as I went to press the button I wanted, I saw that he'd pushed all the buttons. I exclaimed unkind things as the doors closed, but I don't know if the little brat heard me.
After that slowww ride, I did get some good photos up on deck 13, but I regret to report that something outside smelled like the elephant exhibit at the zoo.
I decided to go back inside, unless the sky turned an awesome purple or something.
I did end up going back up around 9pm. The temperature was mild and the sky was gorgeous. So many different colors! Unfortunately, the smell changed from Elephant Lands to straight-up "Cows in a barn," which is not the scent I want to experience when looking at the ocean. (Okay, technically a river.) So. Back inside.
At 10:30, I went up to Lido for one final late-night snack. I got quiche, 1 macaroni ball, and some fried mushrooms. Also fruit. And cheesecake.
At this time I realized that there were more teens on board than I'd known about... because, like vampires, they apparently only come out at night (or occasionally slightly earlier, to push all the elevator buttons.) At 10:30, a horde of 14-16-year-old boys descended upon Lido like a pack of wild dogs. Where did you all come from? So much for the idea of Holland America being a ship full of elders.
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