The streets were still relatively empty, despite it being 9am, and we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the streets to the funicular railway that links the lower town to the upper town. As we are still the parents carting everything around in a stroller, including at times 'The Youngest', it was an almost impossible task to fold down the stroller and cart all our belongings into the funicular, so whilst the girls and I took the ride to the top, poor hubby took the long way around, pushing the stroller up the winding hill to meet us at the top.
The view from up here of the St Laurent river was beautiful, as was Le Chateau Frontenac towering impressively over us in the background. Well, at least 3 of us thought so. The Youngest, who is suitably un-impressed with her parents love of travel, loves to vocalise her immediate desire to return home 'right now', frequently and with great volume. Nevertheless, we persist in dragging her around with us, in the hope she will wear herself out and fall asleep for oh, I don't know - at least a couple of hours...
So, part of our wearing out strategy was to make her walk the 312 steps up along the Governors Boulevarde, taking us from Upper town up to the Plains of Abraham and the Citadel. This lovely walk gave us even more impressive views of the St Laurent River and Quebec city. However, as we are still the parents carting everything around in a stroller, we had left the stroller at the beginning of the Governors boulevarde (you would think consulting a map would have had us realise the importance of taking it with us) so I had the delightful experience of re-walking this gorgeous walk, collecting the pram and taking the long way around, pushing the stroller up the winding hill to meet my family at the top who were basking in the sunshine eating ice creams..
One of our prime objectives for the day was to visit the Citadel and do the 1 hour guided tour (the only way you can visit as it is still an active military base). This was well worth the effort and very enjoyable as The Youngest did fall asleep halfway through and The Eldest contented herself with collection flower petals and stones, while us parents actually had a 'cultural experience' that is rare when in the company of our children.
We celebrated by having lunch back in the lower town in a lovely Italian restaurant that not only served us great Pizza, but much needed beer and wine to go with it. By this time, the crowds had arrived and it became apparent that for us anyway, Old Quebec is much much more magical with no-one around. So we did some souvenir shopping, admired some much desired but too expensive artwork and headed back to our car. A two hour drive ahead of us to Riviere du Loup for our overnight stay before heading into New Brunswick tomorrow.
I wish I could say the rest of the evening was uneventful. Having had a lovely restaurant meal for lunch, we opted for sandwiches from Subway for dinner, which would have been great, had The Youngest not vomited on our feet at the cash register in Subway.
All I can say now, is Thankyou Mum for bringing over the Phenergan in March. It has helped to settle The Youngest stomach so far. Tomorrow's blog will either begin with me saying how much I love Phernegan or adopting The Youngest chant 'I want to go home - right now".
Who travels with kids????
Jen x
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