"Wowed by Quebec City"

HAUTE VILLE: This is where the tourists hang for the most part. Includes:

La Grande Allee: Just outside the walls. Outdoor dining and cafes, great people-watching, bit overpriced though.

Le Chateau Frontenac: pretty and the building everyone associates with Quebec. Nice view of the Saint Lawrence River. It's actually a hotel and is only about 100 years old. Snap your photo of it and move along. Actually, often there's great entertainment around here in the evening: mimes, musicians, firebreathers, and jugglers.

Le Vieux Port: Go down les Escaliers Casse-Cou (Breakneck Steps) or take the funicular. Some houses and churches here date from original settlement times. Gorgeous architecture that brings you to a long-forgotten time. Many festivals take place here.

Plains of Abraham: Great views of the Saint Lawrence River, great for roller-blading, playgrounds, frisbee, hackeysack. Musee du Quebec showcases high quality Quebec art here.

Ave. Cartier: chi-chi cafes line this street away from the tourist district. Abuts Plains of Abraham.

Rue St. Jean: Great shopping from le Vieux Port, vibrant Gay community, world-class nightlife.

Basse Ville: Working-class Quebec City but drips with local charm; some great reasonably-priced restaurants can be found on Blvd. Charest or Blvd. St. Joseph.

Quick Tips:

The area immediately surrounding the Chateau Frontenac within the walls is the favoured tramping ground of tourists. If you wish to practice your French and see areas more popular with Quebecois people, choose a restaurant at le Vieux Port near the train station, go to la rue St. Jean outside the walled city ramparts, or go to the rarely-visited by tourists but charming and predominantly working-class Basse Ville area. Avenue Cartier has some great outdoor restaurants (Cafe krieghoff is particularly famous) and not often seen by tourists.

Learn about Quebec government by going to l'Assemblee Nationale right outside the city walls by la Grande Allee. For those of you who live in Quebec province, you can see where all the heated political debates take place and where the premiers meet with the press. We heard guided tours in French, English and Spanish.

Best Way To Get Around:

WALK! Quebec City was built long before cars and is delightfully compact and has excellent public transportation; most points of interest can be seen only walking around on foot.

There is no subway but there is a Metrobus (Bus #801 and #802) has its own lanes with specific stops, very much like a subway. The Metrobus is specifically useful if you want to check out Laval University (.25 each way).

The Quebec City train station is an architectural delight with a copper roof and high vaulted ceilings with engraved walls. Train & bus station are right next to one another in la Basse Ville...taxis wait out front AND the stations are within easy walking distance of just about anywhere you're likely to be staying (particularly close to le Vieux Port).

Situated smack in the heart of la Basse Ville on rue St. Joseph, this popular brunch place/cafe has a rather high funk quotient, pleasant decor and a good dose of style. You'll be one of the rare tourists who sets foot in here if you decide to come. And beyond that, they serve up tasty, high-quality brunches at a very reasonable price. I particularly enjoyed the spiced potatoes that came with my eggs...yummy. There are also more healthful options for those who so choose.

For a city of 650,000 in the entire metropolitan area, Quebec City has a pretty impressive Gay scene. In my opinion, it's as good as that of MUCH MUCH larger cities in North America, excepting the biggies like NYC, Montreal and San Fran. Le Drague on rue St. Augustin just off St. Jean is one of the main centers of activity. In the summer, there are tables sitting out front of cobblestoned rue St. Augustin and there's quite a buzz out front with people clearly enjoying one another's company. Inside, it's quite impressive with several floors of activity. From a leather bar for those so inclined to a sit-and-drink bar to a bar downstairs and a discotheque one flight more downstairs with an overlooking railing, there's really quite the selection. The music in the discotheque was very high-quality house-techno on the Friday I went and the crowd was enthusiastic, well-dressed with a high funk factor. What a blast! Thursday night and Sunday night are drag show nights and pull in quite the crowd.

Quebec City's Lesbian scene is almost more impressive than its Gay scene, given the number of bars in the city...three! That may not sound like much to some, but some larger North American cities only have ONE. For a city of 650,000, that's almost unheard of. L'Amour Sorcier and Cote Ste. Genevieve in general is Lesbian central in Quebec City. L'Amour Sorcier is a two-story Lesbian bar with a lovely outdoor terrasse overlooking some gorgeous architecture and steps leading down to la Basse Ville. The crowd was very genial; some very butch motorcycle-riding Lesbians started up a friendly conversation with my friend and I, since we evidently looked like out-of-towners. A group of grunge women sitting on the other side of us pulled out a guitar and starting singing some beautiful French ballads. At another table, a women and her male companion were reading and discussing philosophy. Service was very good and friendly. Their sangria was so-so but cheap so who's complaining. The bar was very welcoming to Gay men or men with open minds who did not hit on the patrons/staff.

When my friend and I set foot in la Place Royale we didn't know exactly what we were in for. Walking in we discovered a group of about 60 dancers or so, all in early New France garb...men with curly long wigs, exaggerated mustaches and regal court of Louis XIV garb (hat with frill required); women equally court-ly with headdress and period outfits dancing in cotillions, moving synchronously in the most jolly manner.

Elsewhere erstwhile soldiers on stilts (1 1/2-2 feet at least) and noses a la Cyrano de Bergerac danced skillfully (I don't see how they did it in the Old City's cobblestone streets) and entertained onlookers with their playful, fun-loving antics. On another day, peasant dances were the theme, with fast-moving twirls, clapping, dancing in a line to a ever-quickening musical entertainment (musicians and dancers all dressed accordingly). I found myself giddily swept up in the heady atmosphere, clapping along and dancing myself.

Stands a la epoque (of early New France) sold goods from fresh fruit to popular dishes of a long-forgotten time, from caribou to a potato/veal cake to fresh fruit/vegetables to modern dishes. Other stands had names of the earliest New France settlers so people could trace their roots.

It seemed that the whole city had come out to proudly present the rich intricate historical scene. Apparently the mayor is a strong supporter of preserving and celebrating the culture and history of la ville de Quebec, one of the oldest cities in the Americas. Combining the gorgeous historical architecture with a rich history and life-loving populace, the festival will be a memory I will treasure for a lifetime.

The spacious, impeccably clean art-deco Musee du Quebec might remind visitors who've been to Ottawa of the National Gallery of Art. Very modern with headsets for those who wish to learn more.

There are several permanent exhibits. Jean-Paul Riopelle has a whole section containing birds in a whole assortment of positions. A unique style and sometimes compelling.

There's local art showcased in the Quebec, Art d'une Capitale exhibit. This has some gorgeous landscape and historical paintings.

The Tradition et Modernite au Quebec exhibit traces the changes through painting in the province as people moved from a Catholic church-dominated society to Quebec's Quiet Revolution and beyond.

Jean Paul Lemieux is a very talented painter whose artwork portrays sadness and despair in a very poignant manner.

Temporary exhibit: Presently, there is an exhibit showing the sculptures and bas reliefs of Hebert. Some of his sculptures were quite powerful: one stand out that showed a battle to the death between a European and Native American. Others were lifelike representations of many historically important people in Canadian history from John A. McDonald to Sir Georges-Etienne Carter.