Quebec - Museum and biking

Sunday began with gloomy weather and an occasional spit of rain. So, it was museum day. The Musee des Beaux-Arts has a permanent Inuit art exhibit that we wanted to see. The Inuits live up north, and are descended from the Dorsets and Thules. Artifacts found up there date back as far 4,000 years ago. Anyway, it's a pretty cool museum. This the new section. They have a great restaurant, really good food.



The old part of the museum, it was a prison at one time. They left some of the cells intact, they're about 8 foot long, 4 feet wide with no windows.


This is a monument for the death of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham. Abraham is the guy who used to graze his cattle, on the plain. Montcalm and Wolfe led their forces into battle, and after 15 minutes both were mortally wounded. Wolfe died on the spot, Montcalm took a little longer. That was the end of New France, the Brits got it.


When we emerged from the museum the weather had improved significantly. We walked down to Cartier Street which was just cuter than a bug. It's an upscale shopping area with lots of restaurants.



There is a shopping mall, sort of an arcade called Le Petit les Halles. They have the best looking stuff there.


Here were are at the cheese and meat store. Jim was in hog heaven. If they don't have the cheese, you don't need it. He got bleu cheese and pate. I do not share his affection for these food items, but he was practically swooning.


He got a slice of the terrine de Cognac, the one on the far left, front row. Look at the pretty ones on the back row on the right. Just lovely.

Italian store - they had quite the selection of fresh pastas.

Chocolate. Just lovely.


Cake! Look at those, they're just little works of art.


Atlantic salmon at the fish stall.


A hotel window on the Grand Allee.


Today was fabulous. For those of you in the GPNW, you know how it is when the sun shines in Seattle - how it's just incandescent? Quebec is the same way, it's more than sunny, it's just glorious. We rode up the bike trail on the south side of the St. Lawrence. It's a really cool trail. Paved all the way.


A marina along the way.

An abandoned ship yard, A.C. Davie. I can't tell you much about it because all of info was in French.



These are the gears that were used to haul the boats up out of the water. Engines were smaller then, they needed mechanical advantage.


Tomorrow should be good, more biking is on tap. Since all the trails are flat, we're riding the mountain bikes to provide exercise, and since mine weighs more than Jim's, I'm getting the most exercise, which is good because lunches have been too good here. These people are not afraid of butter!