Quebec - Ste. Anne's Cathedral and Ile d'Orleans

Saturday morning we mooched around the RV for awhile and then decided we should go sight-see something. We headed out intending to see a waterfall at Montmorency. However, after missing the exit to the park, we looked at the waterfall from the freeway and decided it did not look that interesting. So we headed east for another waterfall, which was on the other side of Ste. Anne's Cathedral. Traffic was just horrendous due to construction and the mountain bike races further on down the road. So, we decided to go visit the cathedral.
The first thing you have to ask, is WHY is this HERE? We're out in the toolies in a small town with this! Ste. Anne is the mother of Mary who was the mother of Jesus.






Here is a link for more on Basilica of Sainte-Anne de Beaupre'. Some form of a shrine to Ste. Anne has been here since the mid-1600s. The current basilica was built in the 1920s. Millions of pilgrims have been coming here for hundreds of years.



This is the miraculous statue. It was carved from a single piece of oak. Apparently being in the presence of the statue effects healing. As in St. Joseph's Oratory, there are piles of canes and crutches that are no longer needed.

The back of the basilica has niches for the path to Reconciliation. All the text was French, and being non-Catholics we weren't clear on what was being represented. But the niches were beautiful.



A replica of the Pieta.


Downstairs are two more chapels. The larger of the two is the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. This is the front of the area.


A look at the ceiling. The design is tile mosaic.


The outer edge of the chapel is decorated with paintings of various religious situations. Again, all in French so I can supply no narrative.



This is the other smaller chapel. It's just beautiful. I did not use the flash because there were several people in there praying, and I hate being the ugly American. The light coming through te windows was glowing.

So - the cathedral turned out to be a good destination all on its own. Below is a picture of the surrounding area. Small town, not a lot there other than the cathedral.

After the cathedral we went to Subway for lunch. It was comical. The farther away you go from Montreal the less English is spoken, and this is even more pronounced as you move away from Quebec. I know the word for turkey, dinde, but did not know how to pronounce it. I tried several variations but the young woman behind the counter either could not or would not understand me. Sometimes I think they enjoy not speaking English with the people from the United States. Anyway, we eventually got the order in. Another thing I have noticed is that persons from the United States should not refer to themselves as Americans. The Canadians take offense at this, and rightly so, because they are also citizens of the American continent. So, I have curbed that speech pattern.

Then it was off to the Ile d'Orleans. Very agricultural but very lovely. It's a huge island in the St. Lawrence river. The bridge.

One of the many cute farm houses. If you look at the island with Google Earth you see how much of it is devoted to agriculture.


This looked like a gathering of the family. There are 4 RV's on the front yard. How would you like to mow all of that grass?

A resto on the island - featuring rabbit.

Coming back was a trial. We were on 440 which suddenly branched, 440 continued with one lane which really looked like an off ramp, so we didn't go there and suddenly found ourselves in downtown Quebec. The abandoned building is interesting as it has no back wall anymore. Anyway, we were able to make a U turn in town and avoided the massive Jazz Fest traffic. The navigation system took us through parts of Quebec we never would have seen otherwise, then way far north, but eventually returned us home. I have always wanted to talk to navigation system programmers and ask them what were they thinking?

Sunday, today, we're moving the RV to a different site. It should be less muddy and it has a concrete patio so maybe we'll quit tracking in so much grass into the RV.