Walking Tour and Parc de la Chute-Montmorency

I was in a foul mood this morning. I'd been woken up several times during the night and again this morning by a new guy who came to the dorm yesterday. I let him know in no uncertain terms when I got up that I wasn't happy and he did apologise to me when he saw me at breakfast giving the excuse of drunkeness. He was certainly old enough to know better but it did take me a while to stop fuming.

The walking tour went out at 10am. As I was ready early I took a short walk beforehand and it was very foggy and cool as a result. The 2 hour tour was very good. It was given in both French and English and I surprised myself with how much of the French I understood. It did go around the areas I'd visited yesterday but went a fair way to explaining the history of Quebec City and some of the sights. We ended back at the hostel by which time the fog had cleared and bright sunshine had come in its place.

I walked through the city centre to find a bus to take me to the Parc de la Chute-Montmorency, about 10 kilometres away. I spotted a girl from the hostel on the bus, Pila from Spain and we got chatting and explored the park together. It was nice to have a companion for the afternoon. The waterfalls are the main attraction and they were worth the visit. There are viewing points, you can go over the Falls via a suspension bridge and get up close (well close enough to get a good soaking) via the long panoramic stairway that snakes down the cliffs. We walked over towards the cable car terminal but the ride looked a lot shorter that I had expected and not worthwhile given the views we'd already had. We walked back up to the park via the rocky and steep July 31st Trail and then caught the bus back to the city. We were there for at least a couple of hours but I was surprised there wasn't more at the park and that they hadn't made the Falls a bigger attraction (there wasn't even any signage to direct you to them from the bus).

When we got back to the city Pila showed me a restaurant she'd found where everything on the food menu was just C$4.95. We ate there and the food was very good and oddly the waitresses spoke primarily in English. I may go back if I fancy a good, cheap meal as there was plenty of variety on offer. From there we walked back to the hostel, uphill as we'd been down near the station. I walked on and to a good spot to overlook the Saint Lawrence River where I relaxed with some music until the sun started to go down.

I met up with Pila later back at the hostel. She was going out to take some nighttime photographs of the city and I tagged along. It was still pretty warm out and it was very busy when we first stepped onto the main streets with so many people eating out. I'm back at the hostel now quite exhausted after much activity throughout the day. I'll have a snack and put my feet up and take a look at where in town to go tomorrow bearing in mind I need to find somewhere to watch the North London Derby.

Panoramic view of Montmorency Falls

Montmorency Falls

Porte Saint-Jean at night