Sunday, January 2, 2011

Day 23 - Tour of Chateau De Frontenac

Headed into the château as I got dressed for our tour of the château, but felt horribly under dressed compared with most of the group. Met our very young French tour guide who was cute but didn’t speak loud enough at times during the tour and I was really straining to hear him sometimes.  
The Foyer of the Château De Frontenac 
But the chateau was so beautiful and positioned overlooking the St Laurence River, we saw the Rose Room along with the older areas of the hotel. We learnt about why the roof was green which I had learnt on the last tour because over time the copper discolours.
The St Laurence River 
We learnt that the hotel was built by Bruce Price who was the Father of Emily Post who was the queen of etiquette in the USA. It was built in the late 19th century for the Canadian pacific railway and there has been a number of expansions since. 
The Rose Room
It was also the host to the D Day talks with Roosevelt and Churchill during World War 2 so there is so much history and if those walls can talk. 
The Wishing Steps with our tour guide telling us about
the legend so we had to make a wish as we went down
I think you have the time it is well worth doing a tour of the Chateau it is a fascinating tour. With a lot of big names that have stayed there it really is steeped in history.  The view was amazing and with the view over the original excavation site it was pretty cool. While we did as part of the optional on the Cosmos Eastern Cities tour so it was well priced but we had dinner included so it was about $15 I think for just the tour. 
From the Bar looking towards the beautiful sunset 
The tour ended with a drink in the bar and lots of photos of the sunset over the St Laurence and with our beautiful Christina. Once we all sat there and got to know each other a bit more, we headed of to the Café De Paris which was a little bit further down the street. It was so pretty of a night and you understand why it is the most photographed hotel in the world.
Beautiful Sunset 
I sat with Marie and an older couple from England whose name I can’t remember (so bad with names but great with faces) who were just lovely and it was nice to spend the time to get to know them. 
The Streets of Quebec 
That is the one thing that was lacking from the Rockies tour is the lack of dinners together. There were only 2 on the Rockies while there are 5 or 6 on this one and so worth it. 
The Alleys overlooking the Château 
We headed back to the bus – I felt very weary and feet were really sore and tired. Christina was talking us through the day and seeing who had a good day and who did what, as we passed she asked who climbed on top on the St Johns Gate Wall. There was silence on the bus until a voice up the back pipes up with ‘ME’!!!  I did... And laughter erupts up and down the bus with Christina ending the chat with why I am not surprised.  Yes I am not doing well at the invisible thing am I? 
Relaxing at the bar 
Went straight off to bed because I was so tired after such a long day and we were heading off to Montréal tomorrow at least it wasn’t going to be as long on the bus.  
Bye bye Château 

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