Canada 14

As you can tell by the above picture, today wasn't a great day for sightseeing.  But when you are here for only a day you do with what you've got.  We've got Tropical Storm Nicole bringing all her lovely water.  Oh well, off to the city we go.

We stopped at the Citadel in Quebec City and had a nice tour of the facility.  We couldn't tour by ourselves because it is still a working garrison.  This is where the governor general of Canada stays when she/he is here.  The current governor general is just now retiring and the new one is in Britain learning how to be a governor general.  This is also where Churchill, FDR and PM King met to discuss their strategy for WWII.  Within some of the buildings there are a couple of museums that hold artifacts and medals.  One room (a converted jail cell) holds all the medals given to former military that have passed away and the families don't want to keep them at their residence.  Stories behind the medals are also stored there.  Each family has their own personal key that they use if they want to come and visit the medals.  There is also another full building that holds the records, medals and stories of every medal holder, including the Victoria Cross - the highest medal in Canada.  And in the same building the ashes of three of the five Victoria Cross holders are interred there.  The other two are still living, but when they pass their ashes will also be interred there.

Then the rain started a little harder, so we decided to drive through Vieux Quebec for a little until the rain let up just a bit.  It decreased long enough so that we could park for about a hour to have some lunch and walk the streets to window shop.  This is a very unique town in that it has an upper section and a lower section.  But it is a very beautiful city and one I would love to have spent more and drier time in.  Facing the St. Lawrence River is a HUGE building that dominates the skyline and that is the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac - a very classic hotel.  We asked our Citadel guide how much rooms are and he said they start at $200 and go up to 4 figures!  I guess if you have to ask you can't afford to stay.