Wow, what a day! Today was an extremely busy day that started at 7:45 this morning when we loaded the bus for a tour of Quebec. Our tour guide, Roger, was the best guide we have had yet. He would tell stories and give us the history of Quebec in a way that was very interesting. So much of what he told was familiar from history classes in school, but he was able to bring it alive with explanations about why certain events occurred. We toured the walled city of Quebec and the Plains of Abraham by bus and then took a walking tour of the lower city and then the upper city. It was all so interesting. Quebec - pronounced K-beck - means "narrows" in the Algonquin language. That is because the St. Lawrence river narrows to less than 1 mile in the area by Quebec. The population of Quebec is around 700,000 and their main resource is tourism. They have 9 visitors for every resident each year. 96% of the population is French Canadian Roman Catholic - there are 100 Roman Catholic Churches compared to only 7 Protestant churches.
Quebec- the city and the Province - is extremely environmentally conscious. 
They incinerate all their non-recyclable garbage and use the heat generated to heat water used in a paper mill. All electricity is hydro-electric and they export 735,000 volts of power to the U.S. each hour of the day. Quebec gets 200" of snow each winter. Snow is hauled to the incinerator and melted and then recycled. It is a very clean, green, safe city.
Quebec is also a very European city in appearance.
In the old town, streets are very narrow; shops are small and primarily deal in locally made products. Flower boxes adorn the streets and storefronts, and no neon or electric signage is allowed. 
Chateau Frontenac - the hotel centerpiece of Old Quebec
The provincial government purchased most of the buildings in old town and had them restored to 16th or 17th century style. It is indeed a beautiful place to visit.
After the bus tour, Roger took us to the 1st residence of the English Governor of Quebec, Manoir Montmorency, for lunch. 
Following lunch we were able to walk to Montmorency Falls. At 272 ft. high, Monmorency Falls is 98.5 feet higher than Niagara Falls.
We could walk along a boardwalk until we reached a suspension bridge that crosses over the falls. The falls feed into the St. Lawrence River. Lunch was good and the fall were awesome.
Next we drove to the Isle of Orleans, a 21 mile long 6 mile wide island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. The St. Lawrence River flows from south to north and is affected by the tide from the Atlantic ocean. The river west of the Isle of Orleans is very shallow and has little water in it when the tide is out. The river east of the Isle is deep enough for ocean liners and other ocean going ships to travel there. 
After a stop at a farmer's market and and ice cream store, we drove around a small part of the island. Many people keep summer homes on the island while the larger part is covered by farms. By law, farms could only be 500 feet wide and 3 miles deep. This made for close neighbors for the farmers - there was a farmhouse every 500 feet along the road. Also, by law the land must remain as farmland and cannot be subdivided. The island sported the most fall color that we have seen - that gives us hope about seeing more colors in the coming weeks. (No pictures of fall colors because it's hard to take pics from a moving bus.)
Further away from Quebec we visited the Albert Giles Copper Works. Mr. Giles immigrated from France to Detroit, California, and finally Quebec in the 1930's. Since then he and his family have operated a business that does Repousse art or the art of creating copper art embossing. 
One of Mr. Giles daughters demonstrated how they take thin sheets of copper and emboss different designs. Their showroom was loaded with plaques, plates, jewelry, clocks and numerous other items they have made. Jenna bought a plate with a rooster embossed and then enameled to add to her rooster collection.
Mr. Giles biggest and most impressive art work was to be viewed at our next stop. He died in 1979 but his family has continued the business.
The Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre is located in the small village of St. Anne which is about 20 miles north of Quebec. 
St. Anne-de-Beaupre was the mother of Mary- thus Jesus' grandmother and the Patron Saint of the Storm. According to legend she saved 5 sailors who were in a storm on the St. Lawrence River. In return they built a shrine in her honor. This building is the 5th and most beautiful shrine to St Anne. It was built by volunteers who gave of their money, skills, and time to build the shrine. Albert Giles did all the copper work for the Shrine which included massive doors on the church. 
While in Montreal we visited the Basilica of Notre Dame and I said it was the most beautiful church I had ever seen. While I still believe that, the Shrine of Sainte Anne's runs it a very close 2nd. While Notre Dame is beautiful due to its numerous and massive hardwood carvings, St. Annes is famous for its mosaics. The floors and ceilings are covered in beautiful mosaics which depict events in St. Anne's life as well famous events and people from the Bible and the Catholic faith. On the top of the cathedral is a 13' statue of St. Anne that originally stood in the 4th Shrine to St Anne that was destroyed in a fire in 1922. This statue is the only item that survived that fire. 
The current building took 43 years to complete, and it opened in 1976.
Only one of four sets of doors
We got back to the campground about 6:15 after a full and fun day of sightseeing. Roger told us that he can always tell the nationality of people going to the restroom: those going are "Russians;" those in the restroom are "Europeans;" and those coming out are "Finnish."
Enough for now. Happy Trails!
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