Quebec City

These are pictures from my last tour of duty for my previous company. I have always wanted to have an extended stay in Quebec City because of all the history and great scenery to absorb here. I haven't been this excited for picture taking on a layover since the time I visited Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia back in October of last year. The weather as you can see fully co-operated considering the day before was raining and +32 Celisus = freekin hot degrees Fahrenheit !

In regards to Williamsburg, Quebec City had it's initial beginning about 70 years prior but the first few attempts fizzled out, thus Jamestown became the first Colony so to speak of the New World. The landscape of this area is beautiful with cliffs and meandering hills but I can imagine the first folks arriving here from Europe when it was nothing but mere wilderness scattered with Native inhabitants. Canada owes it's name to Jacques Cartier who was the first to refer to the New World north of the St.Lawrence as Canada. Amazing how something so great has such small beginnings, and it reminds me of a quote from Rev. Robert H. Schuller....(not to go all God on ya here:) "There are infinite possibilities in small beginnings, if God is in them".

As you can see in the above picture the architecture of this area is very unique and mature which is one reason I love it here. The pubs along this avenue are rustic and most have a patio where you can sit out and enjoy the lovely weather and watch all the people moving about enjoying the atmosphere.

Here is a picture from Battlefields Park looking east towards le Chateau Frontenac which is an upscale hotel built in the 1880-90's which is now an iconic symbol of Quebec City. As you can see from this picture the tiny glimpse of the surrounding area is brilliant and the view from atop the hill amazing. The area upon which I stand is where the French and English duked it out for control of the New World during the period know as the 7 year war. The important part to remember here is that England won and in 1763 the Treaty of Paris was signed which made France hand over New France to Britain! So why does hardly anyone speak English in Quebec City ? Go figure :)

There is a computer game called Civilization III where you start off playing as one small Civilization and the object of the game is to grow as much land area as possible, while being able to defend and grow the area you have without spreading yourself to thin. If you are successful at doing so you usually become a force to be reckoned with as the larger and more refined you become the harder it is for other Civilizations to take you over. As you progress in the game the population of some cities grow quite large, so they become targets to take over. The problem is that when you take over a group of inhabitants and rule them under a different flag you are usually met with great resistance and if you do not station enough military troops in the City they will throw out your army and join up with their home Civilization. So basically in realistic non gaming terms that is called the Province of Quebec :)

Now many of you might have heard of the Parliament buildings in the nations capital of Ottawa. Well, referring back to my previous post...this is the Parliament building in Quebec which is pretty much the "nations capital" for the French Canadians. Again great architecture and it compliments the cities skyline perfectly. I guess when you have two waring factions that are fighting for the same piece of property, whoever loses will still not be able to just let go of the past :) I see a lot of viewers of my blog come from Quebec so I do not intend to insult you with my comments. It is only that this all happened close to 250 years ago and as far as I am concerned we are all Canadians and nobody is more "distinct" then the other.

Another shot of Chateau du Frontenac from atop of Battlefields Park.

This is the Loews Hotel featuring the restaurant at the top which apparently offers great views of the entire Quebec City downtown and beyond. As you can see from this picture I can not let Aviation take a rest. Here I believe an A330 is transiting directly overhead the city en-route somewhere Westbound on this lovely spring day.

There many more pictures to come as I head to Old Quebec to experience life as it was 200 years ago, and also we travel down the St.Lawrence river to experience some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.