A Four Course Day

First goal of the day - get cash to tip tour guides.  Who carries cash any more?  Apparently tourists should, but my companions seem to have forgotten that, and were scrambling with coins after our bus tour the other day.  Coins gone, they needed cash!  I’m glad I don’t have to worry about such things.  I seem to go free wherever I go.  

First tour - Château Frontenac.  Fun fact, it has never been a castle ((château)) and had nothing to do with being built by Frontenac.  Loved the guides description of this: “Frontenac was the governor of the colony 200 years before the hotel was built, but it ‘sounded frenchy’ and Château because, well, French.”  The next hour and a half was a lot of listening, looking and walking (mostly inside the hotel).  Clare says she loved all the history.  Me, not so much.  There were some gorgeous rooms though, so there was that.  

Second tour - Under the castle.  Oh wait, we didn’t get to do that one because the time listed on the website and the time at the start point did not match.  When Robin planned it last night it fit perfectly between the castle tour and tea (tight fit, but it fit).  Now we had a little over an hour and nowhere to go.  Ok well there were plenty of places we could have gone, but instead my travel buddies chose to sit on Dufferin Terrace (the boardwalk in front of the castle) and chat.  Yawn… 

Third, and best part of the day - Tea Time!  Ok, Clare was right, this was nothing like my tea parties in Utah, and I’m not sure which I like better.  Who knew you could have a four-course tea!  I can’t really describe the experience and do it justice, so I won’t try.  Instead I’ll comment on what I noticed - there were almost no men there!  There were a few couples, but the majority were small groups of women or what I’d guess was mothers and daughters.  My favourite part was watching the younger girls, all sitting tall and clearly playing princess in the castle, and enjoying every minute.

Fourth and final goal - Boutique Noel - a year-round Christmas store.  I have no clue why this was a must-see, but it was.  Not much to say - it is exactly what it sounds like.  I wonder if the staff there get sick of Christmas music?  

And that was that.  We wandered more,  checked out more shops, found the weird knight statue that I just had to have a picture of, then sat in a park near the castle and talked for I don’t know how long about who knows what.  Eventually they got bored or hungry or had to go to the bathroom or some other human cue I don’t understand, and we headed back to our home away from home.

Tomorrow we are going the totally opposite direction for the day.  I’ve heard whispers of whales and maybe boat tours or beaches.  Until tomorrow.

Whatever!

Funicular (going up the cliff behind the building)
Yes, we climbed up that hill the first day
No, we did not climb that hill today.