Day 3 - waterfalls, islands and sore bottoms

After a wonderful sleep (despite the chatting from the homeless fellas that sleep under our window) we had a slow morning in the apartment and then set off to catch a bus.

We are catching the 800 bus which will take us to Montmorency Falls. The bus whisked us out of the city and through the most beautiful suburbs of Quebec City. We got off and saw a McDonalds. We had already eaten AND we try not to go to a McDonald's when on holiday (bit lame), but I needed a wee and we wanted to see what special things they were serving. They had a World Cup special which Andrew ordered and some combo of sausage, egg, bacon and cheese thing which Oliver ordered. I had a coffee and a hash brown.

We then walked across a beautiful little bridge to the visitor entrance of Montmorency Falls (Chute Montmorency). In Quebec, the first language is French. And they are proud of that and a little reluctant to speak in English (don’t blame them). Outside of the city many residents don’t speak any English, We met a lovely young man who patiently waited for Andrew to use his (excellent) French to order two adult passes and one Senior pass to the falls. He then kindly asked if we’d like him to explain the layout in English.

The falls were made from a fault in the continental margin and are 99 feet taller than Niagara Falls at 272 feet. You can view them from the side, or you can walk across a suspension bridge to view them from above. Andrew is not the best with heights, but he was very brave and walked across. The noise was deafening and it was a spectacular sight.

After walking across the suspension bridge, we had to walk back again! There is very long staircase (483 steps) that lead down to the base of the falls and the official visitor centre. At the very bottom you can get really close (and really wet) to the base of the falls. It was a hot day, so we decided to get close. We got rather wet!

We walked to the visitor centre and waited for a taxi. The next part of our trip takes us across the river to the Ile d’Orleans. We had some bikes booked. Our taxi dropped us off at a tiny motel, and there we met our happy bike owner. We had the bikes for 4 hours and there’s a recommended circular tour.

There are relatively very few cars on the island, and one set of traffic lights, so it was quite safe, and the bikes were electric, so nice and easy on the hills.

We spent two and a half hours cycling through the most beautiful trees and houses. The houses are spaced so far apart and many have views over the river. What a place to live. We covered 26km.

We had a stop at a chocolate shop where we ate huge square marshmallows on a stick, caked in dark chocolate, and also a stop at a sandwich shop for lunch. I had veggie pate with cornichons, Andrew had a ham croissant and Oliver had a croque monsieur. We had the most delicious home made lemonade too.

This bike ride was honestly one of the best things we have ever done. Such freedom, such beautiful scenery and fresh air.

We had to wait quite a long time for a taxi back (there’s no ferry off the island and no public transport) so we sat and chatted to the lovely lady working at the motel. She explained how hard it is to learn the Quebecois French that they speak as they have completely different words to French French.

We eventually got a taxi back to the bus stop on the mainland and then two buses back to Old Quebec.

We had a delicious Italian meal and then a slow walk back to the apartment,

Today has been a perfect day.