As we had a fairly short drive today we actually drank our coffee with our breakfast as opposed to taking it with us in our travel mugs. The drive was fairly straight forward with me counting the number of RVs we saw (120) and Greg counting motorcycles (24). Because of changing time zones we arrived in Levis, Quebec, south of Quebec city in the early afternoon.
So after getting the RV all set up we headed into the city to the Plains of Abraham (named after Abraham Martin who owned the land that this historic battle took place on). The battle on the Plains of Abraham is where the most significant pivotal event in Canadian history took place. As the battle between France and Britain for control of New France raged on, this area was under the French control. In an unanticipated move on September 13, 1759, the British army under the command of General James Wolfe scaled the cliffs from the river. The British troops then fired a single simultaneous volley of bullets which caused mass confusion amongst the French. The battle lasted about 30 minutes, gave the British control of Quebec city and subsequently Canada. For more about the Plains of Abraham battle (click here).
We walked all through the park, reading the various inscriptions on the statutes and plaques. After a lengthy trek through the park, around barriers of areas of construction, past other things closed for repairs, still other things closed for renovations, past new things being built, we eventually found ourselves at the doors of Plains of Abraham Museum. With our Parks Canada Pass in hand we climbed yet another set of stairs after taking pictures of the signs.
With great anticipation and a deep breath, we reached out and pulled on the door handle. It didn’t move, then we pushed and it still didn’t move. We then repeated the same steps on the adjacent door. That’s when we saw it. A little note done up on a printer. A few words of French, a few words of English. Pausing long enough to sort out which was which, the words started to form a sentence. The sentence made our hearts drop. “Closed due to strike”. Crud! Double Crud!! We figured they could have at least waited till after we had been there.
The Martello tower was also on our list but it doesn’t open till summer …the notice didn’t say when summer in Quebec begins. Despite these set backs the area was lovely and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. People strolling, people jogging, families having picnics, people playing catch, some sitting in the shade reading, others tanning, and some just hanging out on the bench watching the world go by. Reminded me of the song “Saturday, in the Park…”.
The only downside to the day was that my set of RV keys fell out of my bag and were lost. We tried a couple of places to get a replacement but they were unable to make a copy… we needed Ties’ expertise. I was a tad annoyed with myself. I figured it was due to my gloating that I had found my lost glasses.
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