On the morning we should have all left Quebec City, Cindy and Darrell did. I was moving to a hotel near Randy but couldn’t check in until the afternoon. That gave me one last morning to explore more of Historic Quebec City.

I had noticed something happening under the boardwalk earlier and went to see if that could be interesting. It was! I was able to tour the remains of the Castle of St. Louis, a National Historic site.

During their first winter in Quebec in the early 1600s, 21 of 28 Frenchmen died. They then made alliances with First Nation peoples because the Frenchmen didn’t know how to hunt or survive in these lands. 

The French wanted to get into the fur trade and they established the first trading post in Lower Town.

Quebec City was chosen for strategic reasons. There was the narrowing of the river and it was a  known gathering spot for First Peoples

French explorer Samuel de Champlain built his first habitat in Lower Town including the Notre Dame Church. 

In 1620, the French built a fort for 40 people. Their cannons could reach the river.

In 1628 the English got interested in Quebec. The Kirk brothers came to attack Quebec but did not have enough manpower to win. In 1629, the Kirk brothers came back and laid siege to the city and it became British. It took three years of negotiations between France and Britain, but control of Quebec returned to France.  However, the Kirk brothers burned much on their way out.

In 1635 the founder of Quebec city, Samuel de Champlain, died. 

He was replaced in 1636 by Governor Charles Hualut de Montmagny who built the first St Louis Castle in 1648. 

In 1648 the French held territory from Quebec all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. They ruled those vast lands from from the Castle of St. Louis. Recognizing they could not militarily control so great an area, they controlled it by diplomacy.

Over the years different governors added on to or rebuilt sections of the castle.

Britain started a strategy of picking off important outposts in New France. In 1760, the French won all the battles, but in 1761 they went back to the English.  There was a treaty in 1763.

Britain built a new castle where the current hotel is but didn’t like that the view was blocked by the old Castle of St. Louis, so they added on to the old castle instead.

The area under the terrace was the former street level. 

The first room we saw was an ice house in 1771 used by the British. It was dug up in 1980s

This glass jar was in 404 pieces and would have held oils. It took 12 years to rebuild.

Some small items were found in the latrine as it was also used for garbage. Every five years someone was charged with cleaning the latrines and could keep anything they found.

There were lots of artifacts found because French governors didn’t want to use their predecessors articles and brought in totally new households. Researches have also found British items. British rulers who did well in Quebec might be appointed to India next.

Castle entrance.

Scullery area

Kitchen

They have receipts for these gray stones that came from across the Atlantic.

The British and French differed on how many prongs were on forks so archeologists know which era an artifact comes from.

Some parts of the castle remains were destroyed while building the funicular in 1879.

The second (British) castle was destroyed while building the hotel.

Archeological excavation of the old castle was done from 2005-2008. It opened to the public in 2012.

At the conclusion of my tour, I walked to the Maison Jacquet, one of the oldest houses in Quebec built in 1677. 

Several prominent figures in Quebec history have resided in Maison Jacquet, including the author of the novel Les Anciens Canadiens, Philippe-Aubert de Gaspé, who lived here from 1815 to 1824.

And if that house is now a restaurant, and you have the chance to go in, why would you not!

My meal started with the most DELICIOUS beans and a glass of wine.

I was able to pick from a variety of regional foods for my next courses.  

I’m sure they were good but I have no particular memory of any of it a year later except for the beans!

I gathered my belongings and took an Uber to the part of town where Randy’s hotel was.  I checked in at the hotel next door because there was no room at the inn where he was.

We’ll go with Randy’s notes now:

Lots of people speak two languages (at least).

I’ve been watching French TV without English subtitles and watching sewer lines be installed out my window.

I figured out the room airflow so my underwear that I washed in the shower would dry quicker. It worked well.

On Saturday (around 11) I took the last Covid rapid test I had. It is important for these tests to only confirm your reading after the 15 minute time. Take a photo of the reading for your records. It showed I was now negative. However, I looked at it later and there was a very slight reading of positive, but that was after 45 minutes. I ignored that reading.

Darrell and Cindy left Saturday and Serene moved to a hotel next door.  She came over and stayed a while and we both wore masks. She brought over two rapid tests from Cindy.

On Sunday I discovered the couch was actually a Murphy bed. Who knew.

1st negative Covid test on 9-10-22

2nd negative Covid test on 9-11-22

For a couple days, I became the food delivery person and joined Randy in his room for a few hours. 

I went to my hotel in the evenings just in case the medical inspector came.

Randy got emails from the Canadian medical authorities periodically and one finally included a phone number.  He called and talked with a woman who spoke English.  He explained that he had tested negative twice and she said he could leave Canada!

Randy called me immediately and wanted to leave NOW!

Our reservations to fly out on American (that I had rebooked when he got COVID) were not scheduled for two more days.

I tried to convince him to go with me to Old Quebec and we could stay at the Chateau Frontenac for a couple days because this was an unexpected opportunity. He was not interested and just wanted to go home.

I could not change our American reservations on my phone because it was an international flight.  I also could not get anyone from American Airlines on the phone.

United had flights going to Phoenix but we needed to leave for the airport very soon if we were going to get on that flight.  So I booked the flight on my phone and we left.  We checked out of our respective hotels not knowing if would be charged (or reimbursed) for our unused nights.  We were a bit concerned that we would be “caught” leaving Quebec before his official quarantine end date but went ahead.

Fortunately, we were able to board and eventually landed in Phoenix late that evening.   We stopped by the American counter to cancel our flight to leave Quebec two days later.

Imagine our surprise the next day when we got notification it was time to check in for our flight from Quebec to Phoenix when we were already home! 

Many hours on the phone later, we were told that we would get flight credit on American Airlines but we had to book new flights within two weeks and fly before the end of 2022. It was something, better than nothing.

Those credits were used on our great trip to Nashville in December 2022.

The struggle with travel insurance lasted into December as well. Holland would pay anything that the travel insurance didn’t pay but I had to get final resolution there first. 

I claimed Randy’s hotel charges and Uber Eats costs. I claimed (but didn’t really expect to receive) my hotel charges when I moved to be near him.  That process became months of submitting and re-submitting receipts for my claims and eventually submitting receipts for things they requested that I wasn’t even claiming. I submitted the United ticket receipts because they wanted to know how we got home. My thoughts were that they were just trying to wear me down with constant and repeated requests.  

One day I was completely frustrated and told our travel agent to NEVER use that travel insurance for any trip we were on EVER again.  She took over and escalated our claims up the chain of command.  We received two deposits within two days – the first for everything I originally claimed and another for all the extra stuff they had asked about.  

On the checks were statements about possibly having to repay any amount they might have overpaid in error. Ha!  That wasn’t happening even if they asked- which they never did.  After all their grief, I earned every last cent.

Last notes:

On Sept 26, 2022 Holland America announced Canada had modified its testing and vaccination procedures without specifically addressing quarantine requirements. Our trip was a month too early to not be tangled up with COVID quarantine in Canada.

Most people in Quebec were not wearing masks by the time we were there. Workers that Randy interacted with in the hotel, and with Uber Eats, were surprised at their government’s quarantine requirements for visitors when COVID amongst the general population was mostly being ignored. However, we felt as visitors in Canada, it was our obligation to follow their rules.

We were in Canada during an election cycle. These campaign posters were the norm. There was nothing we saw that was hostile, or demeaning. or in your face with more and bigger is better. If only we could act that way here.

A year later, I have chuckled many times about Randy’s “feet on vacation” picture.  He seemed to have a bit of a sense of humor about the situation early in his quarantine.

As I am writing these last words, I am glad I decided to go ahead and document this trip but It was also a good thing that circumstances caused me to delay. I asked Randy if he could laugh about it a year later and he said no, but he did smile once, and doesn’t mind that I wrote about it.

Remember when Holland America said they’d pay anything that wasn’t reimbursed?  I didn’t pursue anything from them after the travel insurance eventually paid well. Holland America did issue a cruise credit for Randy for about $900 for the parts of the cruise he missed while in quarantine.

The use of that cruise credit is part of our next big adventure!