Rendez-vous in Quebec City

For our 14th (wow!) anniversary, Jonathan and I managed to leave the kids for 3 days to take a trip North. Quebec is a beautiful province with a very European feel. We have been a few times to Montreal (about 3 hours North of us) but never to Quebec City which is 3 hours Northeast of Montreal. It is on the St. Lawrence river which drains into the North Atlantic.

Originally when we were trying to decide on a trip, I was imagining someplace like this, eating out, nice hotel, etc. Jonathan was imagining a backpacking trip through the Adirondacks. We compromised on Quebec City but taking our bikes. It is a great place to cycle and we saw a lot more than if we would have been on foot or in the car trying to park on narrow streets. The old city is walled with a fortress. On the last day we cycled across the Ile d'Orleans (Orleans island) which is in the St. Lawrence. The island is known for their berries and the oldest church in Quebec. We bought raspberries as big as strawberries! The path we took across the island was paved, with no traffic and had wildflowers along each side with cool shade from trees. Couldn't have asked for better conditions. We also got to practice a little French which is woefully rough these days, sigh.