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Well it was another later start again this morning as once again Jonathan woke up with chronic stomach ache and having been awake since the small hours as is always the way he finally fell asleep around 0600.

When we did eventually get going we broke a tradition of the holiday by not going to Starbucks instead heading for one of the local cafes for coffee and pastry delights....yum!

Feeling a little more energised we headed out of the walled city on the Rue St Jean making a brief stop at the old ammunitions store as seen in the picture.

Now the area of St Jean was sold as a boho chic area and the guide book even said that we should see a few rainbow flags flying as well and to be honest we did see one establishment with the striped flag but that was it. That is not what we had come here for though. We wanted to see the other side of Québec outside of the walled city and the quaint shops all selling things in the shape of the maple leaf or inuit art.

Now St Jean was slightly boho but nothing close to the north laine area in Brighton but it had its share of independent coffee houses and second hand vinyl record stalls and a few one off clothing boutiques but it did not ooze a scene to be honest. What it did have was a real mixed bag of very French inspired architecture. The shops and houses that made up this are all looked like short town houses with highly vaulted galvanized roofs. It seems that as the price of copper has gone up the French canadians have stopped sealing their roofs with the good stuff and replaced it with silver unfinished galvanized steel. We have to say that the resulting finish is quite striking and it certainly adds a glow to the street scene.

The other thing that the St Jean area did have were some beautifully impressive churches. We are taking searing spires and stonework made out of some of the biggest granite blocks we have ever seen. Judging by the amount of still open churches we have seen here in Québec my guess would be that they dont have a problem with dwindling parishioners.

We walked up and down the two main roads of St.Jean exactly as the guide book had suggested before heading down to the lower level of Québec and the port area.

Our first stop was actually the train station right down at the port level that we had come into on our train from Ottawa. How different it looked in the day time and in the dry hot weather that we were having again today. This was again another large granite stone building with an oxidized copper green roof. Inside it had massive vaulted ceilings with stained glass panles in the skylights and in the high level windows. It made the building itself quite dark but it was easy to appreciate its beauty. You can see how important the railroad has been to Canada when you look at a building like this.

Virtually every city and every town we have visited they have always talked about the importance of the railroad and how it opened up trade routes and allowed Canada to grow into the wealthy country that it is today and Québec is no exception. The fastest way over to the west coast of Canada would have been by rail prior to air being a viable option.

Leaving the station behind we popped into the old farmers market down by the quayside that was mainly selling homemade produce and fruit and vegetables. As is always the case with these places, the stalls were full of colour and one product that does seem to be sold in all the Canadian markets that we have visited is a great line in fully planted and beautiful hanging baskets!

As we said yesterday its Québec festival time at the moment and next door to the market a whole area had been taken over for the children's festival or family area as they were calling it. Full of entertainment aimed at young children, a miniature skatepark, ballon animal makers, you get the picture.

We walked the promenade until it took us back to where we had been yesterday back in the old part of the lower level where we stopped for a small bite to eat before heading off to an area of Québec known as Nouvo St Roch.

Now this area was obviously the newest part of Québec, it was not just a name. We were back to straight roads and grid systems and dual carriageways in the city....just like the USA. It was also the area that most resembled the classic high street as we would know it in the UK and we would guess that this is were normal life generally takes place in and amongst the known brands of the high street. After mooching around for a while and some more refreshment to keep dehydration at bay we climbed another mountain of steps up to the high part of Quebec and back into the old city walls and the hotel.

Once again it had been another long day on our feet so we headed back to the hotel for more liquid replenishment and a little down time. We mostly used this time to check on arrangements for tomorrow and our train journey back to Montreal along with reading up on Montreal's sights and must do's.

Now as it is a Saturday night Quebec old town felt busier than ever as we headed out for dinner. The heavy traffic of pedestrians was mainly coming back into the city walls from the festival but the pavements and the roads were virtually impassible. Due to the volume of people on the streets we dived into the first eatery that we saw that looked like they might have room and sat down feeling grateful for a table. I wont say it was the best meal of the holiday by far but neither of us was felling particularly hungry either so it didn't matter too much.

To walk dinner off a bit we headed back to the promenade that sits in front of the Fairmont hotel (with an ice cream for cooling down purposes only you understand). The Fairmont sits like a castle on top of the rock that makes up Québec and it really is an impressive building. They say that it is the most photographed thing in the whole of Québec and we can quite understand why, mind you, you could say that of any of the Fairmont hotels as they are all very impressive and they are all built in the great chateau style. We have seen them now in Victoria, Banff, Ottawa and now here and they all share the same qualities.

Back at the hotel and we could not stop thinking that we now have only a week to go before this adventure is over, two more stops and only one in Canada but as they say, its not over yet!

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