Saturday, May 16, 2015
I’ve just realized that I didn’t even write about dinner
last night! I don’t like to write about things I’m not excited about. So, here
are things I omitted from yesterday. As we re-entered the port security area in
Saguenay to board the ship for the last time, they were handing out blueberry
dark chocolate candies. I did not have one, but Clay took one. He didn’t eat it
until we got to the cabin and that took long enough that he had time to think I
should have taken one for him. I wondered if it was like a cherry cordial as it
had that shape and he wondered if it might be like a Raisinet. It was a
blueberry cordial and he said it was very good. Something else to look for on
our return!
After the captain’s (actually he wasn’t there, so the
General Manager’s) cocktail party I convince Clay to have our first dinner in
the GDR since we were dressed up more or less. I argued that because the
Terrace menu show the night’s wok was duck I would just as soon stay at the GDR
and have steak frites that is always on the menu there. In truth, there was
nothing on the menu that excited either of us, but I couldn’t face the pizza or
pasta station in Terrace as a backup. So, in we went. We were seated in the
center of the room next to the largest table in the room which had a hosted
dinner so we felt quite insignificant. Clay had me order scallops for him and
steak frites for me. He ordered foie gras and sea bass. When he had sea bass in
Red Ginger the other night he said it was mushy and not nice so he was hesitant
but didn’t see anything else of interest. Tonight he said it was good and he
got 2 pieces instead of the one he had in Red Ginger. He really like the
scallops which were a beautiful presentation and he thought the foie gras was
not Perigord quality. I did not like the steak or the frites. The steak was
cooked well done to my order so that was good, but even Clay said it was not a
tasty piece of beef. It is the cut he prefers but I never ordered it. The fries
were the big thick kind and I like matchsticks. So, not too good for me. I ate
some and Clay finished it. He had pistachio tart but it came with bitter citrus
fruits on it and he didn’t like it. I ordered the Canyon Ranch guilt free warm
chocolate cake and it was not as good as it sounded but it was a nice chocolate
flavor and warm so I ate it. I got a decaf cappuccino so I could stay up for
the 9:30pm show and it came while some record-setting compliment begging.
Whenever someone isn’t selling you something on Marina, they are
fishing/begging for compliments. The only exceptions I have noticed have been
Henrietta, our cabin stewardess, and Cesar, the guy who cooks at the wok in Terrace
in the evenings. He chats me up every time with no purpose or goal other than
his interest it seems. That is different and refreshing here.
So, now I get to today. It was early when we arrived and
early when the ship cleared. It was a clear and crisp morning. I think it was
about 50F and I don’t think it got much above the 65F predicted in the
Currents. It finally rained on us after 4pm as it got cloudier but warmer all
day. So, it was a pretty nice day here. The visibility was great as were the
views. We docked on the starboard side so we got to watch gangway activity as
well as a million dollar view of the Chateau Frontenac. After seeing the train
station in Halifax and the Frontenac, I am trying to convince Clay that next
year we should see if Rail Canada does a trans-continental train trip staying
at all their monumental hotels at night. I don’t know if such a trip exists and
if it did it would probably be crazy expensive, but I’ll set it as a goal! Stay
posted to Road Trips with Bob since that is probably where I’d write about it
if we do it.
We did not have any plans here and all day to do it, though
once again O shaved an hour off the published port time this evening. Since it
is officially the weekend (I cheated and had Swedish pancakes yesterday at
Terrace since they had them again!) I requested GDR for breakfast. The ship had
cleared before we went down and we hoped for a light crowd. Wish granted. We
got a 2-top table by the center aft windows, which would have been fantastic
except the windows were so dirty that you couldn’t see the Bunge (a huge row of
concrete grain silos). Clay had his
usual breakfast but with baby lamb chops today. I had a yogurt parfait without
blueberries and a ham and cheese omelet with bacon and a toasted English Muffin.
Our cabin was cleaned when we finished breakfast. We got geared up and headed
out. We had no idea what we would do but as we made the long zig-zagging ramp
walk, I suggested that we ask tourist info inside the cruise terminal about a
HOHO bus tour so we could get some narration as well as an overview. While it
has looked like a walkable and architecturally beautiful city, it is on a big
hill and I don’t think either of us felt up to the day long urban hike. Of
course, there was the usual problem that unless you have a fixed timetable to
follow it is impossible to get good use out of a HOHO bus. And they don’t
usually hand out time tables because then they’d never sell any tickets! So,
she told us that the 1st bus of the day was a double decker open-top
red bus that had left from up at the Chateau Frontenac at 9am. But, it would be
across the street in front of the Museum of Civilization at 9:50am and if we
had a phone we could call and book it to catch it there. She was right. They
took our credit card (you cannot board and pay cash or credit card on the bus).
We had a confirmation number and we went and waited for him. We wound up
getting the 2nd row on top so it wasn’t a bad view but it was chilly
up there. We hadn’t dressed for an outdoor bus ride. It was fine though as we’d
both rather be too cold than too hot.
When the driver stopped, he checked our confirmation number and gave us
each a red wrist band to wear and he gave us an Old Quebec Tours brochure which
had a list of our stops and a route map along with descriptions of all their
other tours. The cost was $35.95pp +tax. So, it was not an inexpensive day for
what we got. We rode for 1.5 hours from stop 3 back to stop 1 at Chateau
Frontenac. Clay wanted to go in and there was a 20 minute stop there. We had
hoped the 2 couple in the front were leaving as this was where they began. They
did, but then so did we. We looked at the views, went through the lobby of the
Frontenac, toured the archaeological exhibit below the Terrace Dufferin for
$3.90 each. We went into Petit Chateau adjoining Frontenac and next to the
oldest house in Quebec City. It was a
creperie. We shared a Frontenac (ham, cheese and béchamel) crepe. Clay had a
local red amber beer that he liked. Then we shared a maple butter crepe, that is
beurre erable. Doesn’t that sound terrible in French! It cost $32C. It was good
and hit the spot and kept us going. While we sat in there we discussed that we
just weren’t feeling QC and I said I just couldn’t find anything to get excited
about. While Clay was in the restroom, I got excited. I looked through the big
map, the tourism lady had given us to show us how to find the red bus and on
the legend I found #16 was translated as Maple Interpretation Center and
Museum. It was named Les Delices de l”Erable. Clay googled it on his phone and
it was a chain of maple products stores. We decided to try to find and visit it
anyway because we didn’t have anything else to do but walk or ride back to the
ship. We found it and it was a store that was overstaffed with a number of
salespeople who did their best to ignore everyone who stopped in but I asked
one of them where is the museum and he pointed upstairs and told us to go on
up. It was interesting with as many artifacts as the Terrace run by the
Canadian Parks had and it was free. They showed a film on a TV on a running
loop, but it was only in French and had no subtitles so we gave it up. We
walked to the closest red bus stop #11 and waited. We waited for 2:10pm to 2:45
and then Clay called them to ask when we might expect the next bus. They made
sure we were in the right place (we weren’t, we were where we had stopped at
#11 this morning which was about a block away). We walked to where the sign was
located by the Subway shop and could see the bus coming as promised just after
2:45pm. There are 12 stops. When we got back to stop 1, we planned to stay on
and finish our round trip circuit back to stop #3 across from the cruise
terminal. No sorry, the last bus of the day doesn’t depart for 1 hour at 4pm.
Geez! We could have already walked all the way back to the ship! We asked where
their tour desk is located since this is their base stop and we were directed
to the Tourist Information building across the square. We went over to find out
about booking their Countryside Tour when we come back on 5/20. They charged us
$114.90 and made a note to the driver to pick us up at 10am in front of the
Museum of Civilization. The tour will last 4.5 hours and we’ll see new things.
Neither of us could find a way to love Quebec City and we both feel bad about
it. So, next time we’ll just avoid it and hope for the best! I used the
restrooms in there and by 3:30pm we were back to the bus asking to just wait
onboard. We were allowed and finally got front row seats. Since it finally started
raining after our 4pm departure, it was an empty victory since now the
windshield was spotted with raindrops and you couldn’t photograph through it
anyway. It was still a better view and a more protected ride. We only wanted to
ride from 1 to 3 since that was the part we had missed. At this rate it had
taken us from 2 to nearly 5pm to travel 1000 meters! We could have crawled on
our hands and knees faster, but we were trying to justify the $80 we had spent
for the HOHO bus.
We had wine/beer and cheese curds on the balcony when we got
back and decompressed and watched the busy gangway as well as the amazing view.
It is time for dinner now. I’ll be back to finish up and post. We had a letter
on our wall number hook that serves as our cabin mail box. It advised that since
we are staying onboard for the next cruise that we better visit the restaurant
reservations desk to get our specialty restaurant reservations. Since Clay did
this months ago, we are a little concerned and will try to go by tomorrow and
confirm we have the reservations that were confirmed by email months ago. It
also reminds us again that GDR will be closed for lunch but that we may RSVP to
have lunch in Jacques that day since we are staying onboard. We were also
invited to order room service breakfast (ordinarily we are not in a high enough
level cabin to have hot breakfast delivered!). We are passing on all special
offers for turnaround day.
Back from dinner. We were at Terrace shortly after 6:30pm
and scored a 2-top at the back near a window. They had Tourtière! This a Quebec specialty. Joseph Simard played a song
about the tourtiere on the ride back to Saguenay the other day. I got a small
piece after making sure it wasn’t made with game as is traditional. She told me
it was made with pork. It also had rosemary which I have to wonder is
traditional. We both also thought we tasted cinnamon and it reminded us of a
Greek moussaka or pastitsio in flavor. We both really liked it and it was
beautiful in the pan with its shiny crust. I also had my usual wok since
tonight was beef filet. It was delicious, flavorful and tender and no bell
peppers since you get it cooked to order in front of you. I got broccoli added
to mine. I had a weird cake with a candied violet and a profiterole on it. I
asked twice and I think she said St. Honore cake. It was tasty enough even if I
didn’t recognize any particular flavors. Clay ate sushi, roast beef and key
lime pie with peanut butter ice cream that had peanuts in it. We still don’t
like the ice cream on O.
We are getting all this information
about the cruise ending and we just feel we are finding our way around. Even if
we don’t think we love Oceania, it would be sad to just start to find a comfort
level and then have to pack up and leave. I think I might have mentioned that
we have a final invoice saying we got complimentary laundry service on this 41
day cruise. But we have yet to get anything onboard verifying this in writing.
Clay has been to reception and requested a bill and argued about the 2 small
loads we sent out that equaled $110 in charges. Today we got a preliminary bill
and the only thing on there is that they gave out the pre-paid gratuities that
we were offered on all segments of this 41 day cruise. I guess we’ll just have
to wait and see how the laundry billing plays out though neither of us are
happy about having to continue to submit laundry while thinking we would never
pay those prices for something we’d just as soon do ourselves for $2 per load. Oh
well, stay tuned to see how it turns out.
