Day 65

7/26/09: Off day in Quebec City, Quebec.

Man I was beat last night. Finally hit the hay around 12 midnight, and then slept like a rock until 7:30 am. Got up and both of the guys were already gone, and I assumed it was down in the continental breakfast area. Hoped to be like one of only 3 or 4 early risers down there, but when I walked in it was if I was in the middle of Budapest, Hungary for God’s sake. The place was packed with Eastern European tour vacationers. Now I don’t specifically know if they were from Hungary, but they were rotund, short, with kind of chubby faces and possessed very impressive waistlines. And they were definitely part of a big tour group. And they had TOTAL and complete control of the food line. It was a freaking cattle call for gosh sakes, and I couldn’t move a step forward because there were people parked in front of the toasters, in front of the waffel maker, in front of the OJ machine. It was a parking lot of humanity in front of me. And I had this cup of coffee that I was able to snag, and that was damned near getting knocked out of my hand by these folks.

         It was total sensory overload this early in the morning. I often say, “when people go on vacation they tend to leave their brains at home!” And this group fit that bill. The pushed, shoved, cut in and out of line, and pretty much acted like complete “I-me-my’s”. So I just kind of watched the controlled chaos for a bit, and then finally took the bull by the horns and just reached over a few “statues” parked in front of me for my muffins and OJ, and did a fake the left and then cut hard right to get my bagels and cream cheese. Mission accomplished, and back to the table with Ryan. Barney came in a minute or so after me and had to deal with the same insanity.

         So there we sat at our table with the Eastern Euros just running around in there like bulls in a china shop. It was actually pretty funny. I braved the cattle line one last time to get a refill on my OJ and another bagel.

         Annnnnnnnnyway, that was our little breakfast treat. So we came back to the room, and it was raining like complete hell outside, with the wind blowing gale force, and just decided to watch the Tour on Barney and my computers with the live feed. And we chilled for the whole morning watching the tour full screen and listening to Ligget and Sherwin. Spent 3+ hours watching and listening. And finally, by the time we had even watched the awards ceremony the rain had cleared. So we suited up and decided to give it a go. It would have been a crime to not go downtown on this trip, and with the way the weather was going, there was a possibility that that could have happened. But we had a window, and we went for it. First stop was back at the bike shop to exchange my “too short” spokes for the longer length spokes that I need.

         The minute we exited the hotel you could feel the wind pretty much grab the bike out of your hand. This was the worst wind yet on the trip, and it’s coming out of the east. So we got on our bike trail route, and the wind was just atrocious. We got to the bike shop and it was a breeze getting the exchange. Then we wanted to ride into old Quebec City via the bike trail along the St. Lawrence River. We had trouble at first finding a way down to the river, but after a gruff old parking lot attendant scolded us for blocking a drive, Barney asked him for directions and we did the route down to the river. Once we got down there the wind was darned near as horrible as that I had experienced in Iceland back in my ’99 bike trip. We were gearless, but could only muster like 8 mph into the headwind along the river. It was ferocious. And then it started raining, and Ryan took off like a bat out of hell. So Barney and I just followed. Now on a great sunny day, this would have been super spectacular. Today, it was pretty cool, but the weather was pretty cold, and damp, and rainy and the wind………God the wind.

         So we round each of the massive outcroppings as we wound our way east along the St. Lawrence and see the old city in the distance. It was easily a 4-5 mile ride along the river before we hit the bottom of the old city. But once we rounded the corner, I recognized it right off the bat, and I guided Ryan and Barney into the first little cobble stoned café area. It was just great, and we hit a bakery/café just about 1 block in. I got 2 chocolate éclair’s – and these were the real things – real pastry with real fillings. Fantastic! So we sat under a canopy at a little table on the blvd. and people watched and ate our pastries. Then we moved up to the fortress level and visited the rest of old city.

         Spent some time up on the fortress wall with the guys and we did some pic opps. But the highpoint was going to the market along the river. It was a kind of farmers market with fresh produce, fruit, home made jellies and jams, meats, fish. It was just fantastic. Barney and I went berserk at the Quebec micro brew store, with over 100 Quebec micro brew. We ended up buying about 40 bucks worth of beer in a one-bottle-at-a-time deal. So then we had to figure out how to stuff all of those beers in our panniers and backpacks to get back to the hotel. We’re smart cookies, and we did indeed get our brews stowed away.

         Then it was back to food-30, so I got this massive bread pretzel filled with black olives, followed up with a nice little chunk of smoked salmon. We all did our own little eating binges, and at a place like this, it’s pretty easy to just gorge yourself on fresh, new foods. Finally decided to head back and we took a different bike route. This second bike route was just amazingly beautiful to ride on. The trail was double lane, and went along the river for mile upon mile. Then we finally turned off of the river and started going on a bike lane back west towards the hotel. And it started raining lightly. No problem at first, but it was getting blacker to the east, and the rain only continued to get harder as we moved west. And I remarked to the guys that it “really sucks just when you thought you had the rain beat for the day, only to get drenched for the last 10 min of your ride.” Well, that was us, as the rain turned into a steady downpour, and we were shooting rooster tails from the wheels.

         Got back to the hotel pretty damned wet, with the cycling shoes just soaking wet. Got back to the hotel room and Barney and I immediately cracked a micro brew, and we’ve been sampling the goods ever since. Wonderfuls stuff! Tastes in beer neither of us have had before. Well, we still haven’t figured dinner out yet…….is it the buffet, or will we take a taxi back down into old Quebec City for one last eve in a most beautiful city? I’ll fill you in tomorrow…….Pete