Ile d'Orleans and Le Trait-Carré

This is a view of the Shrine of Ste Anne de Beaupre from Ile d'Orleans

Today our destination for sightseeing was Ile d’Orleans. This large island was settled in the mid 1600’s and runs from approximately Vieux Quebec to past Ste Anne de Beaupre (measuring by mainland). It is a very pretty island with all different sorts of houses, all well-kept and reminded us in spots of New Hampshire. It’s a very artsy island with little artisan shops but also lots of roadside stands of fruits and vegetables and a lot of farmland. We stopped at the Information Bureau as soon as we crossed the bridge onto the island and picked up a booklet of the island then headed west on the highway stopping here and there to take photos. I didn’t take many today as yesterday had me pretty much photographed out.

This guy drove his truck down onto the rocks in the St. Lawrence River with his boat trailer to pick up his boat. There are some guys there in hip waders to guide the boat onto the trailer. Not something I'd want to try!

This is a view of Old Quebec from Ile d'Orleans. There are two more cruise ships in the harbour today.

We spent the better part of the day there and on our way back took a detour to Charlesbourg looked for Le Trait-Carré. This area was founded by the Jesuits in 1665 and was the first colonization not centered on water. Following the signs led us to an area of older homes and a church but I’m still not certain that we found the actual place we were looking for. We’re finding the signage in Quebec rather lacking for those of us that don’t know where we’re going.

We got home just before 4:00 p.m. in time to get the heater on before the sun goes down. It gets pretty chilly inside once the sun leaves us even with the heater and the furnace running. We run the furnace when the inside temperature reaches 64F.

I’ve uploaded some photos to my Yahoo photo site over the last couple of days. They are under Quebec 2006 and Jacques Cartier National Park for anyone who’s interested.

My camera card failed a couple of days ago and I was lucky that Gordon was able to retrieve the photos I had taken so looks like I will be in the market for a new one. Hope the camera doesn’t give up the ghost as soon as I buy a new card! I really like my little Sony.