I even regret that there have not been any jumping whales. All we saw was a couple of fins, the lower fins of a humpback whale on his side and a few backs coming out of the water.
All of this was accompanied by the 3 hour chit chat of a female guide in French and English. She was obviously amazed by the backs and fins so I decided to be excited too, at least a bit.
I took several photos and we have 1 or 2 videos. Unfortunately the whales are showing themselves for a couple of times and then dive for about 5 minutes and you never know where they would resurface.
The guide announced the whales by clock-system, so 3 o'clock would be on our right side or on starboard. She was a bit to twittery for my taste, but when the 3 Finn whales (see the clip on my video post) came up next to the small zodiac boats she announced in French: "Please be aware that the big whales don't eat those people in the red jackets... They prefer the ones in blue. No..." I liked that, a little black humor is never wrong.
Although I can't say that I have seen too much of the big whales, it was still a nice trip on the water. The St Lawrence is 25 km wide at Tadoussac and it feels like the sea already.
Next time I will take a Zodiac or a canoe and if that is not enough I will have to swim with the big guys.
For the last hour we were taken up the local fjord to see belugas. We just saw several white dots on the other side of the fjord. What a pity, I had so looked forward to see those closer, they are so cute.
When arriving at the port we took a walk in the sun (yes the weather had totally cleared up!) towards the motel. The nice lady there let us use her microwave to heat up the pasta we had cooked the night before. After this great meal (no burgers and fries for once!) we took the ferry and proceeded back along the river to Quebec. This time we took another way which took us through small towns with wooden houses and along actual beaches. It was nice to see the surrounding landscape this time. Last night there had been fog only.
When we came back to Baie St. Paul, the artist town we had visited earlier, we made a stop on the mountain next to town. From there we had a great view over the river that was flowing towards the St Lawrence and there was a large area of mud with tiny pools of water. Maybe in spring the area would be flooded, when the ice was melting.
We reached our hotel at Quebec at around 6 or 7 PM. We had booked a room with an actual bubble bath tub for two people, which I very much intended to use this day or the next morning. But first we took a tour of Vieux-Quebec. The hotel clerk had proposed a walk to us and told us to definitely take the funiculaire down to the water front. He said he was sitting there all the time, enjoying the feeling of being in old Paris and drinking coffee under the old street lamps.
It felt a lot like that, so I can recommend it. But first we visited the old town inside the old rampart walls. Here acrobats and singers were competing for their audiences. There was the big hotel Chateau Frontenac, which main tower could be seen from far away and there were even some archeological windows showing the basements of the house of Quebec's founder.
We enjoyed a little bit of Irish folk music (in French) on a small square with lots of seats to relax and lampoons in the trees, before getting ourselves some supper and heading back to the hotel by walking all around the ramparts.
The next morning we actually enjoyed the room (and the bath tub) until the last possible minute, before heading for our very last stop on this trip, Montreal.
We drove through until there, with just one horrible stop in between at the highway-McDonalds. Waiting there took us at least 30 minutes and the clerks just screamed French numbers at everybody whose meal was ready. I had received a number which I repeated in French in my mind to be ready for my call. Very unpleasant.
At 4 PM we reached the Auberge de la rive at Montreal. It was actually sitting next to the river, with a beautiful park there to take a walk or a picknick. Badly enough after we arrived there was a thunder storm coming and it kept raining also the next morning so we just had a quick walk there to say goodbye to the St Lawrence River.
Because of the storm we were sort of grounded at our studio room with kitchen, so we prepared a salad for dinner and I could write more of my blog.
As it was Canada Day today almost all shops were closed and there was going to be more spectacle down-town, even more than the evening before. The rain stopped finally and so we just drove somewhere near the old town and came out near the old port, where there were short art videos displayed on the walls of buildings and a lot of people walked around. Just when we wanted to turn into a street a huge firework began, so we stayed and watched. It was already quite late, so all tourist shops were closed as well and so we just walked the area for a bit, enjoying the old buildings. Then we returned home and packed our luggage. It was necessary that the both of us took all important items for home (me) or another conference in the UK (Rene) with us, e.g. keys to the apartment and car for me or enough clothes for a few days for Rene.
The next morning we took our time, then drove to Walmart again and then to the airport. Back home, a.k.a. first stop to Frankfurt.
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