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17 September 1901 — Quebec | |
Tuesday. 17th [September 1901]. We reached Quebec abt 8 A.M. & breakfasted early. Emilia Riaño was too unwell to get up from her bed so we had to go into the town without her. We were at the Point Lévis station on the opposite side of the river St Lawrence to the town. It was a very pretty sight to see the [illegible word] & the British fleet lying under the town with its citadel rising up & the church towers above the water. Mr & Mrs Williams, Juan Riaño & I walked about a mile to get to the ferry & on getting the other side engaged a carriage to drive us round the town the population seemed mostly to be French but it was not easy to understand their dialect. The driver of our carriage spoke very little English & it was not easy for us to understand his French. He drove us by the citadel, the Cathedral & showed us the convents which seemed to be innumerable & very rich. Then he took us by the street which was all gay with flags & decorations which led to Abraham’s plain– We by chance found that the procession of carriages was coming that way & immediately appeared a line of carriages—first the royal ones containing the suite of the Duke & Duchess of York their royal outriders & then the Duchess herself with Lord & Lady Minto in an open barouche. We had a very good view of them as they passed where our carriage was drawn up– There were no troops or police & very few carriages & as the route was long not a great crowd on the side walks. Mr & Mrs W. were delighted to see the Yorks & stood up in the carriage to salute them. We were near the Parliament House when we spied the Duke himself coming with his escort so we waited also to see him, He looked sunburnt & aged we thought. Every body was making for Abraham’s plains to see the Duke review the troops so we followed, got out of the carriage & went into the enclosure & then we could see fairly well & remained until the rain came down & drove us into our carriage for shelter & back to the ferry & to our car. It continued to rain for the rest of the day so I did not leave the car after lunch but remained with Emilia Riaño & Juan. The Williams & Aubrey went back to the town to go to Renfrew the furrier & Mrs Williams bought what she wanted & came back abt 6 quite delighted. We dined at 7.20 as to get dinner over before starting for N. York. It was quite dark before we left and we saw the beginning of the illuminations the citadel & some of the buildings outlined with light & some of the ironclads. It was a very striking sight. | |
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