Went to bed fairly early (11-ish, maybe?), so I was up at 4am. Went up to the buffet for coffee and to do the NYT crossword, something I’ve done nearly every day for a decade or more. They start out super-easy on Mondays, then progress to super-hard on Saturdays. Thursday is my favourite day, as those puzzles usually have a crazy gimmick or non-standard element to give them a nice twist. Today’s had clues that were spoonerisms - So for example, the clue “packed lunch” was answered with “FELL FLAT”, because “packed lunch” is a spoonerism for “lacked punch.”

Anyway, it wasn’t long before I was treated to a really nice sunrise.

…and shortly after that, the Chateau Frontenac came into view.

Went back to the room and Rob was waking up. We were both hungry and since it was late enough for the main dining room to be open, we opted for that “more civilized” approach to brekkie, rather than the buffet. And it is nice to have a sit-down brekkie with food brought to you… but the service on Holland America (at least this cruise and the one we took earlier this year in Alaska) is s-l-o-w. Coffee was finally poured 10 minutes after we sat down and our pancakes showed up around a half hour after that, in spite of being one of the first people in the door.

I know you’re wondering about the hockey pucks in front of the pancakes. That’s corned beef hash with a spoonful of some sort of veggie salsa on top. Very odd, but absolutely delicious, so no complaints there.

The ship’s shuttle basically just gets you out of the port proper, so it’s quite a long walk from there to the city. We eventually go to the funicular, which is way better than climbing stairs.

Full disclosure- we’ve been here before, so most of the ‘must-do’ things have already been done. We’ve walked the perimeter of the walled city. We’ve looked at the historical site and all of that. So this time, we just poked around in a few shops and enjoyed the ambience.

Quebec City feels more like a European city than some European cities I’ve been to. We had our fill of walking around and headed back to the ship in time for a bite of lunch and a nap.

Pete and Bas dropped at new song at 1pm, so I was blind to anything else for a couple hours while I unpacked all the hidden meanings, double-entendres, and unfamiliar slang in the lyrics. I’m getting pretty good at it - I didn’t even need to look anything up to decipher:

Now I’m banging on me chest like a chimpan / Stepped in an M&S vest in me jimjams / I were bagging up food like a binman / Went to a gaff with a gate from a tin can