Today we wanted to make a short visit to the old part of Quebec City (founded in 1608 it is the only walled city in the US/Canada), but where to park. Fortunately Google provided a possible answer, a parking lot in downtown Quebec right on Bassin Loise that (apparently) was suitable for RVs, so off we headed. Our GPS lead us right to the place and sure enough there were a lot of RVs already parked there. Quickly we found out that the parking fee for RVs was C$65 per 24 hours and almost as quickly decided we would stay the night here and devote the remainder of the day to sightseeing. The lot is an amazingly convenient spot for a base, we are only a short walk (maybe 15 minutes) up hill to the old walled city and Chateaux Fontenac. The blue and yellow big top tents of Cirque du Soleil are just across the road, and just down the street is a big complex of grain silos that become a projection screen for outdoor movies. It seemed every RV owner in Quebec (other than us) knew about this place because by 10:00pm the place was packed with motorhomes and camping trailers, probably over 200 of them.

The old city is a bit of a tourist trap with shops and vendors everywhere trying to make a living from the throng. But even so the place was impressive and amongst all the modern hussle and bussle one can see how the cannons of this town once controlled the St Lawrence from its commanding hill top position.

After a hot hike around town we spent a little time cleaning diesel soot from the front of the beast and then settled in for a chat with Ernest and Marlise a Swiss couple also camped at the parking lot. They had done a trip from Europe through Russia to China and back to Europe along pretty much the route we are hoping to take next year so we were keen to pick their brains and look at their photo albums. The conversation was enjoyable and gave our enthusiasm a bit of a kick along.

And PS - we found a real super market this morning with vegetables (legumes) and beer (biere), it is called Maxi.