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Today we headed out to do the lower town walk (Quebec City is split into upper town and lower town). We started at the end as this was closer to our hostel and made our way to the beginning. Some things we had already seen just from walking around on previous days, such as Rue de Petit Champlain and the mural (at the end of the street there is a 100 square metre painting on the side of one of the buildings which depicts the origins of the area).
Place-Royale was on the route. It was here that Samuel Champlain first settled and was the site of his first fortified house and trading post. The buildings around this square are very pretty- `the architecture typical of Northern France`. Overlooking the square is Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church which was built in 1688!
Place-Royale was also the place that a sequence of Steven Spielberg`s movie `Catch Me If You Can` was filmed!
We then walked on to discover Fresque des Quebecois, or The mural of Quebecers. This is a 420 metre high painting (supposedly a trompe-l`oeil) which tells the city`s 400 year history through the seasons. It is pretty impressive but I personally wouldn`t say it was a trompe-l`oeil, it isn`t realistic looking enough.
Next we stopped off at Place de la Fao which is at the junction of Saint Paul and Saint Pierre streets (which are both lovely little streets full of art galleries and restaurants). Here at Place de la Fao is the monument that `commemorates the 50th anniversary of the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations, which was founded in Quebec in 1945`.
There were a couple of places we missed out on the walk as we weren`t too fussed about seeing them, plus at this point we were absolutely freezing!! I think it was minus ten today!!
Eventually we arrived at the beginning, at Marche du Vieux-Port (Old Harbour Market) Thankfully it was inside! They have their Christmas market on at the moment, it was lovely, they had a nice selection of foods and drinks and crafts.
After this we headed to the supermarket to stock up for the week ahead, luckily it was close by, we could only handle being out in the cold for a few hours today!!
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