We woke up to a 6:30am alarm, after a cozy night in our Vista Suite. The sky was overcast 

and we were delayed getting into our berth in Quebec City's harbor. The Regatta joined the

 already berthed Crown Princess, home to more than 4,000 passengers and one of the Crystal

 ships. As our tour guide, Guy, told us later there were 8,000 tourists in the city and we

 were likely to run into some of them at one or more of our stops. After breakfast in our 

cabin we headed to the bus for our 7.5 hour “Grand Exploration of Quebec.” Guy, and the 

bus driver, Yannick, first took us from the port through the lower old town area and past

 the huge year-round farmers' market and then the industrial port, along the Beaupre Coast

 to the Montmorency Falls which are among the largest in Canada, although not anywhere as 

spectacular as Niagara. Then we continued on to the Basilica of St. Anne, mother of Mary 

Magdalene. The church had started small and was rebuilt 4 times over the last few centuries,

 finally being completely rebuilt as a Basilica over a 50 year period in the 1900s. A church

 becomes a Basilica when it contains relics of the Saint and this one has three. It is a huge

 and amazing church. We then crossed to the Ile d'Orleans where the farmers who feed 

Quebec City reside in 6 villages. We stopped at a refurbished mill for a very good lunch,

 although we shared the restaurant with a bus from one of the other ships. After lunch we

 headed back into the City and stopped first at the Plains of Abraham where the major 

battles of the Seven Year War between the British and French took place. After a 30 

minute history lesson from Guy, which followed a number of others at the previous stops, 

we moved on to the Dufferin Terrace and the famous Chateau Frontenac hotel in the upper 

old town, a speed shopping trip and then a repeat in the lower town Place Royale. We 

arrived back at the ship minutes before the “all aboard” signal and 30 minutes before we

 cast off and headed out to Cornerbrook, Newfoundland with a full day on the St. Lawrence

 tomorrow. The rain has intensified, but our cabin has finally warmed up after not having

 the heat on throughout a long day of overcast skies and lots of windows. Well, off we go

 for Daryl's first whole lobster of the cruise.