Quebec City conjures images of an old walled fortress town, European narrow streets, cafes with French spoken at every table by low BMI stylish types, and inexpensive wine. One forgets that it is a major port on the St. Lawrence Seaway. An intriguing destination plus a handy dock equals, voilà (as we say here), cruise ships! The Crown Princess and another were disgorging as we arrived for our look around. The walls and cafes are indeed in place, but those small streets were packed with people from Ohio (hey, nothing against Ohio) taking pictures of each other as huge tour buses passed by carting the less hardy to must-see sights. Not even the restaurant wait staff spoke French after the initial “Bonjour.” And with the taxes, the wine was pricey.

But the food was excellent and the architecture fabulous as was the Museum of Civilization, in a brand new building. And on the second day, although it rained, the ships’ passengers and their tour buses had left the usual throngs of tourists for us to walk with. Outside of the old city, life is more normally urban with trendy shops and smartly dressed locals.