Thursday

Alors. Today was the warmest day we've had so far. It was 34F when we left this morning, headed to the upper town to see what there is to see related to the siege of Quebec during the Seven Years War. Let me just say that getting on top of the bluffs changed the wind chill significantly. It was tres cold up there. I now see why battles here are not fought in the winter. 

We learned new things about the battles of Quebec, including the fact that one French dude let a whole boatload (in fact, several boatloads) of British soldiers by because after he asked who it was, a British guy who spoke very good French yelled "provisions." Now I hate to be all judgey-judgey, but it seems a little stupid to me. If you are in a war, wouldn't you need to be a little more careful about who you let by a river checkpoint? What happened was that those boatloads landed and climbed up the bluffs to approach the city from the west, resulting in a battle during which the French lost. C'est dommage for the poor schmuck who was standing guard that night. 

We walked to see the Plains of Abraham, where the British creamed the French after said schmuck let them past, and all I can say is that I was moved by how freaking cold it was. I understand that folks have to pitch camp and build their fortresses up where they can see the enemy coming, but Jesus Christ! It would be miserable to be stationed there. Great view, but so cold!

I'll turn it over to Dan, who I'm sure had a much less cynical point of view about the poor French folks. Plus, he has photos. 

Dan - 

Dan has one photo from this day - only one. This is a panorama shot of the Saint Lawrence river from the Plains of Abraham. 

All that white stuff in the water is ice, and the quantity changes as the tide does. I thought I was just stupid at first, but no, the ice will be headed one way at one point of the day and then the opposite way at another time. Messes with your head. 

No food has been mentioned yet. Today was not especially notable, food wise. I tried eggs Benedict with smoked meat for breakfast and a Québécois shepherd's pie at lunch. Neither stood out as remarkable. DInner was rabbit with mustard sauce. Since Vicki doesn't eat cute animals, she had undercooked cod. Mine was delicious, hers not.  We will make up for bad meals tomorrow. 

One more shot - and Vicki snapped it. Lots of public art and statues here. This is a mural ion Lower Town, near our dinner spot. Pretty cool.

A bientôt!

Wednesday in Vieux Quebec

Wedneday began with a forecast of rain, so we made plans early to hit the old market for a few items so we could stay in for dinner. We bought 2 Québécois cheeses (one curiously named Le Verdict d'Alexina? It was made from the milk of cow, goat, and ewe. The other was - scandalously - non-pasteurized. And yet, we live. We also found French bread, smoked maple salmon, smoked mussels, and meringues for dessert. We found a bottle of sparkling cider to join all that. It was a feast. 

Back to the market - I was wandering around, looking in cases, and saw this. A refrigerated case is probably not the best place to keep your guitar. 

As said in yesterday's post, we found a Provençal restaurant last night to which we returned today for a wonderful lunch. Tourist season has slowed, and not only do we get great service, but we get to chat it up with the server/owner/chef at hand. 

I am loving this cold. As I have told many, I would much rather deal with this than a MEMPHIS summer.

I also love what the ice does to things, especially here where it sometimes seems to defy gravity. 

See - these icicles are all leaning the same way.

And, although you can't see it as well here, these all lean to the rear.

This is a light at the Chateau Frontenac.

And this wins the funkiest icicle prize.

This is Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer dude who founded New France and Quebec (maybe 1608?). He is deceased now, just for the record.  

Let it not be said that Vicki won't get back on the horse. This is the very spot where she fell and bounced her head off the wall. There are cracks in the wall - just sayin'.

The rest of the day was spent wandering the streets until the rain started. We retreated to our condo and had a cozy afternoon, then a cozy dinner. 

Vicki: Okay - now it's my turn. Those freakin' cracks were there long before my sweet little head hit that wall. The cracks on the sidewalk may be another story. 

Dan didn't mention that before we hit the market, we found a lovely place with Nutella croissant and bowls of cafe au lait. I don't remember being served coffee in bowls before coming to Quebec, although Dan is sure that he's had it before. He just can't remember where or when. The dude that served us must have been our age, wore a Hawaiian shirt, and had a ponytail down to his waist. 

And I would like to say that I don't know when or why prohibition America left the custom of having a glass of wine or beer with lunch, but it's quite civilized. 

Apres lunch, we strolled around, ending up in the upper town of Vieux Quebec. Dan made a friend. 

And I took a photo from the top of the funicular, an up-the-mountain elevator. This is the St. Lawrence River, flowing with much less ice today. 

The high tomorrow is supposed to be 36F, so we plan to put on shorts and walk the town some more. We will hit the Plains of Abraham, where the "Anglos" beat the French after a 3-month siege of Quebec during the Seven Years' War (known to us U.S. folk as the French & Indian War). On Friday, we are renting a car to head out to the Ile de Orleans, where maple farms, vineyards, and orchards await. We I'll also see the Hotel de Glace, where you can (but we will not) sleep on a bed sculpted out of ice. Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to make sure that I pee before we get there. 

Another day in Quebec

Today began with another tour. The minibus was to pick us up at 9:30 in front of Le Musée de la Civilisation and was to be 4 1/2 hours long. 

(Vicki here. 

At one point, when we were waiting for the tour bus, this pulled up:

My first thought was, "oh, no, he didn't!" - wondering if my sweet husband had lost his mind and booked a tour on a school bus. But then, thankfully, out came little children a la Québécois, about the age of our little neighbor, Charlie. They were all bundled up like little nanooks, with their little touks and mittens. So cute. 

Now, back to Dan.)

This tour was across the St. Lawrence from Quebec City. This was one I had especially looked forward to and one I wanted to share with Vicki. I brought a dozen or so CBHS French students up here in the late eighties and some of my best memories were associated with this tour.

Memories play tricks. 

Our first stop was Montmorency Falls, 83 meters high - which is, our guide was quick to point out, 30 meters higher than Niagara Falls. The view from the top of the falls was brilliantly white - you are looking here at frozen water, both under the bridge and in the foreground. All the water of the falls flows under all this ice and snow.

Warning sign on the trail. The fourth warning isn't quite serious enough. "Chute" means falling in this context. Falling icicles is pretty clear - you can die from being impaled by one. But the snow one makes it look like those are pretty little flakes floating slowly to settle upon your shoulders. What that intends to tell you is that any amount from a snowball to a dump truck full could land on your head at any minute, leaving you with a wet neck at a minimum or sweeping you off the mountainside in an avalanche at worst. In town, there are such signs along the sidewalk, because hundreds of pounds of snow on roofs in Quebec gain sentience at some point and, lemming like, slide off collectively with the aim of burying you on the sidewalk. Then the snowplow comes along, scoops you up, and deposits you in a snow bank where you will not thaw out until late spring. 

Over the falls is a suspension bridge, here beautified by the lovely Vicki Murrell.

More of the bridge. I can't post videos on this blog, but I can give you links to videos I took. The photos have no depth to them, so a video is the only way I can show you what the falls look like from above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fUpJxFEm78 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7oxDFdn7iM 

The graffiti artists that got out on this ledge to share OMG were nuts. 

This is how the falls look from near the highway....

...and a little closer. 

A bit further down the road, we went on l'Ile d'Orléans, an island about 5 miles by 21 miles in the Saint Lawrence, reachable by car by only one bridge. It is reachable by boat, or when everything freezes, there are places that you can walk across the river. We had an opportunity to shoot the city from the island.

One of the the things we did was visit Chez Marie. They have been baking bread for years, and tour buses have stopped by for years for homemade bread with maple butter. Back on my trip in the eighties, we stopped at some place like this and had hot, fresh bread that dripped with maple butter. It was heaven. My memories were promptly squashed by a commercialized stop where we got room temp bread, not particularly good, with maple "spread" that was now made with oil and other extenders. I apologized to Vicki for the build up and pouted on the bus.

A lot of the homes on the island have root cellars like this one. The temp is a constant 5 degrees Celsius (41 F) regardless of the temp outside.

The final stop of our tour was Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, both a town and the name of its Basilica. 

This is Sainte Anne in gold. 

The Catholic Church credits this Basilica with many miracles of curling the sick and disabled. These items have been left behind.

And this area is dedicated to St. John Baptiste de la Salle, French priest, educational reformer, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He is a saint and, more specifically, the patron saint of teachers. All of my CBHS students know this, especially those who came on this trip. 

These are deadly icicles at the Basilica without a warning sign. 

So we finished the tour, and, because we had not eaten all day, headed off to Aux Anciens Canadiens, a well-known restaurant near the Chateau Frontenac. I would not have thought we could ever afford to eat there, but 1. I would have gone anywhere at that point, and 2. Our guide had clued us in on a special lunch menu. The highlight of my meal was escargots. 

Also at this meal, we had our third or fourth political discussion with a Canadian, who are not afraid to boring the topic up. In general, we have found that Canadians are generally well-informed about our history, our political system, and our candidates, whereas many Americans remain unsure of who Joe Biden is or what happened in 1776. We have also found them to be incredulous that Trump is running and winning, and many have asked if there are really Americans investigating a move to Canada if he should win.

On leaving the restaurant, we made it around the corner, where Vicki slipped on an icy patch and banged her head against the building. There were a couple of nice folks who stopped to see how she was and ask if she needed to go to the hospital, but she soldiered on. However, we quit for the afternoon. 

After some recuperation time, we wandered down our quiet back street to a French restaurant where we were the only customers. We only wanted dessert and a beverage, but also had a nice conversation with the owner, who was French. I had a creme brûlée with pastis that was wonderful and Vicki tried another sugar pie. We are becoming coinnesseurs of sugar pie, noting the textures vary as well as the taste. But we haven't sent one back yet. 

And looking ahead, we now know where we will have lunch tomorrow. I'm always keeping an eye out for that next good meal.