Ville de Québec

Now we're jumping ahead in time a little, to the Monday after the wedding, when we drove to Quebec City with Calin and Susanne, as part of their eastern Canada adventure. (They also visited PEI while we were preparing for the wedding.) I insisted that we leave at an ungodly hour in the morning so that we could get the 7 hour drive out of the way in time for a late lunch, and so we could actually spend more time in Quebec. Though no one was pleased when we first got up, in the end it made for a great day.

On our way, we passed through a village in New Brunswick called Little Denmark, which had apparently been settled by Danish immigrants. We stopped there for gas and some snacks, at Hansen's Meat Shop, which was also a gas station. Check out the flags on the sign!
There was also a giant Danish flag on the floor of the meat shop, which Susanne is pointing to here with her foot, though it looks for all the world as if she's about to start highland dancing on it.
Finally, after a day of marathon driving by me (Julia), we made it to Quebec. We went first to Jeremi's friend Pat's place, where we were staying. We hadn't planned this much in advance, but Pat, along with some of his other friends from RMC, was able to make it to the wedding, and offered to let us crash at his place, which was great. He also drove us downtown and gave us a little tour of the citadel. We then did some sight-seeing while he caught up with laundry and other things at home, after being on vacation for a while.

Here was an old stone public building of some sort near a tourist information centre (alas, I don't remember what it was) which had been recently damaged in a fire.
Though most of the stone buildings in the old city still held all their charm, even after living in Europe for a while. It really is a beautiful city.

Here we were checking out a charming cafe-filled street, where we stopped for some food and sangria.
Near the Chateau Frontenac, a crowd was gathered on the boardwalk to watch a busker...
Eventually we made it along the Promenade along the riverfront, where it was a bit windy!

We hiked up all the stairs, but the view over the city was worth it.

Wow, I certainly don't feel that much shorter than those two!From there we were able to walk across the Plains of Abraham, and the location of the Paul McCartney concert the evening before. In general, the city was packed due to both the concert and the 400th anniversary celebrations in general. We were lucky to be able to stay at Pat's place, as we'd have been hard pressed to find a hotel in our price range, I think.
After walking around all day, we took a much-needed rest at a pub selling beers from all around the world. They even had Köstritzer Schwarzbier, a black beer made in a town near Jena!


From there we made it toward the commercial centre, where I was able to run into Simon's to quickly buy a pair of jeans and a sweater. I needed them anyhow, but it was getting much cooler as the evening fell, and I really wasn't dressed for it. (I didn't pack many clothes when coming to Canada, as I needed a bunch of new clothes that would fit me, and in general it's cheaper to buy them in Canada, and I still find it a bit easier as I know the shops and the sizing better.)
Calin also bought a nice hoodie at Roots, partly to stay warm, and partly as a nice souvenir. It was on sale too, which helped! We also wanted to bundle up a bit because we'd planned on meeting Pat for supper, after which we'd go down by the harbour to watch a projected musical show of some sort about the history of Quebec. It was playing every night during the 400th anniversary celebrations, but he'd been away and hadn't been able to see it yet.

In the end it proved impossible to find a restaurant near the port that had room for five without reservations, so we had to scrap the plan, and we headed back to the area where we'd been earlier in the day and had supper at a nice restaurant there. Afterward Pat brought us to a brew pub that he liked, where we sampled some of the wares before heading back to his place rather early (and very tired).The next day we didn't get up too early, as we only had a relatively short drive to Montreal ahead of us. It even left us time to stop and see the Mont Morencey Falls on the way out of the city.

It was quite a hike up to the bridge over the falls, but worth it for the view. Calin walked across to the viewing platform on the other side and took this picture of the three of us. We're the ones in the middle of the picture - I'm the short one in between Susanne and Jeremi wearing black. I still don't get why I look so short in all these pictures...
The vertigo-inducing view down the falls...

Look at all those stairs we climbed! We sure deserved all the beer and poutine and smoked meat awaiting us in Montreal.
The view of the cusp of the falls from the foot bridge.
It was a long hike up, but a much quicker walk back down. Here Jeremi and I are looking back up at them en route to the foot of the falls.
Then at the bottom we couldn't quite resist the urge to go to the observation platform that was entirely engulfed in mist. Well, Calin mostly resisted the urge. Jeremi, Susanne and I got completely soaked to the skin. But it was so much fun!

I was also wearing my newly-bought dark blue jeans, which were then dripping dye all over as we had to immodestly change in the parking lot before getting into the car. Still, it was worth it, and we felt so refreshed before heading back on the highway toward Montreal.