Chateau Bonne Entente Quebec City Sainte Foy

There was little life on the empty streets of the Old Town which became old probably hundreds of years ago and never came back to life again. Sleepy cafes with strangely impotent coffee, bored prostitute on the stairs of the Museum of American Civilization, an ice rink with cheerful French music from municipal loud speakers but few skaters around - hardly a better place to spend another hundred years in lethargic oblivion.

... the Citadel, a fortified military base that is still in use today. We venture into the Chateau Frontenac overlooking the harbour and there at the dock is our ship. We brave the cold as long as we dare and decide to end the tour and board our ship early.

We depart mid afternoon to Toronto and catch a delayed connection to Quebec City to arrive very late Thursday evening. Our stay is at a the Hotel Chateau Laurier, a mid range full service hotel adjacent to the Military Armoury. The room is small but the price is just right. There is a St Hubert Chicken in the Hotel - this place also serves breakfast.

... it was cold and windy and wet and full of hills. Plus, someone tried to sell me a $15 hamburger (made of duck meat) at Montmorency Falls. The Falls would have been quite pleasant and worth exploring if not for the weather and our infirmities, so we journeyed further east to the town of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre, site of a cathedral, or what ever, where miraculous healing of the lame was said to take place. Some of our number harboured secret hopes.

The Cathedral ...

... embarked. The sun was trying to come out, its light gently filtered by the still slightly overcast skies to be filtered again through the snow-laden evergreens that bordered the trail. The air was clear and clean, the off-trail snow pristine and the only noise pollution the swishing of our collective skis. I could feel the endocrines kicking-in in conjunction with my kick-slide rhythm and we gradually began climbing into the hills.

Gradually - HA! We rounded a turn and ...

... gsi i sone herzigi alti Stadt zcho. sHotel Frontenac haend mir natuerlich au gFoeteli, es isch smeist fotografierte Hotel ide Welt. Im Mai isch daenn na dIshockey-WM in Quebec aber vo dem gseht mae na fast nuet.... Ich wuerdi gern Foeteli uploeda, aber irgendwie isch das immer gsperrt bi dene PC,s ide Jugendherberge schaaade. Morn fahred mir nach Montreal und dete bliebed mir daenn ae Wuche bis mir au scho wieder hei choemmed. Macheds guet und bis bald

... trips thoroughly, we were fortunate to have a memorable experience. We arrived about an hour before a free Choral concert of Christmas carols. We sat through the choir's rehearsal then stayed for the concert, enjoying the views of the city in between. Ruth learned that Quebec City has about ½ million inhabitants and that they are ...

... With the family though, its been a complete other scenario. No enthousiasm, nothing special and nothing to look for... I somehow lost the feeling to look afterwards in meeting in a nice gathering. Its a spread, with no time and pretty individualistic family relation which proves to me that my friendship reaches higher... just typically canadian! Then I moved to my flat in Quebec city to start University and that became the only ...

... hotel for a rest... Tonight..keeping with the French theme we went to a fondue restaurant called Petite Chateau next to the Chateau Frontenac for dinner... Cheese fondue to start with bread & veg. Then thinly slided beef to be cooked in a broth.. and of course Chocolate fondue with fresh fruits for dessert... !!! Fun & Yum O..! After dinner we walked over the broadwalk to watch street entertainment.. nice walk thru the old town back to the hotel... full day... !!

... at the bottom in a completely different aisle. So after crying about losing my head start I then gave another 45 minutes away in a frsustrating search to find the cheapest can opener possible. And the can opener story doesn't quite end there but that's for another travelogue entry. I get back on the road and I'm cruising along when this Honda Civic zips by me, moves into my lane and immediately slows down so as to impede my progress. I ...