Last week was March Break for those of us employed by the school district. It's what I used to call Spring Break but here in the tundra it ain't spring yet, so we call it March Break. If they would wait another few weeks until April than maybe Spring Break would be appropriate, but it they did that there is a very serious risk that we would all have gone insane by then. So, March Break it is...
The Canadian and I headed west to the great province of Quebec. I should probably go ahead and let all you Americans in on a little secret. We've been mispronouncing Quebec our entire lives. There is no typical Qu sound at the beginning. It is not like quiet or quick. It's a K sound. Kebek. Something like that.
Side note: check out the nastiness that grew on the side of our car during the drive.
Gross.
Where was I? Yes. Quebec - pronounced with a K. We drove several hours through northern New Brunswick to the French province of Quebec. I was super excited to pass by my favorite town in the whole world, St. Louis du Ha! Ha! Possibly the greatest name ever. I want to live in a town that ends in an exclamation point. Moncton! New Brunswick! Maybe I'll send a petition on over to the mayor and see about adding that little piece of grammatical genius.
New Brunswick is the only official bilingual province in Canada. Quebec is the only completely French province. I'm American. If anything, Spanish would be my second language. Do the math - French and I are not friends. It poses a bit of a challenge in Quebec, but lucky for me TC is pretty good at rolling his R's. Even though they don't care to admit it, most Quebecers speak English. Somewhat broken, heavily accented, but English nonetheless. Especially in the tourist cities, like Quebec City and Montreal.
Old Quebec lies inside Quebec City and is surrounded by an enormous wall. Driving through the gates transports you to a city in a city that is reminiscent of Europe.
I've never been to Europe, but that's what I am told and it is certainly like I imagine Europe.
We stayed at the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac - basically a castle. It was built in the late 19th century and is beautiful and ornate. Kinda made me feel like a princess, really. Next time I'll remember to pack my tiara.
TC let them know that we were there to celebrate our wedding anniversary (it's close enough, right?) and they treated us to a room upgrade and had delicious fudge and honey waiting in our room. Get this - the honey came straight from their rooftop beehives! I guess that is one way to keep the hooligans from climbing up on the roof.
We spent the afternoon wandering the town and enjoying the nice weather. It was super nasty the last time we visited so it was nice to actually see the sights when it wasn't buried under snow and cloudiness.
I tried to sucker TC in to a quick toboggan ride, but it apparently wasn't up to his standards.
He told me in no uncertain terms that we have an identical toboggan hanging in the basement and that there are much better hills at home that would be much more fun for my first toboggan ride. I told him he was a party pooper.
To make it up to me he bought me a lovely glass of wine, and all was well again. Doesn't take much, does it?
Exhausted from a long day of driving in the car and then gallivanting through the city we crashed early. The next morning we headed out in search of a hearty breakfast, and more importantly cafe au lait. We ended up with regular coffee but the woman next to us had a cappuccino in a bowl. I want coffee in a bowl. Mugs are for boring people. With that in mind, we set out to Montreal in search of coffee in a bowl.
To be continued...
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