Quebec

We entered Quibec province by crossing the Ottawa River.  As soon as we drove into the province, all signs were in French only.   It seemed strange when all the other provinces seem to try hard to be bi-lingual and in Quebec, the only English signs were in heavily touristed areas.  We drove north of Montreal and east to Quebec City.  We continued to see old houses close to the road and many small towns.  We passed through corn fields and some sunflowers.  We saw a cow-wow of cows saying "cowabunga, how do we get to California?  It's going to get cold here?" but the farmers didn't understand because the cows only spoke English and the farmers only French.  There were many dairy cows chomping on grass.  The road went through many hills which got rockier and rockier as we went east.

We stopped in Trois_Rivieres for gas, and decided to buy milk shakes.  We went to Tim Hortons.  No milkshakes.  Then to a local fastfood joint named Mikes.  No milkshakes.  So we resorted to McDonalds.  It was a big and very busy McDonalds.  I waited in line for at least 20 minutes.  And even McDonalds didn't have milkshakes.  I guess Quebecians don't like them.

I didn't realize that the Catholic Church was so prevelant in Quebec.  We saw very few other churches, but every small town had large church spires on top of a cathedral.  We drove to St. Nicolas, Quebec just outside of Quebec City and camped at a KOA.  The day we arrived it was quite rainy.  That night we did drive through the local town, and it was the darkest, stormiest night I have seen in a long time.  A camping club of about 200 VRs (vehicles recreational in French) arrived with French speaking families.  Aparrently this group gets together frequently from various areas of Quebec.  There was much laughter, card games, bouche ball and the people really seemed to enjoy themselves.  They were not quick to talk to strangers, and when we tried we found that they didn't speak English.  It was fun to watch and listen to them.

On Friday we drove into Quebec and parked in the basement parking lot of an old building.  Now I understand why the locals drive small cars.  Getting parked in our large truck was quite the process and we ended up taking two stalls end to end, because none of the stalls were long enough.  We walked for four hours looking at the beautiful old city.  I loved it!  I had taken four years of French in highschool but had never really used it.  And I also took Spanish in college and then confused both languages together.  I was very surprised when phrases that I needed and hadn't thought of forever popped into my head.  Amazing - where does that old information stay in my brain?  My accent didn't pop back.  I was purchasing post cards and the clerk was speaking in French and I was doing fine until I said "merci".  It was all I said, but enough that she immediately switched to English.  I was disappointed.


We first went to the provential government building.  We were admiring the old structure when suddenly, six or eight ambulances drove into the traffic circle in front of the building with all their sirens and horns blazing and continued to drive around and around the circle completely stopping any other traffic.  They were accompanied by two school buses full of men and woman wearing jackets that said Ambulance.  As they poured out of the buses they were yelling and waving flags.  They lit several flares and continued to make an orderly rucus for almost half an hour.  Guards came out of the government building, talked on their radios, consulted each other and stood and watch.  Then the ambulances left, the men and women got into the buses and left and everyone returned to what they were doing beforehand.   I didn't understand anything they said, so really don't know what all the rucus was about.  It does appear that free speech is valued in Canada too!

We walked through the narrow streets looking at shops, stopped to eat at a terrace overlooking the St. Lawrence river, went to the Citadel, through the Cathedrale Notre-Dame-de-Quebec.  Even though I am not catholic, I love going through old cathedrals.  I loved the narrow boulevards and alleys and sidewalk cafes. Quebec City is one of the oldest cities in the western hemisphere and was founded in 1607 - about the same time as James Town.  It also is the only city in North America that has some of the old wall around it reminaing.   I would love to spend a month or so in Quebec City!

Alley ways

Entrance into the Citadel

Residential buildings

Old court house

These two cherub/angels are so fat they cracked me up!

Gate towers from old wall

Houses.



The sign reads 1723 latrine

ruins from the original wall around the city

Cathedrale Notre-Dame-de-Quebec - building began in the 1600s

When we left the city, we drove south into Main.  I saw several signs that identified the highway as the route that John F. Kennedy traveled.  I don't know when or why he traveld that way, but apparently the Quebecians cared.  We also saw many moose warning signs, but no moose.