The day it rained...

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I woke up to rain this morning, so I thought I'd head down to the museum of Civilization and spend the morning there. I left my hotel in my rain pants and rain coat, but by the time I got down to the Musuem in the basse-ville, I was soaked anyway. Couldn't dry off in the mueum though, because it's closed on Mondays. If only I'd remembered that before I left my hotel!

The streets of basse-ville were nearly deserted, with only a few brave souls venturing out in the rain. I took the Funiculaire back up to haute-ville, and went to the bistro at the Château Frontenac for Hot Chocolate. I managed to make that last about 45 minutes, and then it was time to move on again. I thought I'd take a tour of the Château, but it was another hour before the next one.

The rain hadn't let up at all, but I was getting restless, so I went back outside. After ten minutes, I was soaked through again. I stopped at an Internet Café, but that only took up 20 minutes time. However, by now it was late enough in the morning to go for an early lunch.

I made my way through the driving wind and rain, which seemed to be getting worse, to Casse-Crèpe Breton, a crèpe place highly reccomended to me by my sister. I sat up at the bar so I could watch the crèpes being made, and I order one with ham, cheese, and mushrooms. It was fantastic--I can understand why my sister loves this place so much. I finished off with a lemon sorbet, and then it was back out in the rain for me.

I went back to my hotel, hoping the room had been cleaned for the day so I could settle in with my book, but they hadn't been in yet. I changed my shoes--sandals are so much more comfortable in the rain than the puddles that had collected inside my shoes... I went outside again, hoping the rain had let up a bit, but it hadn't. So I spent a couple of hours in a pub, and then I went back to my hotel room for the afternoon and evening.

[note: I found out later that Québec City got about 94mm of rain in that day, and some of the suburbs flooded. I kind of suspect that the rain must have come off the edges of the weather patterns from Hurricane Rita].

By 10:00pm, the rain had stopped, and so I went out to see what the city is like at night. It was the most beautiful evening ever, and I practically had the streets to myself. I could have stayed up on Terrasse Dufferin forever, watching the lights on the St. Lawrence below me, and in the Chateau behind me. I couldn't have picked a better way to spend my last night in this enchanting city.

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Photos

Hôtel de Ville
City Hall

Stormy day at the UNESCO monument
Photographs don't even begin to capture how rainy and windy it was. I've never seen rain like that in my life...