Blogs from Québec City, Quebec, Canada, North America

Just as a “housekeeping note” we wanted to pass along a thought: We have been told with great authority a time or two through the years that French Canadians tend to be very rude and refuse to speak English even if they are fluent in the language. Our experience has been just the opposite. We came here knowing that there could be a language barrier because we might have ten words of French between the two of us...spoken with a Tennessee accent no less! With the exception of one person we came in contact with (and we think he was having a bad day), everyone was more than kind, and bent over backwards to answer any questions, give any needed directions, try to help us pick up a French word or two, and even asked us ... read more

As one note of interest, we wanted to comment on how very clean we have found Quebec City to be on this visit. We don’t know if it is because it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, whether it is because they have just finished having and then cleaning up after their annual 11day summer music festival, or whether Canadians are just automatically super clean! At any rate, and for whatever reason, this is an exceptionally clean city! Our intention and plan for the day was to walk around the city on the top of the wall that surrounds most of it. That turned out to not be totally possible. Quebec City (and we assume the Provincial government) is in the throes of repairing many things in this area, the wall being one of the many ... read more

DISCLAIMER: I have finished working on this post this morning and am having trouble with a few of the pictures. At the beginning there may be two pictures which are mislabeled. I corrected further down in the post but it looks like they won’t stay corrected. There are a couple more errors in the pictures, but again it looks like I can’t “force” a correction. Having said that, it may come through to you perfectly fine. Those of you who are familiar with the area please cut me some slack...those of you who are not...just continue to assume I am awesome! This has been a long day so I may cut some corners, but bear with me...also, I don’t think I can get this ready to send out until morning. We had another wonderful breakfast at ... read more

UBERDavid and his faithful side kick Lora picked us up at 6:45 and we had an uneventful trip to BNA. We felt as if we had a cheering section from DWLP sending us off! After checking in, we had a very good breakfast at “Noshville” before heading to our terminal to await our flight to Chicago, and then on to Quebec, Canada. Had to do a quick (!!!) several terminal run to be on time for our connecting flight from Chicago to Quebec City. I think I personally set a Senior (possibly Junior!) record getting from the far end of C terminal to the Gate 5 of F, but we made it. All John had to do was draft on my tail wind...I managed to not run over anybody, so it was all good. Laura...you would ... read more

Just like yesterday, it was off to a boulangerie for breakfast! Since this was the day of Harry and Meghan's wedding, I ran out to pick up coffee and croissants, and got back just in time for the vows. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have bothered, but my roommate was watching, so I did, too. Right after, we headed down to the lobby to start the day's activities. We took cabs to the Residence of the Governor General of Canada within the walls of the Citadel. This walled fortress on the St. Lawrence River changed hands between the British and French over the years. It was interesting to hear about the relationship and "pecking order" among the British Queen, the Governor General, the Canadian Prime Minister, and the Senate. It seems a kind of confusing ... read more