December in Quebec

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We arrived in Quebec, after just over a three hour train journey, with changing scenery, but most of it was very flat, with the occasional mountain in the distance. There was only three carriages on the train which was quite a surprise, the journey was comfortable, the train had mains points and WiFi, quite fast too.

We arrived at Quebec station, took the tourist pictures of the train, and headed to find our hotel, the main part of the station was very pretty and very french, quite impressive for a station.

Our walk to the hotel was set for an hour by Google maps, so we knew we had quite some time, but we did not know we had to climb up a hill, the maps don't show hills, remember we have all our luggage too, about half way in to it, of course your mind doubts if you are going the right way, so we decided to ask for some assistance, a Fire station popped up, and Jody was at had, like a damsel in distress, we still had 2.5km to go. Well the night was pleasant so we chundered of down the long road.

We finally arrived at the Hotel, after our long tiring walk we was expecting some warm welcome, but all we got was a very quite male receptionist, who spent 10 minutes on the computer without talking to us, he then said he would upgrade us to have a bath room, hang on we booked a bath room. No offer of help to carry our bags up the stairs, our room was basic and some what dated, a microwave, huge fridge, and very old TV, a double bed, 5' 6" so cuddle up time in bed, and a tiny bathroom, so tiny that the sink is in the bedroom.

Oh well four night in Quebec.

The next morning, it had snowed, not a little, a lot, must have been a good 6 inches and it was still snowing, I want to walk Jody up, but I knew I'd have to wait, okay it took me a hour before I had to tell her the good news, she was excited too, in a sleepy way.

The trip to the breakfast room was outside, down the back of the hotel, well I'd really call it a Bed & Breakfast, in to what was once perhaps the old coal cellar . Breakfast was help yourself and eat as much as you want.

We decided to talk in to Quebec City, as the snow was lovely, soft and newly laid. Walked through Battlefield Park, which was a large park, with ski trails around the park, lots of beautiful white laid snow. We bumped in to a statue which had his face changed and made of snow, and the artist, loose term artist, was just finishing off the V sign we we arrived, Jody got out the camera and he ran off, did he not want his photo taken or was he a wanted man? No he ran back with his camera too, a proud artist of his own work.

I had only snowed for one night, people were skiing, building snow men with their children, and runners in a race over the snow, to say it was a major city the number of people was very few and far between. There were even four huskies being raced across the park.

We finally arrived at the city wall of Quebec City, the only walled city north of Mexico, and what a very pretty and beautiful city it is too, with the French charm, and the snow falling, it was almost like a picture postcard that had come to life.

In the centre was a German Christmas market, so not only did you have French speaking Canadians, but also German speaking market owners, you could quite easily be in the centre of any French city if you did not see the occasional Canadian flag flying.

The tourist information was very helpful, and gave a some good tips for making the most of our time in the city, along with how to get a bus pass and getting back to the station early on Tuesday morning.

We walked down some steep steps to the older port side of the city, and even prettier shops were found, I finally found and bought my hat, in a very nice shop, full of many items we both wanted to buy.

We started to head back, taking the longer route to the centre of the city, after visiting a jewellery shop, we ended up in a bar, very european, with many beers from europe, and a Jazz band playing. I found out that Facetime on the iPhone would work on WiFi and as the city had free WiFi I called up our friend Sheyne, in his new house, wow, we could see him and his family, as he took us on a tour of his new home, how lovely it is that technology can bring people so far apart so close together.

We found, just outside of the bus station a lovely ice rink, what was lovely about it was it had no sides to the rink, and was just in the middle of a square in front of a large old building, again another picture postcard moment.

I persuaded Jody that we should catch the bus back, so in to Jak and Gills to buy the bus tickets, a bottle of time and some post cards.

The trip back to the Bed & Breakfast was much easier, so we got off on the stop after our stop, to do a bit more exploring, we found a number of small cafes, a bank and a small supermarket, so after buying a french stick, cheese and a tin of soup we headed back to our room for a quite night in.

The next morning, lazy morning, we walked back in to Quebec City, spent the morning in a cafe, drinking tea and hot chocolate, then ventured in to the walled city. Found a very nice market by the docks, selling lots of home made good, both for eating and for Christmas presents, we got directed in to an alley by a local, who said it was very pretty street down that alley, so we went for a wander, Jody was looking for a Christmas tree, as she thought the local said a pretty tree. No tree was found, but a very pretty street, Sous le Cap, was to be had. We then wondered in to a lovely bar which was in a cellar, we drank dark beer until the sun went down, only because we would know what the streets would turn out like once all the Christmas lights came on.

In the evening Quebec City was just a perfect Christmas post card, the snow was coming down, the trees all lit up and the decorations on all the buildings was just magical. We had a lovely view of Château Frontenac, a very large hotel in the centre of Quebec City at the top of the hill, we visited the hotel, and decided to go for a route around the hotel, so up to the 17th Floor we went and a lovely view out of the window over Quebec City at night.

For the last few days my front right tooth has been getting steadily sore, it's been over 15 years since I had any sort of tooth ache, so why does it decide to flare up now, so last night I had to take pain killers to numb the pain, it worked. The next morning we headed for to the dentist, to get it sorted.

After a short wait, the dentist, very young, attractive girl, held my hand and took me to the dentist chair, stroking my face, okay, okay, just dreaming, she took an x-ray and said I had an abscess, and she gave me a course of antibiotics for a week, asking me to come in a weeks time, although I am sure she was not asking me back because she liked me, I had to decline as I'd be on route to Vancouver in a weeks time.

We must have walked some 5 miles today, and we were getting tired, so we headed back to the Bed & Breakfast to pack our bags and have an early night as we had to be up at 5am to catch our early train to Ottawa.

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Comments

[hannah avery]

beautiful
Looks amazing. Lovely pics too. Very wintery and Chrismassy looking. You are so lucky. Take care and am looking forward to the next instalment. Glad to see Duck is ok. love Mum and Dad xxx