Faks Cafe Very nice to kick back and chill or do whatever..... Time in Quebec so far so nice

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Bisher hatte ich mit dem Wetter in Quebec ja wirklich Glück, für die vergangenen Tage war immer Niederschlag vorhergesagt, davon war aber nichts zu spüren, im Gegenteil, es war immer schön sonnig. Heute allerdings war es dicht bewölkt, heiß und schwül, sodaß ich beschlossen habe, mir die Stadt heute bei Nacht anzusehen. Tagsüber habe ich dementsprechend nicht viel getan, mittags bin ich in eine nahegelegene Creperie gegangen und habe Crepes zum Mittagessen verzehrt. Der Nachmittag war auch nicht besonders spannend, abends bin ich mit Alain einkaufen gegangen und wir haben uns Steaks besorgt, die er dann auf seiner Dachterasse gegrillt hat.

Abends haben wir uns noch gemeinsam Fotos angesehen und als es gegen 10 Uhr endlich dunkel wurde, habe ich mich auf den Weg in die Stadt gemacht. In einem gut dreistündigen Nachtspaziergang habe ich die wichtigsten Sehenswürdigkeiten nochmal abgeklappert, darunter das Parlament, Theater, Stadtmauer, Château Frontenac und Place Royal - nicht natürlich ohne dabei nächtliche Fotos zu machen. Als ich zurückgekommen bin, war es bereits ein Uhr nachts und ich ziemlich müde.

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Auch heute gab es wieder strahlenden Sonnenschein. Vormittags wollte ich mir nochmals die Altstadt am Fuß der Klippen ansehen. Früh morgens habe ich mich dorthin auf den Weg gemacht. Nachdem ich abermals durch die noch leeren Gassen gegangen bin, habe ich auch den nördlichen, nicht so touristischen, aber genauso schönen Teil aufgesucht. Meinen morgentlichen Ausflug habe ich dann auf der Rue des Remparts beendet. Diese Straße führt direkt auf der Stadtmauer entlang. Als Frühstück habe ich mir danach Crepes gegönnt.

Um zehn Uhr war ich wieder zurück und Alain, mein Gastgeber, hat sich angeboten, mich zu den Montmorency Falls zu fahren. Dieser Wasserfall liegt einige Kilometer nördlich der Stadt im gleichnamigen Park und ist mit 76 Metern um fast 30 Meter höher als die Niagara-Fälle. Zwar sind die Montmorency Falls bei weitem nicht so breit, führen aber auch eine ganze Menge Wasser und waren sehr beeindruckend. Auf beiden Seiten gibt es Aussichtsplattformen und am oberen Ende führt eine Brücke über den Wasserfall. Der Eintritt dort war kostenlos, allerdings wird eine Parkgebühr von 10 Dollar eingehoben - die man natürlich umgehen kann, wenn man mit jemandem unterwegs ist, der andere Parkmöglichkeiten kennt...

Nachmittags bin ich zunächst auf das höchste Gebäude der Stadt, dem Edifice Marie-Guyart, gefahren. Das Gebäude ist 126 Meter hoch, in der 31. und obersten Etage befindet sich eine Aussichtsplattform. Neben der tollen Aussicht gab es auch jede Menge mindestens genauso beeindruckender Fotos eines österreichischen Fotographen zu sehen, der Quebec in Bildern festgehalten hat. Heute wollte ich außerdem die Zitadelle besuchen, allerdings konnte ich nicht ganz ins Innere vordringen, denn der Besuch ist nur mit Führung möglich und darauf hatte ich gerade keine Lust. Stattdessen habe ich das Bauwerk im umgebenden Park umrundet und mich dann auf den Weg zum Nordende der Stadt gemacht, wo der Yachthafen liegt. Auch von dort sieht man all die schönen Bauwerke recht gut. Gleich daneben ist der Bahnhof, ebenfalls ein beeindruckendes Ziegelgebäude mit einem modernen Springbrunnen und einem Park davor. Dort habe ich in einer Pizzeria mein Abendessen eingenommen, was sich leider als Fehler herausgestellt hat, denn obwohl das Lokal sehr beliebt zu sein scheint, war die Pizza eher unterdurchschnittlich langweilig.

Danach bin ich nach Hause zurückgekehrt und habe eigentlich nur darauf gewartet, daß es dunkel wird. Ich wollte ein paar Fotos bei Nacht machen und gegen 10 Uhr war es endlich dunkel genug. Das Objekt der Begierde war in erster Linie der Springbrunnen vor dem Parlament. Ein bereits etwas älteres Exemplar, das vor wenigen Jahren hier aufgestellt und mit wechselnder farbiger Beleuchtung ein wenig modernisiert worden war.

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Schon vor sieben Uhr morgens haben mich die ersten Sonnenstrahlen geweckt und ich habe mich gleich auf den Weg gemacht - zunächst zum Parlament, einem imposanten Gebäude mit viel Blumenschmuck und einem Springbrunnen davor. Das nächste Stadttor gleich nebenan und ich bin wieder Richtung Altstadt spaziert. Wie bereits gestern Abend habe ich um acht Uhr morgens die Fähre auf die andere Seite des Stroms genommen, um heute die von der Morgensonne beleuchtete Stadt zu sehen. Es war ziemlich kalt und windig, eine Stunde später war ich wieder auf der Fähre zurück nach Quebec. Dort habe ich ein wenig ausgiebiger die schmalen Gassen der Altstadt erkundet, viele kleine Lokale und Antiquariate liegen dort. Der bekannteste Platz ist wohl der Place Royale, der auch heute noch so aussieht wie vor hundert Jahren. Nachdem das Schuljahr hier zuende geht, strömen unglaubliche Massen an Schülern durch die Straßen, die ihren Schulausflug zu Jahresende hier verbringen. Am späten Vormittag war mir wieder nach einer Mittagspause, also bin ich nach einem französischen Frühstück wieder zurück nach Hause gegangen.

Nachmittags habe ich Alain zu einem Freund begleitet, der in einigen Tagen eine Bar eröffnen will. Dort sollte er wireless Internet installieren, denn in Quebec läuft ein Projekt, das vorsieht, bis 2012 die ganze Stadt kostenlos mit WLAN zu versorgen.
Danach wollte ich mir zunächst den "Battlefield Park" ansehen, einen großen Park an den südlichen Klippen der Stadt. Den Weg dorthin habe ich durch den "modernsten" Stadtteil gewählt, aber selbst hier gibt es nur zwei oder drei wirklich hohe Gebäude, alles andere wirkt sehr gemütlich und gepflegt. Im Park angekomen, war vom Schlachtfeld, auf dem sich Franzosen und Briten gezankt haben, nicht mehr viel zu sehen. Lediglich ein paar ausgediente Kanonen stehen rund um eine große ovale Fläche, die von einem Rollerskating-Weg umgeben ist. Unter dem Park liegt das städtische Wasserreservoir, einige große Lüftungsrohre erinnern daran. Die allermeisten der vielen Bäume sind natürlich, wie sollte es in Kanada anders sein, Ahornbäume, in deren Schatten oftmals Einheimische vor sich hinschlummern. Neben zahlreichen Eichhörnchen ist mir sogar ein Murmeltier begegnet, obwohl mir der Park als etwas ungewöhnlicher Lebensraum erscheint, gibt es angeblich ein paar davon hier.

Abends bin ich mit meinem Gastgeber essen gegangen, unweit seines Zuhause gibt es ein asiatisches Lokal, wo man seine eigenen Getränke mitbringen darf. Aus diesem Grund haben wir erst eine Flasche Wein erworben, der Kellner hat diese gleich ganz selbstverständlich geöffnet und Gläser und Wasser gebracht. Dort haben wir den Abend bei gutem Essen gemütlich verbracht, auf einer leichten Anhöhe gelegen konnten wir die Sonne untergehen sehen.

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Obwohl ich gestern nicht viel von Quebec gesehen habe, hat mir die Stadt schon ausgesprochen gut gefallen. Leider war das Wetter vormittags nicht besonders überzeugend, aber am frühen Nachmittag ist es ein wenig heller geworden und ich habe mich auf den Weg Richtung Touristeninformation gemacht, um einen Stadtplan aufzusammeln. Von dort bin ich dann zur Innenstadt weitergegangen. Dieselbe ist durchgehend von einer Stadtmauer umgeben, mehrere Tore führen in die Stadt hinein. Überall gibt es viele Grünflächen, speziell im Bereich der Stadtmauer, wo gerade Flieder blüht und duftet. Für angenehme Gerüche sorgt aber nicht nur die Natur, auch hier gibt es überall Bäckereien und Restaurants, aus denen ganz köstlicher Duft auf die Straße weht. Amerikanische Fast-Food-Ketten sind nur vereinzelt zu finden.

Habe dann ein wenig oberflächlich die Innenstadt erkundet, bin vorbei an der Notre-Dame Kathedrale, die zwar nett aussieht, sich aber mit ähnlichen Bauwerken in Europa kaum messen kann. Aber es gibt jede Menge imposante und fotogene Bauwerke, das Parlament und das Rathaus, allen voran aber Château Frontenac, ein imposantes Schloß, das mittlerweile ein sicher sehr teures Hotel beherbergt. Theoretisch kann man sich für teures Geld von einem der vielen Fiaker durch die Stadt kutschieren lassen. Ich war allerdings zu Fuß unterwegs und nach einem ausgiebigen Vormittagsspaziergang habe ich mir eine ausgiebige Mittagspause gegönnt.

Mein erstes Ziel am Nachmittag war der Teil einer alten Kaserne, die bis vor wenigen Wochen noch in Verwendung war - dann ist sie leider den Flammen zum Opfer gefallen und bis auf Reste der Außenmauern völlig niedergebrannt. (Angeblich während der Installation eines Brandschutzsystems, das kurz vor der Fertigstellung stand.) Von dort bin ich nochmals über den Steg entlang der Stadt zum Château Frontenac spaziert. Von dort führt eine Treppe hinunter an den Fuß der Klippen, wo der kleinste, aber älteste Teil der Stadt liegt - lauter Steingebäude mit wenigen Geschossen. Dort liegt auch der kleine Hafen, von wo die Fähre nach Lévis am anderen Ufer des St. Lorenz-Stroms fährt. Die Fahrt dauert nur wenige Minuten und auf der anderen Seite ist es nicht weit zu einer Aussichtsterasse am oberen Ende der Klippen. Die Aussicht von dort auf die Skyline von Quebec ist beeindruckend, besonders die Silhouette von Château Frontenac im Sonnenuntergang, den ich natürlich abgewartet habe, bevor ich mit der Fähre wieder zurückgefahren bin. Ich habe noch ein paar Fotos vom nächtlichen Quebec gemacht, bevor ich mich schließlich auf den Rückweg gemacht habe.

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Den Vormittag habe ich im Hostel hauptsächlich damit verbracht, darauf zu warten, daß die Zeit vergeht. Das Wetter war nicht allzu einladend und so habe ich mich erst gegen Mittag auf den Weg zum Bahnhof gemacht. Hinter dem Eingang zum Bahnhof gab es eine ganze Menge Cafes, Restaurants und Bäckereien und zu meiner großen Freude wurden europäische, in erste Linie natürlich französische Speisen angeboten. Das war natürlich willkommene Abwechslung, denn in allen anderen kanadischen Städten ist außer Pizza, Burger und vielleicht asiatischem Essen kaum etwas zu bekommen. Zunächst habe ich mein Ticket abgeholt, dann mein Gepäck aufgegeben und den Rest der Wartezeit habe ich mir mit Mittagessen vertrieben.

Eine halbe Stunde vor Abfahrt sollte der Zug am Bahnsteig zum Einsteigen bereit sein. Auch hier darf man vorher nicht auf den Bahnsteig, vor dem Abgang dorthin mußte ich mich anstellen und warten, bis ein Schaffner die Tür geöffnet hat. Im Zug war ich etwas überrascht, daß ich eine Reservierung in der ersten Klasse hatte, den gebucht hatte ich natürlich die zweite. Allzuviel unterschied zwischen erster und zweiter Klasse besteht hier ohnedies nicht. Unabhängig davon gibt es in den Zügen zwischen Montreal und Quebec durchgehend Internet, was die Zeit natürlich schneller vergehen ließ.

Nach dreieinhalb kurzen Stunden habe ich Quebec erreicht, am Bahnhof hat mich mein hiesiger Gastgeber, Alain, abgeholt und nach Hause gebracht - mitten im Stadtzentrum. Schon bei der kurzen Fahrt dorthin ist mir aufgefallen, daß sich diese Stadt deutlich von allen anderen kanadischen Städten unterscheidet, die meisten Häuser sind nicht höher als drei Stockwerke und aus Ziegel oder Stein gemauert, Wolkenkratzer wie in anderen Städten gibt es praktisch keine.

Abends wollten wir zu einem Couchsurfing-Treffen gehen, das zufälligerweise heute stattgefunden hat. Nachdem das ganze als Picknick geplant war, haben wir noch ein wenig zu essen besorgt. Der vereinbarte Treffpunkt war eines der Stadttore, wir waren etwas zu früh und mußten eine ganze Weile warten, bis noch jemand aufgetaucht ist. Zum vereinbarten Zeitpunkt schließlich waren es gut 15 Leute und wir haben uns einen Platz im Grünen neben der Stadtmauer gesucht. Es war ein netter Abend, auch wenn sich die Kommunikation in Grenzen gehalten hat, denn viele sprechen nur Französisch und überhaupt kein Englisch - und meine Französischkenntnisse halten sich in Grenzen. Als es dann doch ein wenig kalt wurde und zu regnen begonnen hat, haben wir uns noch in ein Lokal zurückgezogen, bevor sich die Gruppe aufgelöst hat und auch wir wieder nach Hause gegangen sind.

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April 11

I landed in Quebec city slightly after 3am, what a rough time. Once again Continental Airlines let me down in NY. There was also a Air Transat flight landing at the same time as us so I rushed out of the plane, as I was sitting in front and to the custom. So I was at the beginning of the long queue at least and I was so tired and expecting that they probably would be as annoying with immigration as they were last time I landed here.

Luckely immigration went better this time, I said I wasn't living here anymore and for the reason I was visiting, I gave them my invitation letter for the exam of Saturday, which is sent by their employer. So I didn't receive useless questions this time and even a good luck.

I got my bag quick too as our continental flight bags were coming out first then the last check and they let me out immediately. At last I won't have to open all my bag to show them that I simply bring nothing of value and only books and town planning pamphlet.

So I came out and my father was there, so we walked to the car and drove home to Lac-Sergent.
Once home, I opened and cleared my bags a bit and had a sandwich with my mother who just got up. Then I went for some sleep in the meantime.

I was up again by the morning, so it was definitely a short night.

I went with my father to Quebec city but before that we passed to Cap-Santé to see my old employer. That was great, discussing about the profession and the project going on. After this we went to get a quote for the insurance which I didn't buy immediately. Then we didn't know what to do and my father wanted to go wait at the Wal-mart that my mother comes, that pissed me off, no way I was coming over to Canada to kill time at Wal-Mart. So I got him to drive to an old mall situated downtown and from there I could have a short walk to the job fair which was going on. Naturally, that job fair was exposing only manual jobs and nothing for university graduate. As it has always done in Quebec city. So it is always a pain and annoying when you look for work while being graduate.

My mother joined us and we went to eat at the restaurant, I noticed that the price of food has so gone up. It is incredible. Where is the time that you could eat for a 10$, not the final bill was nearing 60$. And the price of Gas which is rounding 1.20$/liter. The salaries though are remaining at an incredible low level. This is one shit side of Canada.

Then afterwards we simply went home.
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April 12

Woah, a snow storm today. I was up early to go to the city for the main reason why I came home at first place. Then I looked at my paper before realising it was saying one hour earlier than I had expected. Shit, I was late! It was stormy and snowy! I was going to be even more late, all that travel for nothing.
I didn't want to drive in those conditions either. Finally my father got his clothes on and we jumped into the car in a hurry after swiping the snow off the car, the road condition were indeed bad. Though it is once in the car that I re-read my paper and noticed it said simply Welcoming starting at 8.30. So hopefully still a good hour before the exam starts. Now we could relax more while on the way.

Dad drove me to the University where the exam was going to be attended. I was passing the entry exam for the Federal government, more especially to get a post for the Custom offices. Eh well, many people were also passing that exam and once the exam started it was going like shit. It is really not a bright or of any use exam, divided in 5 parts and made by psychologue it absolutely does not verify any useful element nor competence. First you have 4 minutes to classify alphabetically or by increasing some row of data ... there are 15 questions as such (well 15 questions on every thematic), easy indeed, but 4 minutes goes too quick. I didn't manage to have time enough. Then you have arithmetic, something like 30 seconds to solve 2735 divided by 67 multiplied by 43 ... all in your head. Doesn't our famous government know yet of the calculator or the computer?
I think I didn't even manage to answer a single one of those questions. The other thematic aren't of any more use. So that is on what any specialist working in any field of strong competence for the Canadian government is based on. So you could be a total competent Nuclear Engineer but still fail and that will be the deal decision of your employment for a ministery.
I failed the provincial one by one point in the past, which means you can't be taken into consideration for job application then. I fear I won't pass the federal one either. Most obviously I probably have to not keep high hope about that. Might I specify that my profession exists mainly through public employer.
I think my future is screwed!

Municipalities are my only remaining possibility.

So I came out of this exam which last about 75 minutes quite enraged, knowing that I would fail and that the only possibility for me to ever do it again is to be called for it and also wait 180 days.

Why do I feel that everything in the world is meant to make my life impossible. I do not believe anymore that anyone does have it that hard. I can't work abroad, I don't find career abroad or I am not even taken into consideration when applying. I have a level of scolarity and competence quite higher than many and have the chance to learn more and especially to apply my past working experience as well, still people 5 years younger than me gets better position. Which also means they have less experience and less scolarity! WTF!
My conclusion is that I start to be even more happy into the bad thing of others, terrorist would bomb London? Well as long as it clear a bunch off so that opportunities shows up to me!

We went off the campus then, complaining for a certain time before making our way to Charlesbourg where my cousin has bought a house. So we went to visit him and see the house. He also has a daughter now but she wasn't there for the week end. So we went to have a sandwich at Tim Hortons and talked a part of the afternoon, then we simply went back home as I was a bit tired and Martin needed to work more on the house (renovation). On the way back though, we stopped at my brother and just shortly said hi. They were coming to have dinner at home so we left not so long after direction home to the lake.

Tommy, Nathalie and the children came over for the meal and we talked and spent time at home for the evening. Martin then called to go spend a part of the evening there and play poker. I did but really late as I still stayed for a while with my parents and brother. Then I took the car, the snow precipitation were lower and it was just a bit foggy but fine to drive. So I spent the rest of the evening with Baleine, Martin and other friends before returning home to sleep.
Although the driving at night was rough, I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open.
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April 13

I woke up early enough today again, and my father was up too. My mother just stayed in bed, which is a pain when we know that we see only a few days a year. So she kept on sleeping about the whole day. My father and me decided to go to Sugar Shack of my uncle, so we drove there, and went to see my aunt first. From there we simply went down to the village, it is in St.Basile to see my cousine and also a bunch of my cousins who are helping with building her house. The work had just starting the day before but it was going quick. The first floor walls were about to be done.

After that we returned to the house to take the snowmobile towards the Maple Sugar Shack (Cabane à Sucre). My uncle was there, as there is an absolute need to stay there as a watchman, matter to add woodlog into the fire for the maple water to boil and take out the syrup. But also to ensure that the Maple Water bassin entry isn't overflowing.

We talked and I also documented the process through pictures. Which some of them are quite good.

For the day, we talked with my aunt, my cousine and my uncle. Later on as the syrup was ready I helped in canning it. This year the quality was so great. It was grade AA syrup. So different than the Grade C available in Europe.

So to explain a bit the process:
By spring, when the temperature runs over zero degree Celsius during the day, the maple tree are starting to 'unfrozen' and the sap starts running in the tree. If you make a tiny hole in the tree the sap water drops out and this sap is sweet. Traditionnally, people would put a bucket and collect the water, you can drink the water directly, every tree taste different and it does taste like sweetened water. Although this one is natural. The water is now collected by tube which drain them to a bassin, then it is pump into the boiler bassin. Once you have collected enough water, you simply need to process it by boiling it. The more you boil the water the thicker it gets, at certain degree it becomes syrup, at more degree it becomes toffy, then sugar then butter etc.. etc..
So this is a very natural product as it does not require any third product, just boiling. Of course from the amount of sap you collect a lot of it disappear through evaporation before you get the syrup. So you get less syrup for the water collected.
Once the syrup gets to its right boiling point in the boiler, it starts to stick to the spoon and sheen to the light, then it is ready to be taken out of the boiler. You just need to pass it through the filter as matter to remove the grain or things that might have fallen into it. Once that is done you can quickly put it into can and it is done. If you eventually want to process it further to make other maple product (sugar - butter - candy) you simply take the badge back and put it in the heating process again once it has coolen down.

The quality of the syrup will vary according to different elements, first of all the season which is linked with the temperature. If the temperature raise too quick or if it is a sunny day or cloudy day will affect the quality and also the amount collected. If the night starts to not freeze back, it will also play a role. The second element is during the process, if you miss the boiling point or wait too long it will affect its quality too.

I guess that should explain the process in general, about the industry now. It is a large investment for family owning a maple shack. They invest all into the capital for their product and the building. Which is more like a cottage, and then also have to work hard for the few weeks during the year for the harvest. This year with the major snow fall there has been, many people had to shovel the snow for 2 weeks prior to start. If the tube are beneath the snow, they will freeze so it won't work.
Then they get their revenue out by selling the products to their family and other people in the surrounding. Only once that is done do they sell the remaining of their production to the government own company which collect the product in barrel and bring it to the warehouse to be processed or sold to other generic companies who might sell it abroad. As the vast majority of the Maple Shack farm are family own, the production is consequent. Therefore, nearly everyone knows personally someone with a maple shack. On my case it is my uncle, so the family gets the product from there and we also only get the high quality product then. The lower quality is always sold to the federation which collect the barrel and this will be what ends up on foreign market. Sorry but we are unlikely to buy the lower grade at first ourselves.

I bought some of this year syrup to bring over to England and give to my friend or especially to make a pancake party later this year. I also bought some other product and my aunt gave me a pot of maple butter too.
We ate at the shack and it is only later by late dusk that we went back home. My uncle was still going to watch at the shack overnight, as today had been a major day and by dusk the trees where still flowing. So much water had entered the bassin.
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April 14

My mother didn't go to work today, so at least we got time to talk. We went to Quebec city as matter to buy a travel insurance. I did buy one for six month, it was an hassle but it was done. As regarding the vaccinations, well that was even more of an hassle so we just nevermind.

We then also went to shop in different shop and bought some chocolate bar and CD to burn my computer's data. Then we just talked and ate at Ashton, a  poutine!.

Then the day went by and we drove back home. My uncle stopped by shortly, and he was going to come the next day as well for dinner.

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April 15

My last day today, I went with my father to St-Raymond. We did go to eat at Ti-oui snack bar which was opened and otherwise I don't remember much of why we did go there at the first place. We bought some more maple product to bring and I also got some jell-o and other stuff like that.

Later on, back home, I worked on emptying the data on my computer, checked-in for my flight and went outside to enjoy the sun. I talked a bit to my neighbhouring uncle then and also to a friend of my father. Then the day went by, by the evening my uncle was coming over, we talked watched pictures and then I simply went to pack my bag before having a very short night. My uncle left at around 10ish and my flight was departing the following day at 6am which means I need to be leaving by 4am.
So after that very short night my father came to drop me at Quebec city airport and I waited for my flight to depart.

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First time to Quebec ever.  Went to see what the annual winter carnival was all about.  It was so cold here but i'm just happy the temperatures were slightly above average.  There was no shortage of snow though as this winter was one of the snowiest on record.  I took lots of pictures here.  The St. Lawrence could barely be seen with all of the snow, ice, and fog around.

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Le jour de départ était le 7 Juillet. Je ne connaissais pas les 2 autres gagneurs

d’Olyfran, je les avais vus une seule fois. Je savais seulement que c’était une fille,

Nathalie, et un garçon, Kevin. On a pris le premier avion vers Frankfurt et on était

très excitants. Puis, le deuxième avion c’était d’Allemagne vers le grand Canada, premier arrêt, Montréal et puis, finalement, Québec. L’avion jusqu'à Québec était un tout petit avion. J’ai compté les chaises et c’était un avion pour que 33 personnes,

comme un autobus.

On était bien arrivé sauf que les valises de Nathalie et moi était disparus. On ne savait pas quoi faire mais les animateurs Guillaume et Max nous ont aidés à remplier les formulaires. Ils étaient la pour nous accueillir. Heureusement qu’ils étaient la, parce que on était un peu perdu. Après, nous sommes allés à la résidence Parents. C’était l’endroit ou Kevin dormait et nous, les filles, on était dans une autre résidence très proche. Cette journée la, on est resté dans la résidence Parents et déjà, on a rencontré beaucoup de gens.

Le lendemain Kevin à ranger ses affaires mais Nathalie et moi, on n’avait rien à faire lorsque nos valises n’étaient pas encore arrivés. Le soir, on a mangé notre premier barbecue québécois. C'est-à-dire, des hamburgers et des saucisses pour faire des chiens chauds. Les barbecues, c’était chaque mardi et tout le monde était là. Tout le monde parle avec tout le monde et c’était toujours très agréable.

Les cours commençait presque, d’abord on devrait choisir des cours dans l’université même. Après avoir choisir ce qu’on voulait faire, on a reçu notre premier classe de Lise. Lise était le prof pour ‘arts et traditions populaires de Québec’. On avait encore un deuxième classe, ‘le roman québécois moderne’. Le prof de cette classe était Carole. J’ai toujours bien aimé les classes et j’ai beaucoup appris.

Grace à ce programme, on a maintenant des amis dans tous les coins du monde. Il y a vraiment beaucoup de nationalités différentes qui suivent le programme. Le plus chouette c’était sans doute sortir avec tout le group.

Tous les jeudis tout le monde sortaient dans le pub de l’université mêle. C’était toujours très chouette ! Moi, j’aime trop danser. Des qu’il y a de la musique, je dance. J’avais un ami Portoricain, Abner. Il m’a appris salsa et reggeaton et beaucoup d’autres genres de dance.

Les premières semaines qu’on était là, c’était le grand festival d’été. Dans tout le vieux Québec il y avait des Podium. Toute la journée il y avait des choses à faire et puis le soir les spectacles commençaient. Des chanteurs québécois, français même américains… Inoubliable. En plus, c’était seulement 30 dollars pour 3 semaines. Tout le monde avait reçu une broche avec une toute petite lumière rouge. C’était comme la carte d’entrée.

Grâce aux animateurs on ne s’ennuyait jamais.

On avait toujours l’occasion de faire une activité dans l’après-midi. Les cours étaient déjà finis à midi ou un peu plus tard, donc on avait encore tout la journée pour faire des choses avec les animateurs. On a fait de Beach volleyball quand il fessait plus de 30 dégrées par exemple. Mais nous, les belges (c’était notre surnom), avions trouvé une piscine en plein aire. Donc quand il fessait trop chaud, on prenait nos affaires et on nageait tout l’après-midi.

Les mercredis il y avait une soirée des animateurs. Toujours très chouette. D’abord on fessait quelque chose en groupe et après on sortait tous ensemble dans le même pub. Une des activités qu’on a faites était la randonnée de fantôme. Le guide était déguisé et racontais des vrais histoires angoissant.

Même pendant les fins de semaines on fessait

quelque chose avec les animateurs. Chaque

samedi les animateurs préparaient une grande activité pour nous. Le premier samedi

on a fait du rafting. C’était sur un fleuve assez sauvage avec quelques obstacles,

c’était vraiment amusant.

Puis, une autre activité était les baleines. On devait mettre des vêtements très chaud parce qu’il fessait très froids sur l’eau. Puis on a pris notre zodiac et on a commencé l’aventure. Les baleines étaient vraiment impressionnantes.

Cette jour là, il fessait très beau donc on a vu

beaucoup et c’était vraiment agréable. On a reçu l’opportunité d’aller voir le grand ‘cirque du soleil’ On a payé 60 dollars pour un vrai spectacle. Tout notre groupe était

impressionné et tout ce qu’on pouvait dire, était ‘wauw’… On a vu trois petites filles qui étaient très agiles et elles ont fait des choses incroyables. Aussi plusieurs acrobates avec beaucoup d’équilibre et beaucoup de force. Ils ont fait des choses comme traversé le podium à vélo sur une corde. Et quand l’acrobate était sur le vélo, des autres mettais des chaises sur son do et tout ça.

Une partie qui était aussi très impressionnante était la pyramide de gens. Ils étaient plus de 20. Les plus grands en bas et puis plus petits sur leurs épaules.

L’excursion suivante était vers L’île d’Orléans. On a visité le domaine Steinbach. C’étaient des belges qui vessaient du cidre. On pouvait gouter tout les genres différents. Après on a pris notre bus jaunes et on a visité l’île encore un peu plus. On a mangé dans une boulangerie très ancienne ou on cuit le pain de la manière traditionnelle. L’île d’Orléans est une île très jolie et tranquille.

On a aussi vu un feu d’artifice. Mais pas un feu d’artifice ordinaire, comme toujours. Celui qu’on a vu était à la chute Montmorency. C’était une compétition et plusieurs pays participaient. Mais on a seulement vu le dernier. Comme on était arrivé trop tôt, on a bu un apéritive sur place. Quand on se déplaçait, on prenait toujours des autobus jaunes. Comme dans les films. Les activités n’étaient pas toujours en déplacement. Detemps en temps en restait sur place.

Comme la soirée de casino. C’était dans le pavillon De Konink dans l’université même. On pouvait jouer blackjack ou 21 et naturellement aussi roulette.

Une fois par semaine, aussi dans De Konink, on pouvait voir, ou bien écouter en québécois, un film québécois ou français. C’était la soirée de cinéma.

On a même eu une boum dans De Konink. Tout le monde était obligé de se déguiser dans les années 80. On a dansé sur de la musique des années 80 aussi.

Un repas traditionnel de Québec, c’est le putin. C’est des frittes avec du fromage la

dessus et puis un sauce brun de lequel ne personne connais les ingrédients. Le

meilleur putin on trouve Chez Ashton. C’est un restaurant sur la Grande Allée.

Si on a envie de faire la fête à Québec, la Grand Allée ou bien Rue Saint Jean, sont vraiment les endroits préférés. Il y a plein de restaurants, bars et boîtes. Moi, j’aimais trop Chez Maurice. C’est un bar de deux étages avec ma musique préféré. Puis on a Chez Dagobert, c’est aussi un bar ou on danse tout le temps. Chez son père c’est le bar préféré de kevin. C’est un tout petit bar avec un chanteur qui chante des chansons françaises. On s’est toujours bien amusés.

Puis les derniers jours on a fait beaucoup avec tout le groupe. On a fait une croisière du Saint-Laurent. C’est le grand fleuve de Québec.

On a dansé presque toute la soirée. On a vu la couche du soleil du bateau. Un des mille moments inoubliable…

Le 10 août on a fait un grand pick-nick pour dire au revoir. C’était vraiment émotionnel parce que pendant les 5 semaines qu’on était à Québec, on a rencontré des gens super sympa qui sont vraiment devenu

des amis.

Comme Yves, c’est notre ami libanais-brésilien. On l’a rencontré la première semaine et on a fait beaucoup de choses ensemble. Il était comme le quatrième belge…

Beaucoup nouvelles amitiés, mais je suis très contente que je pouvais partager cette expérience avec Kevin et Nathalie. Ils sont vraiment devenus des amis. C’est grâce à

eux que je me sentais si à l’aise dans un autre continent. Je ne vais jamais les oublié, ils sont dans mon coeur pour toujours.

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So, a rather tired pair face the day.

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So, we have been in Quebec City Since Monday.

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Three hostel dorms. Three wierdos. Each worse that the previous.

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My first day travelling alone in Quebec City started on Rue St-Jean which is one of the main streets heading into the Old Town section of Quebec. I walked by the outdoor public ice skating and passed a bunch of pubs, shops, restaurants and other points of interest until I reached my first major stop, McDonalds! Haha I know, I know, how could I possibly pass up all the wonderful French restaurants and have McDonalds? Well the answer was simple at the time, it was my first meal in Quebec without someone French helping me pick what to eat so rather than be adventurous and try to figure it out myself, I decided my first meal should be something I know, and McDonalds was the only well known eatery around that I could see. After grabbing a bite and realizing that you really don’t need to speak fluent French or even any French to get around in this part of the city, I decided to venture out and see some of the sights of the beautiful Old Town and take in all the local festivities as best I could. See in Quebec, they are getting ready to celebrate the cities 400^th birthday this year so not only are there signs everywhere promoting the year long event but there are also a few small festivities that the public can participate in to help celebrate. There will be more and more festivities as it gets closer to Winter Carnival in Quebec which usually runs in late January ��" mid February. Well as I walked further down Rue St-Jean into the heart of Old Town I came across my first major attraction, Basilique-Cathedrale Notre-Dame-de-Quebec. When I was in Europe I saw many churches and that fact almost maybe me skip past this beautiful building but I’m glad I decided to go in and check it out. I spent around 45 minutes looking through the church, taking pictures and reading about some of its history. After donating a few bucks to the restoration project underway for the basilica and taking enough pictures to fill 3 photo albums I figured it was time to move on and see what else the Old Town had to offer. This area of Old Town is called the Latin Quarter and other attractions in the area include Musee de l’Amerique Francaise, Cathedral of the holy trinity, Musee des Ursulines, Musee du Fort and of course Laval University which I didn’t take a tour through but are worth mentioning and I suggest checking out if you’re in Quebec City. In the area I also suggest checking out Montmorency Park which has some spectacular views of the St.Lawrence River and Chateau Frontenac. After seeing the amazing view of the Chateau Frontenac from Montmorency Park, I decided to get a closer look and see what the rest of the old upper town had to offer. Once I climbed the stairs up to the base of Chateau Frontenac I was greated by the ever popular Funiculaire which is basically an outdoor elevator taking you from the old upper town down to the old lower town. Just down from that was the Governors’ Promenade which is a long set of stairs leading up the hillside of the upper town. Unfortunately I can’t remember all the history on it to give you a lesson about the Promenade but it is a popular attraction and you can get some great views of the St.Lawrence River while climbing the stairs. Right before the stairs there was an outdoor downhill toboggan ice ride setup where you got to walk up to the top of the hill and toboggan down. I didn’t do it myself but everyone that came down said it was a blast!

 After checking out most of old upper town I decided to ride the Funiculaire down to the old lower town and do some sightseeing before it started to get dark. I walked around and did some shopping, took pictures of some of the very European streets and buildings and eventually made my way to the Musee de la Civilisation. This museum is home to many exhibits like the one on the cultures of Quebec’s Aboriginals and the one titled People of Quebec: Then and Now. There was also a new exhibit called Dragons, which was one of my favourites with it’s cool dragon artefacts and the history behind the myth of the dragon. You could easily spend a day in this museum seeing all that it has to offer and I highly suggest it for anyone visiting Quebec City! Since it was 5pm and the museum was closing I decided to do some more shopping and sightseeing in the old lower town before heading back up the old upper town to finish off the day. I roamed the streets for close to an hour and was just about to head to the Funiculaire when I came across a vendor selling Caribou wine! I had read about this unique drink in my Lonely Planet book and found that it’s usually sold during the winter Carnival. Caribou typically consists of Brandy, Vodka, Sherry and Port and is heated like coffee. I had wanted to try it after reading about it so I was excited when I finally came across a vendor on the street selling it. I must say though, that is definitely a different taste and I’m sure most people trying for the first time won’t exactly enjoy it but it’s definitely worth a try!

By the time I made it back up to old upper town it was already almost 6:30pm and I was starting to get a little cold from walking outdoors for most of the day so I decided to go relax in a pub for a little bit, have some Quebec micro-brewery beer and wait for Bene to call when since she was going to be picking me up around 7:30pm. I walked down Rue St-Jean and considered many pubs before choosing to take a seat in St-Alexandre Pub. This place was just what the doctor ordered, a nice atmosphere, great staff and an awesome selection of beers from all over the world. I sat down and ordered a local quebec beer(unfortunately I can’t remember the name) before grabbing out my Lonely Planet book and making some notes on my travels throughout the day. In the hour I spent there I downed quite a few different beers and was starting to really feel the alcohol setting in when Bene called to let me know she would be there to pick me up in a few minutes.

All in all I had a great day sightseeing through Old Town in Quebec City and highly recommend it to anyone visiting Quebec, it’s an absolute must see!

Once we got back to Bene’s place we relaxed for a bit before heading over to Boston Pizza to get some eats and have a few drinks. I had been trying to convince Bene to take me to a club in Quebec City since we got here and was excited when I finally convinced her to take me to Le Palace which is one of the busiest nightclubs on a Saturday night in Quebec City! We got there around 12:30am and it was already packed full of people. This club has everything, a nice sized dance floor packed with beautiful women, a nice bar type setting on one side of the club(including pool tables and tables to relax) and a casino type setting on the other with various types of VLTs. It even has an upstairs floor that overhangs some of the main floor and has a cool waterfall against the far wall. Unfortunately Bene had to work at 8am so she didn’t want to get to crazy but I think I managed to consume enough Gin & Tonics for the both of us. Throughout the night we met up with a bunch of Benes friends and by 3am we were ready to head home and get some sleep since Bene had to be up in only a few hours for work. I’d say that Le Palace would definitely be a club to see if your in Quebec, I had a blast!

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Well after yesterday’s adventures and subsequent late night, I decided to take it easy for the day and just relax before heading back to Montreal. Bene had to work at 8am and wasn’t going to be back until 1pm so I decided to sleep in until 12pm and then get all showered and stuff for when she got back. When Bene got home we decided to have lunch with her parents who had cooked crepes and ham, what a great meal! I smothered everything in brown sugar and maple syrup, I couldn’t have picked a better meal! After eating she decided to lie down and try to sleep for an hour or two so I decided to work on my travel blog and watch a little French TV. I managed to find the movie “Ghostbusters” in French and watched that for a bit before deciding to put my head down as well.

When I finally awoke and looked at the clock it was close to 5pm and had the biggest craving for a poutine! I woke Bene up and soon we were on our way to rent a movie for the night and make a stop at Ashton which supposedly sells the best poutine’s in Quebec. To my shock and dismay, Bene hadn’t seen Superbad so I headed right for the comedy section at the video store and picked up a copy. After making a quick stop at a gas station to see one of Bene’s friends we were on our way to Ashton since I was dying to have a poutine! Well I do have to say that Ashton lives up to its reputation! I really wish we had places like this in Calgary, I think they’d be very successful out west!

Once we were done filling our tummies we headed for home so Bene could finally see the movie “Superbad”. Just like the movie “Anchorman” I was in tears within the first few minutes from laughing so hard. By the time the movie was over, both of us had sore stomachs from laughing, it’s such a great movie!

It wasn’t even 10pm when the movie finished but both of us were pretty tired and we had to wake up at a half decent time so I could make the bus to Montreal in the morning. As I was heading to bed I received a message from Mario asking if I wanted to meet up when I got back into Montreal the next day so I sent him a message back and told him I’d message him when I got to my hotel in the afternoon. Although I was tired, I had a tough time falling asleep as I looked forward to being on my own again and getting to meet someone new, I guess that’s the life of traveling alone, I really have to do this more often!

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After the last few really late nights I decided it best to head to Quebec City and slow down the pace a little and maybe do some real sight seeing! Bene lives in Quebec City and had drove down to Fannie’s place in Montreal to see me and thus was able to give me a ride to Quebec City and even offered up her home for me to crash for the few nights I was going to be there. We left Montreal by 3pm in the afternoon and were on our way to Quebec City which is normally about a 3 hour drive. I spent most of the drive looking through my Lonely Planet book “Montreal/Quebec City” and decided that tomorrow I would like to venture over to the “Old Town” section of Quebec City. From reading the book I got a rough idea of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go in the Old Town.

About half way to Quebec City you could feel the temperature dropping slightly as it’s usually a few degrees colder there and it began to snow pretty hard the closer we got to Quebec.

By the time we reached Quebec it looked more like a blizzard with all the snow and gusts of wind but by 6:30pm we were at Bene’s place. Just when we walked in the door, Bene’s good friend Catherine called and it was decided that the three of us would go out for dinner and have a couple drinks. We looked through a variety of restaurants on the internet and eventually decided to make reservations at “Ginger” which was one of the newer, trendier places to eat and have some drinks. After picking up Catherine (we called her Cat for short), we exchanged introductions and continued on our way to Ginger. Walking through the door at Ginger, I immediately realized we had made a great choice! I really don’t know what to classify this place as but it had a little of everything, a touch of fine dining, a cool looking ice blue bar and a section of cozy couches to relax and mingle with friends. One thing this place does pride themselves on is their presentation of their food, I ordered the Filet Mignon and my plate was arranged so beautifully that I didn’t was to ruin the presentation by eating my meal! I eventually got up the nerve and cut into my steak and I was amazed out how well the steak actually was! Normally not many places outside of Alberta can cook up a mean steak but Ginger definitely serves a nice tender steak!

Anyways, after eating up a storm and finishing a couple drinks, we decided to call it a night and head back to Bene’s. We dropped Cat off on the way home and decided then that we would finally watch “Anchorman” together since I had been talking about the movie while we were in Europe and she had never seen it. Anchorman is probably my all time favourite comedy and even though I have seen it like 100 times, it still gets me to tears from laughing so hard.

After the movie, I went through my Lonely Planet book one more time in preparation for my venture through Old Town Quebec City tomorrow. Bene had to work so I knew it was going to be a fun experience to walk around Quebec by myself and take in all Quebec City has to offer. Needless to say, I didn’t get that much sleep, I was too excited!

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