Farewell Ontario, hello Quebec!

Crossing into a new province and the first noticeable change is that french is now the predominant language; written and spoken, although many people are bilingual and once they realise you would prefer to converse in English, they simply switch.  I did attempt to dredge up some high school francais, although would get caught out once a conversation got too complicated! Little did I realise that a week later when I travelled to Montreal that I would be reading in french to a group of children! More on that in a later blog post.

Back to Quebec City and after arriving at the beautiful, old train station it was a climb up the hill to find my hostel. Everyone had told me that I would love Quebec City, but they didn’t tell me how hilly it was! At points around the city and also from down by the river up to the Plains of Abraham there are super, long staircases. I often discovered them by accident and funnily enough always seemed to be at the bottom rather than the top when I did find them! Lots of locals use them for stair runs (great for the thighs and a good cardio workout I’m sure) but I stuck to walking!

The photos I took in Quebec (all 120 of them) are all on my camera rather than my phone, so I can’t share any on here. I can only say that with Chateau Frontenac (apparently the most photographed hotel in the world,) the old town, the Citadelle, Petit Champlain and the Dufferin Terraces, it is a very photogenic and beautiful city. My highlights were watching the dusky pink of the sunsets, soaking up the history on the Plains of Abraham as well as learning more about the inspiring work of the Ursuline nuns. I think most of all I shall remember Quebec’s laidback, European charm. Although I walked miles everyday exploring the city, I also found myself slipping into waking up late, enjoying lazy breakfasts, a late morning coffee whilst sitting in one of the sunny squares and spending time chatting with fellow travellers. I was fortunate to cross paths with some great ladies, who quickly became great roommates during the week and we enjoyed visiting the Montmorency waterfalls and a drink on the 28th floor of a hotel’s rotating bar and restaurant. 

Another week which just flew by! Onto Montreal...