It just occurred to me that I'm on a big holiday to a country I may never visit again and I'll be very disappointed if I look back over this blog and don't find any reference to it here!
I'm currently in an apartment on Place Terrasse Dufferin overlooking the St Lawrence river in Quebec, Canada. It's not a cold day for Quebec in February (-2C) but it's the first cold looking day since Mr Crafty Blueberry arrived on Monday.
Just around the corner to the left is the Château Frontenac, our very grand neighbour for the week.
In front, just over thr wall, is the toboggan run.
Where do you start when it comes to describing a holiday like this? Perhaps with a confession that I've found it difficult being here at times. The journey was exhausting thanks to spending 6 hours in Montreal airport due to a delayed flight, and we've done so much walking that my body constantly aches. It's hard to take a break when there's so much to see. But the main thing for me when I've had moments of low mood is feeling far from home and my regular routines, which I've come to rely on. That plus the physical tiredness has been a challenge.
To get all the negative stuff out of the way at once, I've also been shocked by the cost of food here. As the restaurants are expensive we decided to cook some meals at our apartment. The prices in the supermarkets here are incredible, remind me never to moan about food prices in the UK again. I don't know how people can afford to eat. In fact when I read about it apparently many Canadians are eating less because the cost is too high.
It's been difficult finding gluten free food in restaurants or shops so that also made eating out difficult as Mr CB has Celiac disease. We made the mistake of assuming availability would be the same as the UK but it's definitely been much more challenging.
OK, on to the good stuff now.
Quebec is a beautiful as it's made out to be, and the people are very friendly. In the Quebec region French is the primary language, though most people also speak English. We've tried to use our limited French and been relived that people seem glad that we've tried rather than annoyed that we've butchered their language.
In the old part of town there are perfect, eye catching old buildings wherever you look and at night the streets are lit with fairy lights.
The new part of town is full of the bustle of normal people doing there thing, and it feels more like a busy town than a city, which I like.
I also like the contrast between the old streets by the river and the large working docks and marina. The marina is iced over and people go there to ice fish.
We timed our trip so we could visit the annual Quebec Winter Carnival and it's been such fun. We've been on an ice slide, a snow slide, Mr CB went on a zip line and we've played games and had drinks in glasses made of ice from the ice bars. And we've been in the ice Palace which is made entirely of ice blocks and filled with ice sculptures.
Last night at the ice bar we got talking to four friendly and jolly French Canadian women. They bought us drinks (I don't know what they were but it involved lots of excited discussion with the barman in French) and we talked about life in Canada and England and had a good laugh together.
Something the Quebec region excels at is poutine, which is chips, cheese curds, rich gravy and pretty much any topping like sausages, beef, vegetables etc.
Poutineville have various branches and with some gluten free markings and very nice sangria they've been a good option for eating out.
An activity I really enjoyed was taking the ferry to Levi one evening. It's a 12 minute journey used by lots of commuters and it runs every 20 minutes during the day and less frequently until late at night. It gives a great view of the old part of Quebec and it was fascinating to stand on the open part of the deck watching and listening to the ferry smashing through large chunks of ice.
There are some fantastic places to visit for free in Quebec such as the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral and the Parliament building. Both were well worth visiting, very beautiful with interesting histories.
Something I've enjoyed is coming back to the apartment for lunch or a rest mid afternoon. Today we had an excellent local pate on toast, a couple of glasses of wine and watched Star Trek. It's been a nice daily pause to rest our feet before going out to explore again.
Although gluten free options are generally poor there's a 100% gluten free returant,
Vervain 2.0. It was quite expensive but it was worth it for the excellent food and wine and the experience of doing something we rarely do at home. It rained and the temperature dropped as we were eating so we had a slow, icy climb through the winding streets to get to our apartment but it was worth it.
On our last day we went to the Observatoire de la Capital, where you get far reaching views of the city and beyond from the 31st floor. It was my favourite thing of all.
Afterwards we watched five a side street hockey and had a general wander around the St Jean Baptiste neighbourhood.
At night we went to the Winter Carnival Night Parade. Either we got there too early or it ran late, because we were waiting for around 2 hours. But when it got going it was a lively, happy spectacle worth seeing, especially Bonhomme on a 70th birthday cake float. Afterwards we made our way home for supper as part of a cold but happy crowd.
Now we're in the Gare du Palais waiting for our train to Montreal. Even the train station here is beautiful. I'll miss Quebec but am curious about what Montreal will be like.
