First Impressions

After 36 or so hours in Quebec City, I'm ready to pronounce it quite lovely. Everyone we've encountered has been very friendly and helpful with a couple of people telling us they hope we enjoy our vacation time. The primary language is French so all signs and most menus are in French but as soon as you answer Hello! to the greeting of Bonjour! they switch to English. So far, I'm getting a (very) basic grasp of French as far as food items and other basic needs (exit, bathroom, ticket office). Our waitress at brunch yesterday very sweetly offered to explain the French menu to us although "omelette" is fairly easy to understand and I was able to decipher "oeuf Benedictine" as eggs Benedict.

Quebec City is hillier than I expected. I'm not sure I'd really considered that it would be hilly. We spent much of yesterday wandering around the old city, walking down to a wooden promenade that overlooks the St. Lawrence River. We didn't go down to the water because we couldn't find the stairs or a road leading down and didn't know that "funiculaire" was the elevator that goes from the boardwalk to the water. Now we do. We were here for the last day of a 10 day summer festival, just missing the concert by Sting on Saturday night. As we were wandering around the area, there were street performers and artists performing at various stages.   We are on the 19th floor of the Hilton Quebec and our room overlooks the Quebec Parliament building and the St. Lawrence River. It's a gorgeous view although there was one downside that we discovered last night. The Parliament building was the only thing separating us from the main stage where Placido Domingo wrapped up the festival last night at around 11:30 or so.

This morning, I went on a two-hour bus tour of the city. Our driver gave us bits of history as we drove around the old city area (helpful since the signs are in French) as well as some areas that are a little longer walk (Paul and I didn't get a car for this trip). Tomorrow and Thursday, I am participating in the companion tours as well which include a tour of the countryside and Montmorency Falls followed by a tour of Ile d'Orleans and a sugar shack. Maple syrup for everyone (no really, everyone will probably get some in their stocking from us this year). In the meantime (instead of writing this), I've really got to get to work on schoolwork, including a ridiculously long mid-term due on Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my class notes with me since I was trying to conserve space in my backpack and I really need them. I've got to get as much done without them as I can and will then work like a crazy woman on Sunday when we get home around 3:00 or so.

But the best story by far is the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel. The conference information said the taxi ride would take about 30 minutes  We arrived fairly late in Quebec, landing about 10:30 or so.  After customs and retrieving our luggage, a porter let us know that more taxis had been called. Paul and I shared what was smallish minivan with a coworker and wife who had been on the flight with us. There was little room for luggage in the back so the driver had to lie one of the backseats down. I was in the very back next to some suitcases, Paul and Alonzo were in the middle two seats, and Alonzo's wife was in the front seat. She let the driver know where we needed to go and away we went. Quickly. As in, the driver didn't touch the brakes until ABSOLUTELY necessary or use a blinker at all. The posted speed for the stretch of highway was 70 kph. From where I was sitting, I could see the speedometer. I leaned forward and asked Paul how fast 140 kph was aside from double the speed limit. Needless to say, it didn't take us 30 minutes to get to the hotel. When we got to the heavily trafficked area because of the summer festival, he just squeezed through ridiculously tight spaces and continued on our way. Paul said it was like MarioKart without power slides. It was a crazy ride to the airport. We all thought the driver didn't like us but I don't think he spoke much English and he was concerned that his GPS was shaking a bit at top speed. As we were waiting to check in at the hotel, a woman who had left quite a bit before us got in line behind us. She wanted to know how we could beat her. All we could do was say "140 kph is how."