Road Trip, Day 20 - Quebec

There was a slight mix-up at the lovely hotel this morning - a "lost in translation" thing about breakfast - but we ended up paying for and enjoying an elaborate buffet.  We then headed down to Old Quebec and broke up into groups with these 3 assignments:  to spend an hour or so sketching/painting something unique to this city, take $10 U.S. and buy lunch (exchange and order in French), and explore the city and find three things they'd like to do tomorrow.

I was in a group with mostly boys this time, and they headed straight for the Citadel - an amazing fort that proved quite impervious through many attacks (by Americans!).  For almost 2 hours straight, we walked under and over and through and around this huge fort and finally settled on a wall to sketch what could be seen.  J.J. drew a lantern on the Citadel wall and I tackled La Chateau Frontenac - an amazing castle that now serves as a hotel and numerous small shops.  

After the girls rolled down the hill a few times, we headed down into the city to find some lunch.  Most of the places we found were fancy restaurants (one serving game such

 as elk and caribou and other wild game was very interesting) that were far out of our price range.  Then we found a deli that suited us and enjoyed a light lunch, followed by ice cream cones.  We walked down further towards the St. Lawrence river and wandered into a cathedral whose exterior was rather plain looking, but was amazingly ornate inside.  

The light signals are very long here, with a cycle for pedestrians in all directions so that you can walk diagonally across the intersection if you want.  

The stoplights are horizontal (versus lights stacked up and down) and can be confusing with turn signals in with the reg

ular lights.  The city is extremely clean, though, and except for a few "Quebec Libre" graffiti tags, there were no signs of vandal

ism.  All the tulips are blooming here right now and it's simply stunning!  

It was very cold tonight as we all cooked dinner outside in the blustery wind - the past was barely lukewarm by the time it got to my mouth.  It still tasted great, though - peppers & asparagus in red sauce over spaghetti.  Everyone went swimming and/or watched American Idol finals after dinner.  After all the walking today, my feet were tired and I was happy to have a warm bed to sleep in.