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Memories of Quebec

I am back to the grind and hating every minute of it as much as I did before I went on holidays. I think there is a message in that for me. However for now I cannot do too much about it.

My first glimpse of Quebec City was just as the sun was rising on the old quarter. I had been told that it was probably one of the most European like cities in Canada, but having never been to Europe I was not sure what to expect. However the first morning that I walked in the Old town I was so over whelmed by the colorful old buildings and narrow winding cobblestone streets. You felt as though you were walking back in time, yet here people still live and work in these buildings.

Quebec City is the oldest city in Canada. It has just celebrated it's 400 hundred anniversary. As I walked through the streets I could not help but be awed by the beauty that surrounded me on all sides. The city sits on a hill overlooking the St. Lawrence river.

I walked on the Plains of Abraham where the battle between Britain and France played out and was a deciding factor over the fate of New France and influenced the creation of Canada. It was so exciting.
Everyday from early morning until late evening I walked the streets and explored as many nooks and crannies as I could. I ate wonderful traditional Quebec food such Poutine with chunks of cheese melting into the gravy and every afternoon I indulged myself at one of the many out door cafe's with one of the incredible pastries and fragrant coffee. No matter how hard I tried to resist it was impossible!

Quebec City is the best holiday I have ever had in my life. I have never had the chance to just go away on my own and explore a new city. Usually I had children and/or husband in tow so this was a great experience for me. Later I will put up the rest of the pictures and share my trip up through the country and then up the St. Lawrence to the Saguenay Fjord!

More Pictures at my Flickr site

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A very French Cat! In the Old Quarter of Quebec City

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Bonjour Quebec City!

I have spent the last five days exploring Old Quebec City and enjoying every moment of it. I have hundreds of photos, but more importantly wonderful memories.
With the exception of one day of rain the weather has been great! Sunny and warm.
I cannot tell you how exciting it was to walk the Plains of Abraham in glorious sunshine.
And the St. Lawrence is incredible. All my life I have been fascinated by bodies of water. In school when they would teach us about rivers and lakes I longed to see them. Of particular fascination for me was the St. Lawrence. It seemed so exiciting - explorers arriving and Indians trading furs up and down the banks. I not only got to see the St. Lawrence I took a trip up to Saguenay Fiord to see the whales. The belugas looked like marshmallows floating on the water! It was wonderful.
Like all good things it comes to an end and today I fly home. I will post pictures some time in the coming week.

Chasing the Orcas

It has been quite a week for me! So much to do to get ready for my trip to Quebec City on Monday. The weather here has been so good it is hard to focus. Every minute I want to get out in the sunshine and play!
I did get to play on Thursday. Last Christmas my daughters gave me a gift certificate for a whale watching tour that departs from Steveston. It turned out a beautiful day to be on the water and there were lots of whales about as you can see by the pictures that I posted on the side. The tour lasted about 4 hours and was so relaxing. The most difficult part was trying to balance a camera on a rocking boat to get some pictures.
These whales are Orca whales commonly known as Killer Whales despite the fact that I have never heard of them killing anything but seals and dolphins! In fact these poor mamals had such a bad reputation that at one time the military used to use them for shooting practice!! Can you imagine that! These lovely creatures are so elegant to watch and they are able to move so swiftly through the waters that we were constantly starting engines to move up to them. We are only able to get within 100 meters of the whales as the department of fisheries only allows for that in order to keep the whales from being too stressed. An accurate count of how many Orcas actually exist is unknown, but like most of the whale population it has diminished greatly. One of the problems is the pollution that is infecting them and causing their young to die. Terribly sad and should be a wake up call for all of us. I can not imagine a world without these beautiful animals.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Had A Whale of a Time!

Whale Watching!

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