my highly entertaining winter trip, part 1: touristing

December 30, 2013

my highly entertaining winter trip, part 1: touristing

hi everyone! i'm back in montreal - what a nice, warm, welcoming place. i've had my winter trip to quebec city that i'd been dreaming about, and the undertone of this whole review is likely to be: never again! though i'm sure i'll change my mind as soon as other trip prospects to wintry places come up. but so far: it's been the coldest and windiest crazy weather i've had in my life. by far. pretty fun though: to be laughed about from a cozy place, with a mug of tea.
i don't know very well where to start from, but this looks like a good point:

my hostel room window, first view on waking up, etc.

the hostel actually turned out to be pretty nice. a theater/reading room with a sharing bookcase, a decent number of showers, and plentiful breakfasts. it is very much a function of roommates though, and i was lucky to share with nice people: a korean girl and two brazilians - who were as revolted at the weather as me.
come on, i sort of knew what i was getting into.
i knew some stuff. like, oh, it is colder than montreal. oh, it's very cute. oh, historical city, fortress etc.
so yes, i can't see that the first images of city gates took me very much by surprise.

this is gate st-louis, one of the...4? i've been through. are there more than 4, ppl?

right next to gate st-louis is the parliament building. also, a fountain that all the touristic guides make a big fuss about, though i haven't managed to realize why exactly.

at this time of the year, there is a "festival of lights" going on in quebec city. which consists in light installations placed at various points in quasi-central areas, mostly around place d'youville and parc esplanade/grande alee est. not many pictures of this from me, this is the best i've got

climbing from place d'youville (where there was a skating rink and some musical/colorful stairs) toward parc d'esplanade

and in the park, along the fortifications. it was snowing!

the best picture i got (which is not saying much) from the slope above the skating rink

i'm not really going to apologize for my pictures, just bear in mind that these were taken on the rare occasions when i felt like taking my hands out of my sleeves/gloves/pockets and the camera out of its pouch would not actually kill or cripple me. so it's not like, even on the first day of my trip, i expected to have good documentation of this. i'm actually surprised at how many pictures i did end up with.
for example, the omnipresent chateau frontenac:

this was my first sighting of it, on the first evening, in the snow. featuring one of the very cute ecolobuses they have in the city

and this is the next morning, from the same angle. whatever, it is so huge it's impossible to get a good angle of it (except from the top of the citadel, when not only my arms were frozen, i was actually afraid my camera would shatter if i took it out. so, no. sorry. i'm leaving it to war photographers or something)

so, just a glimpse of the immensity. featuring the backside of samuel champlain

and a more proper one of champlain, with a bit of castle.

and one of the pretty horses. i do have a real dilemma: a "caleche" ride of 35 minutes costs 90$. who are these people who pay this money to be driven around a small town, in an open vehicle, at minus minus degrees? i would just like to...talk to one of them. i really don't get it.

i get this, though: cartier p'tit champlain, the souvenir streets.

mormont chair. very popular with the picture-taking crowd.

meh, i took the stairs. like, 5 times that day.

smart people give disclaimers.

this is the church of notre-dame-des-victoires, one of the oldest original buildings in the old city. and its story is probably my favourite anecdote i heard re: the history of quebec. apparently, the english besieged the city in...1690? the siege failed, and, to celebrate, the church was called "notre-dame-de-la-victoire". one more attack by the englishmen was repelled, beginning of 18th century, after which they renamed the church "notre-dame-des-victoires".
i actually laughed out loud when we were told that during a guided tour.
in 1759, when the city finally fell to the english, the church was burnt in the assault.
see, after they rebuilt it, no one thought of renaming it "notre-dame-des-victoires-et-defaites".

paillard: my favourite bakery in town

the mural that everybody is so proud about, at place royale

i think i'm supposed to know who these gentlemen are, after all the history i've read these past 3-4 days: i only know 2 out of 3 though...hmmm...bad quebec resident