I think we should buy a toaster

"Je ne parle pa francais". I remember that from French. To be more precise, I remember that from year seven French taught by Madam Parker. She was a nasty lady. Probably still is. So, when I say I don't speak French, it's probably very lucky that there are so many people in French-Canadia that speak enough English for us to get by! Phew! Montreal was a hoot, Quebec was... Interesting. Arriving at the hostel, we were greated by a nice lady who gave us our things (sheets etc) and told us that it was essential that we put our "valuables" in the safe. Incidentily, the safe was in fact a locked cupboard. I was a little concerned about her enthusiasm for having all of our valuables in the one place and was even further alarmed when we were told that there were no locks on the doors. So, this was essentially the safest or more accurately, the most secure hostel in the world. No problem, just walk in, no security, walk up the stairs, to a room that doesn't have a lock on it, pick up whatever you would like and off you go, into the street. We moved the next day to one of the best hostels that I've stayed in.

Yep, sure do like statues

Enough griping! Quebec city is a much more stunning place than I had ever imagined. Even the bus station there is awesome! Like some kind of spired bat-mansion that Bruce Wayne would be all too happy to live in! Awesome! The city itself has loads of history about it, which I'm not going into, but trust me, it was impressive. So if Montreal was like Europe, then I'm not entirely sure how I would describe Quebec city. The buildings were AWESOME, the castle/hotels were beautiful and the locals were extremely friendlly. We ended up staying a whole extra day, although to be perfectly honest, after that long we were struggling with the French. It was at that point that Sarah suggested we buy a toaster. That's not going to help your Frecnch I hear you say. No, but Sarah though that it might save us some money, after all, she doesn't like sandwiches, but she does like toast. More on that later.

We spent most of our time in Quebec city wandering around, the whole place is a warren, not like from Broady, more like how the rabbits make. So there were endless lanes, alleyways and general winding roads to explore. The first night that we were there, we decided that we were going to go and watch the sun set. I thought this was a brilliant and romantic idea. When we arrived at the most Western point of the city with the sun going down, we were a little surprised to see that the most beautiful sun setting I have ever seen was punctuated by power lines and tower blocks. Still, it was lovely. What I think I have enjoyed most about Quebec and Quebec city has been the contrast with the rest of Canada. The currency is the same and the federal government is the same, but the people just seem so completely different. It's amazing. There are probably so many similarities between French-Canada and Europe that there isn't enough time to talk about it here, but if you have the time or the inclination then I highly recommend coming here for a looky see.

So Sarah suggests we buy a toaster. I laugh. Heading back towards Boston, we get the greyhound, just like we have every other time we've gone from one city to another on this trip. I told her, sure, not a problem, as long as you're going to carry it. When we got to Ottawa there were some more passengers with some kitchen utensils and one of them happened to be a crock pot. Had Sarah decided to purchase her toaster then the only thing that would have been missing for a whole kitchen was the kitchen sink.

written by

haveyouseenmypassport on July 1, 2007 from Quebec, Canada

from the travel blog: To infinity!.. and... beyond... uh.....

Send a Compliment

comment on this...