It's been five days now since we returned home from our trip to Quebec, and it's been the kind of hit-the-ground-running sort of week that makes you want to crawl back to the airport and beg for a ticket back to Canada.
But then, part of the joy of traveling anywhere is the comfort and closure of coming home. In our case, "comfort and closure" was eating a midnight quesorito at a St. Louis Taco Bell and nursing Mojo back to health after a particularly nasty post-boarding stomach problem that lasted a solid three days. Business as usual, really, but somehow my post-vacation plans didn't include doggie diarrhea that saw the demise of one comforter, two blankets, a roll of paper towels, and an industrial sized bottle of carpet cleaner.
Ah, domestic bliss.
So it is for this reason that I'm just now getting back to sharing with you our adventures in Quebec. My goal was to write to you each day we were there, but I have to admit that I got caught up in the magic of vacation and found myself unwilling to re-tether myself to the real world. You'd think someone who works as a social media planner would be blowing up Instagram and Facebook with photos from the trip as they happened, but actually quite the opposite is true. I truly went on vacation--no selfies, no hashtags, just the pure and unapologetic joy of disconnecting for a while.
But now we're back to it! Allons-y!
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
- Montmorency Falls
- St. Anne of Beaupre Cathedral/Shrine
We started off with a trip across the river to the Montmorency Falls, made famous by the Battle of Beauport (aka The Battle of Montmorency Falls) of 1759 (those pesky Brits!). The trip was highlighted by the random little girl who held my mother-in-law's hand all the way up the wooden stairs to the falls. A little strange, but adorable.
The falls were beautiful, but in typical Betsey fashion I quickly got hot, tired, and cranky. Thankfully the Heidricks have patience as hearty as my appetite, and eventually they got me back to the car, cooled down, and fed.
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| Montmorency Falls, on the other side of the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City, where the British set up camp before the attack on Quebec in 1759. |
It's a beautiful church, but I was wary of taking photos because there were people praying in the pews. Nobody wants to be that guy snapping away when you're right in the middle of an Our Father. Matt and I found our way to the bowels or the church, where there was a surprisingly modern underground chapel. Tucked away in the corner of the chapel was a reliquary of St. Anne, gifted by Pope John Paul II on his visit to the Shrine.
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| St. Anne of Beaupre, a famous Catholic pilgrimage site. It houses a copy of Michaelangelo's "Pieta" (the original is in St. Peter's in Rome). |
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| My horribly blurry photo from inside the church. I tried to snap it quickly because there were people praying and I felt bad about snapping pictures! |
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
- Plaines d'Abraham Museum and Bus Tour
- Aux Anciens Canadiens Restaurant
This was one of my most favorite days in Quebec. I've got to hand it to Canada; they know how to do museums. The Plains of Abraham Museum was interactive, engaging, and the people patient enough to hear plenty of "De planes, boss, the planes!" from the Heidrick clan throughout the visit and not throw us out. (I'll go ahead and throw it out there that I said this phrase just as many times as the rest of my family.)
The Plains of Abraham (officially the National Battlefield Park) is home to some of the most important moments in Quebec's history. On this unassuming expanse of grass, Quebec was won and lost by the two global powers of the age: France and England. It's also home to Winter Carnival, Quebec's most popular event. And, just couple of days from the time of our visit, it would be the site of Quebec's internationally famous summer music festival, headlined by Lady Gaga (and yes, I fan-girled a little bit at this).
After spending the morning learning about Quebec history on the Plains, we enjoyed lunch at Aux Anciens Canadiens, a famous Quebecois restaurant nestled comfortably into the row of buildings along Vieux Quebec's Rue St-Louis. Check it out here: http://www.auxancienscanadiens.qc.ca/en/index.htm.
Eating here is like stepping back in time. The ceilings are heavy wood and weighed down by hundreds of years of history, the tablecloths heavy cotton, and curtains lined with starched lace. We took advantage of the table d'hote, which is a popular way of eating lunch in Quebec. Basically, it's a fixed price menu--you get a soup, a selection of a main course, and a dessert plus wine or beer for a fixed price. Very handy.
I had the traditional Quebec meat pie and a Quebec beer, which made my German roots very happy indeed. We finished it off with the most sinfully indulgent Quebecois maple syrup pie ever created. Silky smooth and rich with just a hint of crisp from caramelized brown sugar, it was the kind of thing that makes you start thinking seriously about Canadian citizenship.
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| Photo credit: Mom-in-law Charlotte |
Thursday, July 3, 2014
- L'Ile d'Orleans
We had originally planned to go to Montreal this day, but in the end we decided that two hours in a tiny Fiat capped off by city traffic was not exactly the best use of our remaining time. Instead, we decided to take a drive around l'Ile d'Orleans, the agriculture-rich strip of land that sits between the north and south banks of the St. Lawrence. We weren't expecting much, and we certainly weren't expecting to love it half as much as we did. It truly was one of my most favorite parts of the trip. We drove through town after town, taking in the gentle sloping fields of leeks, corn, strawberries, and vineyards, and stopping only for the island's famous chocolatier shop and a chat with a local strawberry farmer.
I was so enamored with the fresh-picked strawberries that I proceeded to forego a tour of a local church for an impromptu photo shoot. I'm sure the locals thought I was half-crazy, snapping away at a box of strawberries like a paparazzo at Milan Fashion Week.
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| Beautiful, aren't they?! |
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| Work it, strawberries! |
Friday, July 4, 2014
- Lada Gaga scouting
- Tour of la Citadelle and the Changing of the Guard
- Ursaline Museum
Our last full day in Quebec was one of the most special for me, and not only because I was trying to savor every last bit of the city as I prepared to leave it. As we walked the streets of Old Quebec to the Citadelle, I tried to commit every ancient stone, every church spire, every friendly "Bonjour" to memory so that I'd never forget the unique feeling of happiness that Quebec gave me.
On our way to the Citadelle, there was a palpable energy in the air, which we soon discovered was due to that evening's Lady Gaga concert, which kicked off the Quebec summer music festival. The excited whispers of a heavily accented "Lay-dee Gah Gah" seemed to fill every conversation as we made our way up the steep slope the the fort.
Inside the Citadelle, though, Lady Gaga was soon forgotten, and all eyes and ears were on the Changing of the Guard, a ceremony full of pomp and circumstance by the Royal 22nd Regiment.
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| The 22nd Regiment performs the changing of the guard, with the top of Chateau Frontenac in the background. |
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| It's Batisse, the regimental mascot! Photo credit: Mom-in-law Charlotte |
A tour of the Citadelle followed, and the Quebecois are not at all afraid of a little friendly ribbing to remind Americans that although we Yankees tried to invade Quebec, we were never successful. Our tour guide, Sylvie, reminded me very much of my first French teacher, Madame Cronin. She looked very much like Mme. Cronin, and had the same sort of quiet confidence and joie-de-vivre. Slyvie oozed pride in her country; she took great care in taking time to find the correct English word to properly describe the valor the 22nd (nicknamed the "Van Doos" for English speakers--"22" in French is "vignt-deux") showed in key battles in the First and Second World Wars. I found myself wishing I could stay longer to hear Sylvie talk; her upbeat disposition and sweet French accent, paired with her obvious love of talking about the history of Quebec, was enchanting to me.
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| The three recipients of the Victoria Cross, in front of one of four crosses gifted to Canada by France in recognition of their valor. |
After a few photo ops along the Citadelle's walls--I managed to escape photographs, for the most part (phew!)--we headed back down to Vieux Quebec to walk the streets one last time before leaving for good. The streets were alive that evening with the soulful notes of street musicians, the sounds of tourists noshing at streetside cafes and locals craning in doors to see the latest World Cup scores. It was a bittersweet experience, being in the middle of so much history and music and beauty and wishing with every portion of my being that I could stay, but knowing that at the end of every wonderful, happy dream, we all have to wake up and go back to real life.
And as we boarded our plane back to Illinois, I thought back on all these experiences that I'll now keep as memories. I'll never forget the beauty of Quebec, the hospitality of its people, or the richness of its history.
Quebec, je me souviens.
Until next time, travellers,
Betsey
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