So it started Friday morning getting into vans and driving towards the border. It was a long drive, but I was excited to take it and we stopped for gas and snacks right beforehand so I was okay. I was in a van with my French classmates, as well as two of the classmates we Zoomed in every time from another school. It was so great to meet them!
After three hours of music, conversation, and a bit of napping, we finally reached the border. Out of all the people in my van, I was the ONLY one who had never been to Canada, or even just out of the country. I handed my passport up, and then we were across! I was in a new country.
Once in Canada, we drove to the
Rose Cafe in Drummondville to have some lunch. It was an adorable Canadian cafe, and we got to eat in a greenhouse! I had a croque monsieur with a salad and Dragon Pearl tea. Then afterward I threw a penny into the fountain (yes, and it was next to a playground), and walked around the small shop before it was time to hop back into the car. I highly recommend this cute little cafe for anyone traveling to Canada/Quebec because this is just a quaint and simple place to introduce yourself to the country (or at least that's how I felt).
Next stop was
La musée des Abénakis (Abenaki Museum). This was our first stop, and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed it. There was so much to learn there. We watched a movie about the Abenaki creation of the world (and the theater was interesting I felt like we were moving), walked around their permanent exhibit filled with historical boats, baskets, and even murals that coincided with the moon cycles of the Abenaki culture/time. Then we went into their temporary exhibit of Indians beyond Hollywood, where many videos and displays were set up to show the terrible depictions of Indians in Hollywood, and how they affected the actual Native culture (which we all sort of knew this but it was still messed up to read some of the posters and listen to the videos). Even played a game of 'Creating my own Hollywood Indian' where choosing the right Abenaki clothing was too authentic and I was told to try again, which led to some great end screens. After we looked all around the museum we walked around the gift shop where I bought a postcard with a map of the native tribes and a gift for my nephew and wished I had purchased the small Inukshuk statue.
With the Abenaki Museum done, we finished our journey (about two hours left) to our hotel in Québec. We stayed at
Hôtel du Jardins, and most of us were able to sleep one to a bed, like me and my roommate Lindsey. Our room had to large beds, a television, mural of the mountains, and a gorgeous bathroom with a pretty mirror and a rainfall shower (which we both used just for the experience of it). Our classmates from the other university were on one side of us, and other French classmates on the other. A great floor and great neighbors. But we didn't stay in the hotel for long, we had to go get our first dinner in Québec!
The walk to dinner was, for the most part, difficult. We were just walking uphill the whole time. Stairs and steep hills and my knees hurt a lot and I ran out of breath at one point. But hanging in the back of the group to keep my breathing under control helped me and the tourism professor find a piece of graffiti that read 'Mort aux Nazis' and he took a selfie with it, as one should. We finally hit the restaurant,
Chez Victor, which took in all 19 of us (15 students, two professors, and two children), into a room and worked hard to get us all our food in a decent amount of time while also getting to other patrons. I had a salad with some salmon, and my friend let me have some bites of his side of Poutine. After dinner, I walked home and went to bed a little earlier than my classmates, my lungs were in a bit of pain, as well as my knees from such a long car ride and then a long uphill walk.
First morning in Québec, I walked with my classmates to an ATM to take out some Canadian money which was something I was really looking forward to doing since I really like foreign money and the way that it looks, and then to a sweet little bakery called
la Boîte à Pain where I purchased a croissant and a pastry with spinach and feta cheese. Both were AMAZING and I ate them both days, I also bought a baguette the second morning before we left.
Our first piece of business on Saturday, a walking tour of Québec, following a series of green dots that were in the sidewalk (if you've done the Freedom Trail in Boston it's like that). While walking we saw the Saint-Roch cathedral and some really cute shops, even stopping by the Gare au Palais to walk around a small market by the water (also the tourism professor sat on a bench completely under snow so that was fun), and then we just sort of...stopped following the path haha. After the small market, we were able to find Vieux-Québec, and a small road right by the
Funiculaire, very close to the
Château Frontenac (like right below it). We all walked down this street before going up and I found one of the cutest shops were everything is made with wool that comes from sheep at a local farm. After a small shopping break, we went up the funiculaire and then found ourselves at the Château Frontenac, where we also saw an anonymous group set up, I was told by a classmate that they were showing clips of animal cruelty in the food industry.
We continued to walk past the castle and find places to eat for lunch. I went with a group to a place called
Paillard and got a very delicious pulled pork sandwich (which I didn't remember to take a picture of) and we got to watch a man with an accordion come into the restaurant and play for us! Then after lunch was done the French class went with the two professors (the tourism class was given an assignment that I know nothing of) to
La Musée de l'Amérique Francophone (Francophone America museum). As a big francophone fan, I was very intrigued to go here! The building on the outside didn't seem like a big museum, but it was made up of two different buildings, with a chapel, and three different exhibits (very interactive/creative as well) to walk around and explore. There was an exhibit on art, the found colony of Jacques Cartier, and also one that talked about francophone heritage and ancestry.
Finished with the museum, the French class was allowed to walk around the city until it was time to meet up for dinner. I walked with my friend Christine to some shops, looking for souvenirs for family and just stuff for us as well. I'm shocked to say that I didn't buy myself many things, but I did get gifts for my family! We met up with more of our French class and walked to shops that led us closer to our hotel (with the help of Lindsey's GPS as well), and found ourselves walking around the shops near Saint-Roch. I wanted to go into the toy shop, just to try the tiny doors...but I'll do that next time I go because we all know I'm a child at heart. After that, we all went to the hotel to drop our things off and get ready for dinner.
We split up as classes this night because we couldn't find a place to hold us all, so my group of eight walked down a few streets and found a cute little pizza place called
Piazzetta. The ambiance and feel of the restaurant were just perfect for all of us and the food was just as great! I got spaghetti a la bolonaise and a drink called Basil Park that just tasted like Sprite, so my kind of drink! We all had a great time talking and watching Anna teach Claire (our professor's daughter) how to play Miss Mary Mack and other hand games of the sort. We also decided to get dessert this night, and I got a sweet and tangy lemon cake in a jar. I almost want to make them myself when I get home!
After dinner, we went back to the hotel. Lindsey, Christine, and I stayed up and talked about the things we did during the day and what we liked best, and about things that we found funny that we saw/overheard in the streets of Quebec. After that conversation, I took a shower and went to bed, not ready for this trip to end.
Sunday morning, I packed, I walked back to the same bakery with my classmates, and then we all piled back into the vans with our things to head back home, but with another pit stop to round out our trip up north. There were a few mix-ups and wrong turns thanks to the van GPS (I think the van didn't like us for some reason) but we were able to make it to
la Chute-Montmorency (the Montmorency waterfall, which is taller than Niagara) before ten!
The building in front of the waterfall wasn't even open yet, so we just walked around the building to look at the falls until then, since the stairs were closed and we'd have to take the cable car to go up (we got those terrible bracelet things that don't come off without like scissors and I pulled off so much arm hair). Montmorency was so beautiful, I can only imagine what it looks like during the spring and summer months when the snow and ice go away. Another place to revisit on my next trip up! The top of the waterfall was just as beautiful, and lush vegetation surrounded the walkway leading to the suspension bridge. I took a lot of photos of the waterfall from below and above, I'll have to size it all down for
my Instagram post!
After I had seen everything about the Montmorency falls I went back down, bought a quick snack and drink for the drive back home, and also some last minute gifts for family that I couldn't find back in the city. Then we were off, another five-hour drive ahead of us (with a stop at Tim Hortons/A&W for lunch), but this time we had so much more to talk about.
My van was filled with talk about French, hearing people speak it around us, speaking it ourselves, and just a general reflection. We also jammed out to some great 2000s songs in the car because Christine is an amazing DJ and knew the right songs to play. We made it back to Plymouth, said goodbye to our classmates who still had about an hour to go back to their university (it's gonna be weird seeing them on a screen again after this!), and all got dropped off back at our homes. Lindsey and I unpacked our things (she's leaving for another trip very soon so she HAD TO) and invited our neighbor over to talk about the trip and everything we did.
I rounded out my evening watching the premiere of Game of Thrones season 8 and talking with my sister about a trip up to Plymouth to see me (as well as Easter coming up). Then I went to sleep, wishing I was back in Quebec, my heart left a part of itself in that city and I have no choice but to go back and leave more of it there!
What are some places in Quebec that you think I should visit next time that I go? Have you been to any of the spots that I saw while I was there? I want to know more, I love this city so much now!
All photos in this post were taken by me.
