As the title suggests, today I simply meandered through the streets of Quebec and enjoyed the moderate weather (by Canadian standards).
It is very European, at times I felt like I could have been in Rome, you know, bar the French diffusing through the air around me. As aforementioned, people are very patient with my complete lack of French; an ill-pronounced 'je ne comprends pas' is enough to elicit a smile and a perfectly enunciated 'What would you like?' before I can even get to 'parlez-vous anglais?'.
I walked along the fortifications (walls of the old city) and casually took in the views, although the 'circuit' is more of a game - you have to find out what parts are open and what parts 'link' up. No clear directions at least make for an adventurous afternoon. Cannons line the walls, in clusters every one or two hundred metres; you can't help but be inundated with the bloody (used here in a war context) history of the city.
I also visited La Citadelle, a 200 year old fort used in many battles and took a guided tour. I got to meet the original Bastille. Bastille is the name of the Citadelle's mascot, a goat. Bastille I lived in about 1920 or something like that, and we are currently in the life of Bastille X. But never fear, they have stuffed good ol' Bastille and put him in the museum. Bastille is quite a revered creature, complete with gilded horns (each one!) and is always present for official ceremonies and the like. Crazy Canadians.
Anyhoo, I might do some work. Or procastinate further, I'm not sure.
Bonsoir!
