Our first day in old Quebec City

The very first thing we did yesterday was walk toward the fortified wall, at the end of our street, and stroll along for a while looking over the wharf area. We found that the tops of the walls are being replenished with new wooden slats, presumably to protect the ancient walls, but also to give them a nice looking capping. We only spent 5 hours sightseeing yesterday, as the hiking up and down slopes did us in early. Quebec is not excessively hilly, but as we left the walled city twice, once on each side, it did add considerably to our walking efforts, as the steeper ascents are all around the old city.

The first place we came across was an abandoned arsenal barracks, with huge fortress walls. It had minimal signage, and has fallen prey to disaffected youth and punk graffiti artists. It was an interesting site to check out. With a bit of TLC it could be converted into a historic site that more people visit, even if still of an unrestored nature. Having a cafe or small cultural centre at its heart, would enable greater maintenance of the general area. We've noticed that anything off the official tourist route here seems to be quite neglected, particularly with regard to basic weeding.

There's a cynicism here that is palpable. The older generation of Quebecois really loathe the tourists, and I sense that the Quebecois youth hold them in disdain too. It's understandable, I guess, as the poor city has had to prostitute its soul for this ongoing influx of people to bring in the cash. There are many mature age and retired Americans here, doing the predictable tourism type things, as well as Canadians, Italians, Japanese, and all cultures, with loads of money to spend on silly trinkets. The tourism model applied here seems very old-fashioned. It's twee. The vested interests that have grown up in support of that, particularly with regard to large luxury hotel chains, are powerful and pervasive.  More on that in some other forum... I think that's a whole feature article or academic paper in this. The point is there's a conspicuous gap in connection between the traditional residents of Old Quebec and the avalanche of tourists. I'm told this is not even tourist season, so I hate to think what it's like come July and August.

What we did mostly was walk all around the place, simply looking at things, admiring and photographing the local architecture and engaging in a bit of window-shopping. The only official tourism activity of note that we undertook was to visit the Observatoire de la Capitale. You go up to the 31st floor and enjoy a panoramic view of the beautiful cityscape of Montreal. The fire engine red rooftops are delightful, as are the shiny silver rooftops on the traditional bonnet style roof-tops. There's also a distinctive mid green. We walked past Parliament to get there, and some pleasant parks and gardens. Evertyhing is so green, and the trees are lovely. We took the advice of our host and had lunch at Chez Ashton, which he claims does the best poutine in town. It was delicious, but it's an extremely daggy fast food place full of teenagers, so not our normal style of eatery. The poutine is served in alfoil tins! I mean really...

For dinner we went to the other extreme, which was my preference, and that was to enjoy a fine dining experience at a foodie mecca. This will probably be the highest moment of our eating experiences for the whole trip. I'd booked us a table at Chez Boulay which specialises in Nordic influenced cuisine. It was extraordinary. Everything about it was top notch. This is an anniversary holiday after-all, so some special treats are justified.

The weather is incredibly changeable here; even more so than Montreal. Coming from Melbourne, Australia, we are used to having to prepare for most possibilities when leaving the house, but here it's out of control. Warm sunshine in the morning, then overcast, cloudy and pelting with rain, then clear again, then warm almost hot, then not, etcetera. And checking the official weather guides seems futile, as the forecasts change constantly, and I mean several times a day.

I've found it fascinating to note how many redheads there are here. In Montreal we only saw one other redhead in our entire week in the city. Here, they are everywhere and it's quite striking. I asked a redhead about it yesterday and she says its the Irish lineage here which is strong. At dinner last night we counted four or five other redheads in the restaurant, which for us in Australia is so uncommon. We're used to being a rarity. The redheads here even smile at us, or at least look upon us with interest. In Montreal we looked conspicuously foreign, and I sincerely felt that Montreallers thought us somehow uncouth. I admit this disapproving outlook was mostly directed toward me, because I dare to colour my hair.  I know the French prefer the natural look. I also suspect they think mature women should not draw attention to themselves, by using 'enhancing' colours. Oh well... As much as I love the French, the fact is I'm not French!

Memories, mansions and a fortress...

This morning facebook alerted me to the fact that seven years ago I was deep inside a medina in Fez, reluctantly posing for a rather ridiculous photo with my hub, while dressed in traditional Moroccan garb. This strange Sunday morning awakening prompted me to read back over many of my blog posts from the time, which was quite fascinating. I'm pleased to report I made myself laugh out loud quite a lot while reading them... I guess it's to be expected that one finds one's own jokes funny. Still, it would be a worry if this were not the case!

It also taught me that there's some sort of Anniversary Laurie and I are meant to have had on 16th May, which apparently we were celebrating by way of a high end oyster extravaganza of a lunch at the restaurant underneath Grand Central Station in Manhattan seven years ago. This is weird coz while I do vividly remember the lunch experience, and how special it was, I have absolutely no idea what that date celebration was all about. To the best of my current knowledge our 'start-up' Anniversary is 5th June, which is exactly the date we fly off on this trip. This marks twenty years since we first 'got together'. I know it does, so I wonder what that 16th May date was all about... Possibly that's when I first 'met' him, which was to 'say hello' - Maybe that was the launch of his photographic exhibition in Sydney's Darlinghurst. Isn't memory odd? Or rather the way we assign value to certain memories and organise key dates in our minds.

Thanks to facebook, I also get to see lots of images of amazing places my friends visit, as most of us do these days. I know I'm not alone in that. Lately, there's been quite a rage of palaces appearing in my newsfeed. It's prompted me to think "Oh, we won't be seeing any of those where we're going. No palaces... None at all." For a moment, I felt sad and somehow deprived.

Then I realised that we'll see numerous mansions instead, many plantation houses, and a walled fortress wrapped around a city. So, that's OK. Apparently, the Ramparts of Quebec City are the only remaining fortified city walls in North America, if you discount Mexico entirely. The building of the walls began in 1620, which is obviously a very long time ago. Our trip will involve quite a bit from the 1600s, given we're spending ten nights in Quebec and five nights in Boston and Salem.

I can't recall when most of the plantation mansions we'll be visiting in the South were built, but I think they're mostly from the mid 1700s. I am realising that we have nowhere near enough time down South. There is so much to see, and we've only got six nights in total. For some stupid reason, I had the impression that's all we needed. I think I was reading the wrong reviews at the time. Dammit! I guess most people aren't necessarily built heritage freaks like me, or at least not as much as me. Or is it because most Americans writing the reviews of these places are accustomed to having a plethora of grand architecture everywhere, hence it doesn't seem as compelling as it does to an Australian. Who knows?

Meanwhile, one of my Mother-in-Laws came over today, and suggested that we look into United Airlines Club Lounge facilities for our five hours in LA, and everywhere else we are going. Thank Goodness for her wisdom. She's 80 something, but still on the ball. I'm looking into it now, and while it will cost us some significant bucks, I think, based on the fact this is the first time we're doing a major trip with our 12 year old, we should consider it.

So much travel prep work to do within the next five days, in addition to our day jobs - Eeeeks... But we will get there. It will happen. And we will fly.

Travel time and planning our days...

In just two weeks, we fly.

When friends ask us how long that journey will be, I've not been sure exactly, coz I really don't think numerically, or in terms of quantifiable units. Since getting home, however, I've pulled out the paperwork and worked it all out:

• Drive from home to the airport            1.5 hrs
• Long term car parking                         0.5 hr
• Checking in 2 hours prior                    2.0 hrs
• Fly Melb to LA                                  14.5 hrs
• In Transit                                              5.0  hrs
• Fly LA to Montreal                              5.25 hrs
• Immigration & luggage collection       0.5 hr
• Taxi to the Old Port                             0.75 hrs

I think that's about 30 hours of travel time all up: From our home to our apartment in Montreal.

We leave home at 5.30am Sunday morning and arrive at our two story Montreal place, with spiral staircase and rooftop terrace, at about 9.30pm on Sunday night Montreal time. Montreal is 14 hours behind where we are in the world. It is lucky our friends asked us this question, about timing, as listing it all like this prompted me to realise that I'd best book the long-term parking now, and save $97 by doing so in advance. More spending... And we haven't even left yet!

Our house-sitters arrive the day before we depart, so we'll just have time to explain how to use the oven, griller, dishwasher etcetera, and then we'll be off!

Our friends also asked us about wine and what Quebec peeps drink... We have no idea. I guess we'll find ourselves a local wine-store once we're there, and work it out. That's just part of the fun. I have read that we need to go to something called a SAQ store. Apparently that's the answer. I have to say I would be terribly worried about money if we weren't staying in self-contained apartments throughout. I've pre-paid absolutely everything I can think of, so I'm hoping we'll be OK... Fingers crossed...

With 22 nights on the ground, you can't underestimate the savings involved in buying provisions from the local store, and prepping your own morning coffee, breakfasts and dinners each day.  We will grab lunches out, and often that's the real heart of local food culture, I feel. We'll be out and about each day, from 10 til 5 walking like crazy. That's just what we'll do. And shopping locally will be really interesting, because it's always novel to check out what's on offer in foreign minimarts, especially where English is not the main language! We're independent travellers. Always have been.

There's free wifi in our Quebec apartments as well, so we should be fine for blogging and researching stuff in the evenings. Our QC host Frederick just confirmed this and said "Pretty much all cafes, bars, restaurants and stores have free wifi as well" - Happy news for Australians! We are so backward in these sort of areas...

Right now, there's a doco on local tellie on New Orleans. I feel a teeny bit mean that we're not going there (coz my hub would dearly love to go), but I've been already, pre-Katrina, and while I absolutely adored it, I feel like its all so vivid in my mind still that I just don't need to go back right now.

We all really dig the idea that absolutely everywhere we are going will be new to all three of us, and that's special. And especially so for our daughter. At age twelve, this trip will be something majorly influential for her, at a pivotal age. And I'm pleased that none of it is remotely mainstream. Given the opportunity, most Australian families take their kids to London or Los Angeles, but not us. We're going to five major heritage cities, up and down the U.S. East Coast, with masses of cultural cache, and whatever she learns in the process, under our guidance, it can only be positive. We're pretty pleased about this, and also an itsy bit proud. It's an amazing gift to give her.

Going Places...

As I mentioned in my last (and first) post, my little family and I are off to Montreal, thanks to a strange but super twist of fate. We're greatly looking forward to it. We'll enjoy seven nights there, primarily because it was cheaper that way... I got a special deal on Air B'n'B for booking our intended  apartment in the Old Port district for a whole week rather than just the five nights I initially had in mind.

Travelling all the way from Australia, I know (from experience) that we'll be completely blitzed for the first three days anyway, so will need that recovery time in a stable place, while we find our land-legs (and relocate our brains).

After a week there, we're catching the train for a couple of hours across to old Quebec City. We're  staying inside the walled fortress for three nights. For me personally, Quebec City is the big drawcard, so as we're going to Montreal, in the first place, it makes sense to spend some time checking out QC. By all accounts, it's a compact kind of place, so we only need the two full days there. Again, we're utilising Air B'n'B, so just as with our time in Montreal, we'll have a self-contained apartment, in which we can economise by having breakfast and dinner in, on our own terms.

Were it not for Air B'n'B we'd not be doing this trip at all. The total cost for self-contained accommodation throughout our trip is one third of what we paid seven years ago using good standard hotels, and that was just for two people. Throughout this trip we're accommodating three of us! And in most instances our daughter gets her own room.

As it's Air B'n'B, we won't have to tip anyone or worry about the intrusion of room service staff. I am aware that Air B'n'B may well be endemic to a particular period of contemporary history. Come what may in the future, I just think that it's brilliant that it exists at present, for what it is now.

In the beginning we thought we'd just spend ten nights total in French Canada, then fly home, based around what we thought the purpose of the trip was - an academic conference on critical heritage. But it's so damned hard for Australians to break away from normality and travel across the skies, and it costs an awful lot of money for international flights, whichever way you look at it. I felt it important that we fulfill some of our adjacent dreams while over there. With that in mind, I knew exactly what else I'd like to see while on the U.S. East Coast...

Sixteen years ago, when planning our wedding, we had considered spending a big part of our honeymoon in Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. For whatever reasons, we did not do that, and did something else instead. But I've held the thought of it close to my heart ever since. And so... When we've finished with Quebec City we're boarding an Air Canada flight to Newark, NY, and changing over to a flight that will take us down to the Deep South.

We'll have three nights in Charleston. I've booked an SUV (same model and type as my own car, coz I figure that's safest when in a strange land...) to collect from the Airport, so we can move about the place. Again, it seemed cheaper that way than fussing with taxis and the like. My hub has bravely volunteered to drive on the wrong side of the road for our entire time down there. He's organised his 'international license' so we're ready, or as ready as we can be. Again, we're staying Air B'n'B, in a gorgeous heritage cottage, and after three nights there, we're heading further South.

I think I'll leave this post now, and make a late dinner. Must prepare myself to lecture tomorrow. Further elaboration of our plans to be continued in a couple of days...