quebec visit : spring break of grade eleven
the trip to quebec was definitely one of the best time of my highschool life. it was planned at the beginning of my grade eleven french class. mme bonnaig, my french teacher, suggested a trip to quebec, to experience the french culture, to the class on the second week of class and many were quite enthusiastic of the idea. in the end, ten students were confirmed for the trip: me, zach, ryan, kristie, erin, jenny, miyu, christina, michelle, and carla. we did a little bit of fund raising trying to help pay for the cost: we stuffed evelopes, we sold donuts on mondays during lunch, we did a raffle, and so on. that part was quite fun too. and finally the long awaited spring break arrived, we left victoria and flew to quebec on the friday before spring break week.
the seven days trip [montreal -> ottawa for a day and half -> quebec city for three days -> montreal for a day and half -> home] began on a beautiful sunny day, we arrived in montreal and was greeted by our tourguide genevieve and driver *name* [i forgot his name]. afterwards we basically just walked around town a little and didn't really do much. at the hotel, we threw paper airplanes down the street for fun [and we did go down to pick them up afterwards] we drove around town after dinner and we happened to come across the canadian broadcasting corporation, and genevieve's cousin works in there. we stopped and went inside, hoping to get a little tour of the corporation [this event wasn't planned originally, it just so happens we were there] instead we went to a room and saw the recording of a quebecois game show or something along those lines. two groups compete for a prize i suppose, and to win they have to sing songs to the clues that were given by the host (?) [my french isn't that good, okay] the next morning, after breakfast at celine dion's restaurant nickel's, we hit the road and drove to ottawa, which wasn't all the interesting and i'm glad we only stayed there for the day. we visited the parliament building, the royal canadian mint; and i personally had the privilege to run around looking for camera battery. speaking of camera, i brought with me on this trip six rolls of film initially, but for some reason i enjoy taking pictures of random moments and the others so much that i ended up taking ten rolls of film plus a disposable camera. now that i think about it i suppose i shouldn't have done so, but oh well, it was fun to flash people in the dark. anyway, we drove acrossed the st. lawrence river towards quebec city after we finished visting the nation's capital.
quebec city was the best part of the trip, perhaps it's because we spent most of the time there. prior to entering the capital of quebec, we stopped at a sugarshack for dinner and a tour. maple syrup, imo, the only true canadian food out there, is widely produced in quebec, and apparently every family owns a sugarshack, a place where maple syrup is extracted and produced, according to a quebecois friend of mine. so there we were, had dinner, and watched a little folk music performance on the little stage; zach, jenny, and miyu also went onstage, along with some of the other visitors, and did a little folk music themselves. after dinner we went outside for some fun; snowsliding, dessert eating [they poured maple syrup over ice and created a hard maple syrup dessert; and, attempting to talk to a quebecois [that was fun, i didn't understand a word he said; we asked him about quebec separating from canada], and horse carriage riding. most of us also bought a bottle or two of maple syrup; i bought two bottles that were shaped like a maple leaf. then we continued to quebec city after a much entertaining dinner. in quebec city and about we visited many places: chateau frontenac, a famous hotel, apparently has some connections to victoria's own empress hotel; military station; notre dame cathedral; museum of history; so on and so on. jenny and i went ghost-hunting at chateau frontenac on the night after we visited the hotel. of course we didn't witness the natural phenonmenon as described by some of the maintenant staff according to the tourguide, it was still fun sneaking out in the middle of the night, running down to the chateau [the hotel we were staying at was approximately within fourty minute walking distance from the chateau], and pretending to be an occupant of the chateau. jenny is definitely the funnest and craziest person to hang out with. another thing that is worth mentioning is during one of our leisure walks downtown one night, we encountered a street magician. he performed a little show for us, which was great; as well he managed to kiss erin on the lips. that was golden, i should've had my camera ready!
we returned to montreal for the final portion of our trip. by this time i've grown to love the city and province. particularly the architecture, the style is more traditional, and influenced by european architecture. it speaks of a history that is unheard of in anything i've seen in victoria. this has nothing to do with my trip but i honestly would not want to see quebec separated from canada. essentially canada was born first in this area, if they separate from us, we'd lose all our early history and heritage, as if canada has never lived. anyway. we visited the olympic stadium, the biodome, space centre, and another cathedral in montreal. during the last dinner, we presented to our teacher and tourguide each with a bouquet of flowers, thanking them for a trip well planned. our scheduled flight back home was at six in the morning on saturday. while some of us were sleeping, some decided to have a snowball fight with the mcgill students somewhere near our hotel, and some also decided it would be fun to draw on my face while i was sleeping. they told me that i actually drew the picture on myself, but judging from what was drawn on my face, i highly doubt it that i have the capability of doing so. anyway, time to go home, we said goodbye to genevieve [the driver actually had someplace else to go and left the group mid-way through the trip] and the journey to quebec finally came to a close. memorable and amazing, i'll never forget the spring break of my eleventh grade.
below is some selected photos of the trip put in the best chronological order i could remember [like everyone else, i sometimes have a hard time remembering when i did what, and where i did what] like i said, i have about three hundred something photos of the trip scattered around my room, but these are probably the more noteworthy and less random and crazy pictures as the other ones. i'm sure no one would want to see a picture of ... nevermind, i can't say it. just, these pictures are good enough.
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