Wandering Musings

Greetings fellow fanatics of the francophile fellowship!

A week ago I repatriated myself from Quebec back to the fruitful fields of America's dairyland. I was up there for about a week and a half, and now am happy to announce that I can speak French with a North woods "twang". Just kidding of course, the accent is a bit different, but it probably wouldn't be called a "twang".... maybe more of a "walloorubaky". Wow, I should start drinking my tea instead of smoking it.

Anywhoo, I met so many friendly Quebecois! All the people I met in the city and in the countryside were so nice, and very helpful whenever I had a question about something. Sitting on the banks of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Quebec City seamlessly combines old world charm with modern city life, something that its inhabitants.... Wooh! Sorry about that! I've occasionally been falling into guidebook mode while speaking lately.

Anyway, Quebec City is great! The old part did remind me of an old European city, although it doesn't have enough dog crap on the sidewalks to truly remind me of Paris. Actually, it doesn't seem to have any dog crap on the sidewalks at all.

My first day in the city, there were a bunch of people running around dressed as chickens. At first, I was annoyed that Lonely Planet forgot to mention that this is the traditional dress of the region, but learned soon after that it's just freshman initiation time.

The Plains of Abraham are very interesting. It's now a giant park, but was the site of the battle between the French and the British in 1759. The official word is that it lasted 30 minutes, but the gentleman in the museum insisted that it was no more than fifteen no matter what anyone says. Strangely enough, the commanding generals, Wolfe and Montcalm, were both mortally wounded within that fifteen minutes, which seems to bely the average mortality rate of 1.5 generals per three and a half hours of combat in the 18th century (okay, so I haven't actually seen this stat, but I'm sure there is a basement historian somewhere who knows the average).

I even got my family to go into the fine arts museum for a whole 45 minutes! They were relatively willing to go to some art museums in Paris, but in other cities, it takes some cajoling. It usually requires me making some dramatic speech about "what a feast of the senses awaits us within those gray walls!"

After Quebec City we went around the Gaspe Peninsula and down to Prince Edward Island, which is a very cool island. Like Normandy, the beaches could be rather warm if one was willing to dig a trench to lay in.

There is quite a bit of tourism on the island, in part due to the Anne of Green Gables series. There is also a raspberry cordial made on the island that is delicious! Perhaps I can start a business smuggling it into the US. What? Free trade you say? Well, that takes all the fun out of it, doesn't it!

Hope you are all doing splendidly!

Peter