We stayed three nights in a very comfortable bed and breakfast outside Quebec city (blogged here earlier), in a suburb called Sillery. This is a very pleasant, quiet, and well off suburb with some lovely detached houses together with big old houses, schools, churches and and old cemetery. But the area is under threat of major building. A lot of land on the top of the cliff that has been religious property for centuries is being sold, and the purchasers expect to build lots of blocks of flats, which rather upsets the locals. They have created a coalition to preserve the historic environment of Sillery (CAHDS), and they have a rather nice looking web site here. It is, of course, all in French, but still worth a look.
Our landlady is the voice of the CAHDS group and told us a lot about Quebec history and politics.
Showing posts with label Quebec. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quebec. Show all posts
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Tromp d'oeil
This wall painting in Quebec is across the road from a cafe in Sillery, on Avenue Maguire. See map here. As you sit and drink, you see a balcony and next to it a same coloured balcony. But it takes a minute to realise what you're looking at is painted.I wonder if we could get someone to paint our wall like this, next to our balcony!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Chez Pierre
We've moved to from the suburbs to the centre of Old Quebec, staying at Chez Pierre for our last few nights.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thieves
Friday the thirteenth - not a good day. Our hostess here at La California has lost all her reservation records.
Over breakfast this morning, she gave us the bad news.
Yesterday afternoon her Apple laptop was stolen, stolen by the other guests that we'd shared breakfast with. This couple, Patrick and Sylvie, had come for one night, at little notice, referred from somewhere else, and it was easy for them to move about because she had her car. Our hostess has never had anything stolen in ten years of B&Bing, but had enough doubts about this couple to get cash from them. They came with a large metallic pale-green car, the size of a small caravette, with a couple of bikes on the back, and I seem to remember at breakfast that they said something about cycling, though they didn't look as muscular or tanned as some cyclists. They spoke some English, she more than he, and said they worked in Montreal but lived in its suburbs, and that he worked in aircraft simulation, whatever that is. We chatted over breakfast, talked about blonde jokes, and she, an apparent redhead, with a mane thick enough to be a wig, said that she used to be blonde. We didn't find out much more about them but learned a lot about Montreal from our hostess who chatted lots. Later they came into our room to say goodbye - surprisingly friendly since we'd hardly talked.
Our hostess tells us that they left without returning one of her keys, came back in the afternoon, let themselves in and took the laptop. That they didn't take more was because she had a friend staying who was in the shower for fifteen minutes and they couldn't have told where in the house she was and when she would appear and catch them. If caught, they could have said that they were just returning the key. However, I think, that only one of them came in the house, that the other remained on the other side of the road, watching and ready to warn of the hostess returning. I suspect that they returned on their bikes, that one bike would have been parked right outside the house, ready for a hasty exit, without leaving number plate evidence, without making a noise on the gravel. The one who came in would have had a back pack, stuffed the Apple in the bag, and cycled off on the bike very quickly to wherever the other was waiting in the car. That's what someone did at work about a year ago.
So our hostess has lost her computer, a ten year old one with a bug on it, and with all her B&B reservations, and no back up. Now she doesn't know who's coming when, though fortunately she doesn't keep peoples' credit card numbers on there, thank goodness. If you booked here, then contact her to help her record her reservations again.
We have a sadder, wiser hostess.
Over breakfast this morning, she gave us the bad news.
Yesterday afternoon her Apple laptop was stolen, stolen by the other guests that we'd shared breakfast with. This couple, Patrick and Sylvie, had come for one night, at little notice, referred from somewhere else, and it was easy for them to move about because she had her car. Our hostess has never had anything stolen in ten years of B&Bing, but had enough doubts about this couple to get cash from them. They came with a large metallic pale-green car, the size of a small caravette, with a couple of bikes on the back, and I seem to remember at breakfast that they said something about cycling, though they didn't look as muscular or tanned as some cyclists. They spoke some English, she more than he, and said they worked in Montreal but lived in its suburbs, and that he worked in aircraft simulation, whatever that is. We chatted over breakfast, talked about blonde jokes, and she, an apparent redhead, with a mane thick enough to be a wig, said that she used to be blonde. We didn't find out much more about them but learned a lot about Montreal from our hostess who chatted lots. Later they came into our room to say goodbye - surprisingly friendly since we'd hardly talked.
Our hostess tells us that they left without returning one of her keys, came back in the afternoon, let themselves in and took the laptop. That they didn't take more was because she had a friend staying who was in the shower for fifteen minutes and they couldn't have told where in the house she was and when she would appear and catch them. If caught, they could have said that they were just returning the key. However, I think, that only one of them came in the house, that the other remained on the other side of the road, watching and ready to warn of the hostess returning. I suspect that they returned on their bikes, that one bike would have been parked right outside the house, ready for a hasty exit, without leaving number plate evidence, without making a noise on the gravel. The one who came in would have had a back pack, stuffed the Apple in the bag, and cycled off on the bike very quickly to wherever the other was waiting in the car. That's what someone did at work about a year ago.
So our hostess has lost her computer, a ten year old one with a bug on it, and with all her B&B reservations, and no back up. Now she doesn't know who's coming when, though fortunately she doesn't keep peoples' credit card numbers on there, thank goodness. If you booked here, then contact her to help her record her reservations again.
We have a sadder, wiser hostess.
Quebec people
Quebecois, Quebecians? These people of Quebec are amazingly friendly. I'm not too surprised that our B&B hostess chats, because people who run B&Bs usually like to talk with their guests, but to find some stranger on the bus who goes out of his way to help us is amazing.
Looking at the bus plan as it carried us back from the city to our B&B, the gentleman across the aisle asked me if I knew my way and offered to hep. He spoke in French of course and I answered inn French then turned to husband to confirm our stop in English. The gentleman realised we were tourists, told us we were a long way from our stop, but that he was local, his car was nearby, to get off with him and he would drive us to our destination, which was very kind of him, but we, or rather husband, knew just how far we had to go and where we were. The problem was a confusion of the the name of the bus stop that husband was referring to by the name of a supermarket and gentleman understood as the name of a road somewhere else. So gentleman insisted on staying on the bus, accompanied us to our stop and then missing his own stop walked back to get his car.
In the evening, waiting to catch a bus again, the same gentleman was at the supermarket and insisted on giving us a lift, taking us on a detour to see the river front and admire the view. When he dropped us off, he gave us his phone number and offered to drive us into Quebec old town this evening, to give us a tour. He said that as a young man, he had wanted to be a tourist guide but at that time didn't have enough English, and now he could at last be a tourist guide. What an amazing person.
Looking at the bus plan as it carried us back from the city to our B&B, the gentleman across the aisle asked me if I knew my way and offered to hep. He spoke in French of course and I answered inn French then turned to husband to confirm our stop in English. The gentleman realised we were tourists, told us we were a long way from our stop, but that he was local, his car was nearby, to get off with him and he would drive us to our destination, which was very kind of him, but we, or rather husband, knew just how far we had to go and where we were. The problem was a confusion of the the name of the bus stop that husband was referring to by the name of a supermarket and gentleman understood as the name of a road somewhere else. So gentleman insisted on staying on the bus, accompanied us to our stop and then missing his own stop walked back to get his car.
In the evening, waiting to catch a bus again, the same gentleman was at the supermarket and insisted on giving us a lift, taking us on a detour to see the river front and admire the view. When he dropped us off, he gave us his phone number and offered to drive us into Quebec old town this evening, to give us a tour. He said that as a young man, he had wanted to be a tourist guide but at that time didn't have enough English, and now he could at last be a tourist guide. What an amazing person.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Quebec city bed and breakfast
We're spending a few nights in this bed and breakfast. In contrast to the plastic covered mattresses of our last place, this is luxury. The mattresses are huge, firm and soft. The floor has a thick rug, the shower is sparkling with fresh paint. And our hostess is so willing to talk to us, as if we're guests, not just paying guests. She offered to fetch us from the train station, is willing to lend us her bicycle, tells us we can sit in her garden, and I've even been picking her raspberries.
Over breakfast she tells us (there is another couple here) that Quebec is a very safe city, of only seven million people and that people leave their doors open because they have nothing worth stealing. So it sounds great until she tells us how high the taxes are, and they sound high. However the country does provide free health care and university education. She knows and tells us about Quebec history, and is passionately proud of her heritage. She is also very sociable because there are always people in her house, friends, a sister, a mother with her new baby, a neighbour.
Our hostess is busy petitioning the local authority to conserve the local area where many plots of land are up for sale, almost all to be sold by local religious bodies to pay off fines for the pedophilia scandals. The problem is that the plots will then be used to build a thousand condominiums, which will loose the character of the area, not to mention what it will do for house prices.
Over breakfast she tells us (there is another couple here) that Quebec is a very safe city, of only seven million people and that people leave their doors open because they have nothing worth stealing. So it sounds great until she tells us how high the taxes are, and they sound high. However the country does provide free health care and university education. She knows and tells us about Quebec history, and is passionately proud of her heritage. She is also very sociable because there are always people in her house, friends, a sister, a mother with her new baby, a neighbour.
Our hostess is busy petitioning the local authority to conserve the local area where many plots of land are up for sale, almost all to be sold by local religious bodies to pay off fines for the pedophilia scandals. The problem is that the plots will then be used to build a thousand condominiums, which will loose the character of the area, not to mention what it will do for house prices.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
