My apologies for the long haitus on the blog! I can't point to any specific activity that has made me super busy, but it's more like all activities have been ratcheted up a notch for the summer. But I promise I'll try to be more diligent with the blogging!
This past weekend Adam and I traveled with our good friends Samir and Emily to Quebec. We had planned this trip several months ago, but we've all been busy (Samir, if you recall, works in the White House, and Emily is in medical school!), so this trip has been sort of an afterthought for all of us. Because of that, we were all a little unprepared when we showed up! Unprepared how, you may ask? Well, it turns out that iPhones don't work in Canada, we didn't buy a map, and all the road signs are in French! Needless to say, we had a few adventures getting around in our rental car. I also got a couple of opportunities to try out my high school French on unsuspecting gas station attendants, with mixed results.
We were also all very surprised that they really do speak French in Quebec! I guess we all thought it was like southern Louisiana, where everyone is of French descent and knows a few French phrases, but really the main language is English. We were very wrong. Everything is in French! Everyone speaks French! I don't know how we all missed this in our Geography classes. I'm somewhat ashamed to admit how little I knew of our friendly neighbors to the north.
One thing is for sure: those Canadians really lived up to their reputation of being friendly. Everyone we met went out of their way to suggest activities, draws us maps on paper napkins, and just generally be awesome. We also discovered a lot of cool local stuff to do with their help!
Here is a short selection of photos from the trip. Enjoy!
This past weekend Adam and I traveled with our good friends Samir and Emily to Quebec. We had planned this trip several months ago, but we've all been busy (Samir, if you recall, works in the White House, and Emily is in medical school!), so this trip has been sort of an afterthought for all of us. Because of that, we were all a little unprepared when we showed up! Unprepared how, you may ask? Well, it turns out that iPhones don't work in Canada, we didn't buy a map, and all the road signs are in French! Needless to say, we had a few adventures getting around in our rental car. I also got a couple of opportunities to try out my high school French on unsuspecting gas station attendants, with mixed results.
We were also all very surprised that they really do speak French in Quebec! I guess we all thought it was like southern Louisiana, where everyone is of French descent and knows a few French phrases, but really the main language is English. We were very wrong. Everything is in French! Everyone speaks French! I don't know how we all missed this in our Geography classes. I'm somewhat ashamed to admit how little I knew of our friendly neighbors to the north.
One thing is for sure: those Canadians really lived up to their reputation of being friendly. Everyone we met went out of their way to suggest activities, draws us maps on paper napkins, and just generally be awesome. We also discovered a lot of cool local stuff to do with their help!
Here is a short selection of photos from the trip. Enjoy!
Day 1: Montreal. A really cool mix of old and modern in one city
Our ridiculously giant hotel room, thanks to Samir's frequent traveler points. That's a dining room in the back!
Road sign in Montreal. They really do speak French here!
Gorgeous Catholic church in Montreal. We went to a show here one night that told the history of the church and of Montreal. Very cool!
Our friends and travel buddies Samir and Emily
The beautiful town of Quebec City. It really felt like we had driven out of Vermont and entered Europe!
Being daredevils and walking the old city wall in Quebec City.
Cute guy in the foreground, cute town in the background.
Adam and I are very excited about eating crepes!
And the last day: we went for a hike overlooking Montreal. It was so cool to be out in the woods, then come to a clearing and see the whole city spread out below!
Montreal is a really neat place!! I too was shocked at the road signs in french when I went one summer. I was going to go to McGill for grad school, but when I had to wear a coat in the middle of the summer, I knew that I did NOT want to move to Canada in January. Now, I am not even doing engineering - so I guess it was a good thing that I didn't get a masters in EE! :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like you guys had a great time!
What great friends and good times! Thanks for sharing! Miss you guys and pray for you ever day!!!
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