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Québec.
Jun 20, 2005 15:20:38 GMT -5
Post by bubbles on Jun 20, 2005 15:20:38 GMT -5
Si j'avais les ailes d'un ange, je partirais pour ... Québec!
Yep yep, the old province. That little frenchie hole where everyone always thinks different from the rest of Canada. Home to the greatest maple syrup in the world, birthplace of poutine, province hiding the only fortified city left in North America, home to the Expo67 and a few other stuff (like a very crappy Olympic game, but I can't remember the date. Was in Montreal. The stadium still sucks).
Aaaaanyway. That's where I live. =3
In any case, yeah. I'll post stuff from time to time here. Anyone else who knows anything 'bout Quebec can post it too, of course! If you have any question about the place and it's peoples, ask away, they'll be answered.
And, well, ya. That's an intro post to you. =o
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Québec.
Jun 21, 2005 15:13:14 GMT -5
Post by bubbles on Jun 21, 2005 15:13:14 GMT -5
Québec citySecond largest city in the province, Québec City is the capital of Québec, for evident reasons. It is the third largest city in the province, after Montreal and Laval. Geographically, the city is situated on the northern shore of the St-Laurent river, a little higher than the Orleans Island, where the river becomes thinner.
St-Laurent river as seen from the Abraham plains.
Québec is a french city. A large majority of it's population speaks french, not everyone speaks english. Street signs and ads are all in french. Most touristic places are bilingual, especially in the old city, but a lot of places are french-only.
Castle Frontenac, from the old port.
Québec city was built from the river-up, which means the oldest parts of the city are around the old port. There, you can find most tourist attractions, tons of boutiques and a few restaurants and hotels, like Castle Frontenac. It is actually much more recent than it looks, and has no historical references. It's just a hotel, really, but a damn good one.
The Citadel. Maybe there are old vampires, treasures or pirates buried within it's condemned parts? =o
If you go to the old city, make sure you get yourself a good pair of shoes, because it is all built in the hills and cliffs bordering the river. Higher up, you'll end up in the fortifications and the Abraham plains, famous for being a turning point in Canada's history. You can also visit the Citadel, the fort that was built atop those plains (make sure you visit that place someday, it's really fun. You can even roleplay both armies, and learn why the French didn't stand a chance against the English).
Old Québec. -Lots- of restaurants. Lots of tourists, too. Québec residents mostly live in the more recent parts of the city, and rarely go down to the old places. They've already seen it tons of times anyway.
Further up in the city (yep, always up) is the Parliament Hill. It really is a hill. A very pretty garden, lots of administrative buildings, nothing interesting. Deeper in the city, you leave the old part and come into the new city, which is quite modern. Québec is an awesomely beautiful city to visit, really. It's also the most "european" city in North America.
That's about it! Very touristic, but kinda boring to live there unless you're into politics. Most interesting stuff are in the old city. There's also a ferry leaving every 20 minutes to the city of Levis, which is on the other side of the river, facing Québec. Another ferry takes you to Grosse Île, a quarantine island that isn't in use anymore back when immigration was a sinonym of diseases. The island is open to visits now. There's a huuuuge cemetary there (winkwink) as well as lots of monuments to immigrants that passed away, mostly Irishes.
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Québec.
Jun 21, 2005 19:05:40 GMT -5
Post by HolyAlmost on Jun 21, 2005 19:05:40 GMT -5
Québec cityIf you go to the old city, make sure you get yourself a good pair of shoes, because it is all built in the hills and cliffs bordering the river. I hear that! Got my exercise when I visited, but it was so worth it. Quebec City is beautiful, and my Mom has nothing but good things to say about Montreal, but I've never been there. I went to Quebec City on a class trip while in French Immersion, and the whole point was that we were supposed to practice speaking French among fluent speakers. Whenever we went into restaurants and stores the employees would always speak English to us, even when we were speaking to them in French! ;D The whole trip was a struggle to practice, but it was awesome. Canada's old cities can't be beat.
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Québec.
Jun 21, 2005 22:52:11 GMT -5
Post by bubbles on Jun 21, 2005 22:52:11 GMT -5
Damn straight! The older, the more beautiful.
Yeah, that's something nice in the province: most peoples, if they meet someone who speaks English, will try their best to speak English too. Lots of nice peoples in here. <3
Montreal is great too, but ... differently, you could say. I'll write a few stuff about it tomorrow. It's much more lively, always full of activities. It's also where I live! =D
The only sad part of Montreal is that there are some french-canadian extremists, there. Just like someone speaking french could get jumped in Calgary if he's unlucky, someone speaking english could get jumped in Montreal, too. It's -extremely rare-, though, seeing as the city is getting more and more multicultural.
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Montreal and Arrogant Worms
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Québec.
Jun 25, 2005 17:27:05 GMT -5
Post by Montreal and Arrogant Worms on Jun 25, 2005 17:27:05 GMT -5
Yes - I'm a guest so I hope it'll let me reply. I'm a Vancouverite (BC) but yes, I have been to Montreal. I hear ya about the french-canadian extremists!! I noticed that as long as you made SOME sort of an effort to speak french first, if your accent was attrocious and they noticed that you were at least trying, they'd switch over in to english. If you just spoke English first, you got bad looks ;-;. Montreal certainly has it's charm, but oh god, the summer weather... we were in the middle of Montreal in the middle of the summer and it was BOILING.
Side note: and I know it's in the wrong part of the forum, but since I'm not a registered member yet and don't quite know if I want to be yet, I have to ask: I sense an Arrogant Worms fan in the Vampirates creator. Am I right? Am I right? *suspiciously amused glance* And yes, eventually I will go on a rant about the beauty that is Beautiful British Columbia (seriously. it says it on our flag and everything).
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Québec.
Jun 26, 2005 0:16:13 GMT -5
Post by bubbles on Jun 26, 2005 0:16:13 GMT -5
That's true. It's been friggin' boiling for a whole damn month, now. The worst time was two weeks ago, during the Canadian F1 Grand Prix weekend. It was above 40 degrees every day, and that's a 40 humid degrees.
Coming out of a climatized building feels like hitting a wall. I borrowed DDR from a friend, but I can't play it because it's too hot in my appartment. *Dies.*
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Québec.
Jun 26, 2005 5:53:50 GMT -5
Post by piercestudios on Jun 26, 2005 5:53:50 GMT -5
Yeah, two summers ago when we were there, we just spent all day in this nearby park - really Montreal has AWESOME parks, with our feet in the water. (yep, I'm the annonymous guest from up there *points at the post*) The house we were staying in didn't have air conditioning, and we couldn't sleep at ALL at night. Even with a fan. So we wrapped ourselves in wet towels. .. . which were dry like.. twenty minutes later. That was a very bad four days.
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Québec.
Jun 26, 2005 10:07:19 GMT -5
Post by Jones on Jun 26, 2005 10:07:19 GMT -5
Side note: and I know it's in the wrong part of the forum, but since I'm not a registered member yet and don't quite know if I want to be yet, I have to ask: I sense an Arrogant Worms fan in the Vampirates creator. Am I right? Am I right? *suspiciously amused glance* Heeee. :) I love that song. I challenge you to Mortal Kombat DDR! Heh, before I moved out I used to play DDR in the upstairs of my house, where the heat would quickly rise and consume me. Now I live in an even warmer house. Luckily, my mats are broken. I can't believe I just said that. Most excellent Québec discussion, by the way. :D It's fascinating.
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Québec.
Jun 26, 2005 11:18:40 GMT -5
Post by bubbles on Jun 26, 2005 11:18:40 GMT -5
The house we were staying in didn't have air conditioning, and we couldn't sleep at ALL at night. Guess what? I had that problem just last night. Daaaaaamn, I hate warmth. Gimme snow, dammit! D=
@jones: ... no. ='D I suck. Big time. I have a hard time getting B at light mode. XD
By the way, Pierce-man, what parks are you talking about? There are just so manyyyyy. My favourite's the Square St-Louis, even though it's not the safest spot around. You can't walk barefeet in the grass. @_@
I'm starting to think that this small discussion could be more useful than that damn essay I wrote up there. XD
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Québec.
Jun 26, 2005 11:57:21 GMT -5
Post by piercestudios on Jun 26, 2005 11:57:21 GMT -5
Exactly. Warmth is evil. That's why Montreal made me want to leave very quickly. Because - as beautiful as it is - it's far too hot in the summer. I think what made me laugh the most about that part of Montreal though was the amount of times my step-dad got hit on. ... .... by guys.
It's supposed to be lovely there in the fall though. My parents were there in the fall once.. left me at home to take care of my dog. Side note: Pierce-man is a female =). AND YES! An Arrogant Worms Fan! I KNEW IT! *mwahaha* And that's the thing about small discussions, they give tiny details about places that make the comic seem more realistic.
Okay as for the park.. *looks up the name* oookay, I can't find the name right now. but it was by a bed and breakfast called Le Chat Bleu .... and the address for that was... 4098 Saint-Hubert Montreal H2L 4A8.... so somewhere around Plateau Mont-Royal. The sheer AMOUNT of restaurants was absolutely terrifying. Like.. in going down one street there were at least three italian restaurants, two greeks and four chinese... and various french restaurants. It was nice that so many of them were open air restaurants.
The houses are really really nice as well. So many of them are these little rustic townhouses... and they all have stairways leading up to the doors and itty bitty balconies in front of their houses. So cute.
Okay.. I still don't know the name of the park, but I now know that it's on the corner of Papineau Ave, and Rachel street.
City Hall was really very pretty as well. And I remember my mom loving that there were Victorian Lanterns everywhere. ... I know i have photos lurking around at home that would trigger more memories.. I'll have to shuffle through them when I get home tomorrow.
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Québec.
Jun 26, 2005 13:40:21 GMT -5
Post by bubbles on Jun 26, 2005 13:40:21 GMT -5
Oi, my bad. Hi there, miss. ^_^;
XD So you went to the Village? I went to the gay parts of town only twice in my life, once during the day and another time during the night. At daytime, it's not that bad, you only get hit on.
But man, everyone was trying to get in my pants when it was night. ;
I'll be strolling around town during the week, so I'll check the place out. As for the loveliness, Montreal is great all year long. In the summer, it's one festival after another, some known worldwide like the Jazz festival or the Just For Laughs festival. Then there's the firework competition that changes name every year, the Canadian F1 Grand Prix, St-John's day and much, much more. It never stops. Nightlife downtown during the summer -rocks-.
During fall, every trees turn golden, and it gets all pretty, soothing, especially on the plateau. When it's winter, of course, there's the snow, and you feel like Montreal went 50 years in the past. Then spring comes, and the prettiful flowers are everywhere. <3
I love m'place. ='D
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Québec.
Jun 26, 2005 13:48:58 GMT -5
Post by piercestudios on Jun 26, 2005 13:48:58 GMT -5
That's the irony of it. We weren't in the Village. We were at the park. It was hilarious though.
I can tell you really love montreal! I feel the same way about BC - specially the parts close to the ocean. soooo nice. But that's a whole nother thread lol.
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Québec.
Jun 26, 2005 13:50:35 GMT -5
Post by bubbles on Jun 26, 2005 13:50:35 GMT -5
Well, whatcha waiting for? Make that thread already. XD
I've never been to BC. *Pouts* Only heard good things about it, though. ^_^
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Québec.
Jan 11, 2006 23:16:16 GMT -5
Post by kiyomi on Jan 11, 2006 23:16:16 GMT -5
If you go to the old city, make sure you get yourself a good pair of shoes, because it is all built in the hills and cliffs bordering the river. Very true, first time I went to Quebec, it was in the winter as a class trip. I clomped around in hiking boots and I wished very dearly that I bought my sneakers instead. You might also want to be aware of the snow. I fell into it and it hurt very much. >.< [and I'm supposed to be Canadian... =___=;;;]
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Québec.
Apr 17, 2006 13:05:29 GMT -5
Post by Winifred on Apr 17, 2006 13:05:29 GMT -5
There's more to Quebec than just those cities. Take Gatineau, for instance. Never, ever go there. EVER. Trust me, I live here. It used to be small, then merged with the surrounding towns of Hull, Aylmer, Chelsea, etc. and now it's huge. The Frenchies (gods I hate them) all think they're "gangstas", and they beat up english people, wear their pants around their knees, and vandalize everything. It's right across from Ottawa though, so the english people can take the bus there to hang out safely ^^ Also, the roads are crap. Potholes everywhere
*pout* I can't wait to move
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