Je me souviens

Today is our 4th day in Quebec! Our time in Canada has been fantastic: from the hospitality of perfect strangers who took us from the airport to our hotel, to the European charm of Old Montreal (Vieux Montréal)... and now Quebec City.

For someone whose European cultural experiences always had the French-English tension at the back of my mind - this city is the most effortless blend of two cultures I always thought were at odds. Quebec is the only fortified city in the continental US, and one of the oldest (1608). It`s 96% French-speaking, but the locals are delighted to `spig ingleesh` with me. Very charming. I walk around trying to mutter my few sentences in French - practicing just in case I have the nerve to say them out loud:
Pardon - Je ne parl pas Francias (I am sorry, I don`t speak French)
Je suis de la Afrique de Sud (I am from South Africa. I was originally saying I am South Africa, but then a kind waitress told me how to add the necessary preposition)
Parlé vous Anglais (Do you speak English) They all do - so I haven`t had to use my practice sentences yet...

Built on a cliff top, this city is steeped with history of French and British wars. I have wandered through the curvy European streets delighted at the bowls of flowers above, and steaming cups of chocolat chaud on the table before me. People really do carry baguettes around. I feel I could be in Paris (although less bridges) or Vienna from moment to moment...

*sigh*

Things to mention: Inuit Art! So interesting! Scrumptious coffee! Beautiful art galleries and sculptures (I am a new fan of Levieux) .... and people dressed so exquisitely they could be walking exhibits too. Silver roof tops, flanked by copper-green ones. Quebecan flags flying from every building. And then, at the Citadel, a changing of the guard Buckingham Palace Style (with red jackets and bearskin hats, and even a regiment goat dressed up for the ceremony)... yet all in French! How could one not be charmed... It`s a nostalgic city, clinging tightly to its French heritage. The Quebéc number plates all read `Je me souviéns' (I remember).

It is hard to imagine how this city-on-a-slope survives under 10feet of snow for 6 months of the year, with temperatures reaching -30 degrees C. It explains the plethora of fur stores I have walked past in recent days. Being here has given me a new perspective on the fur trade: not that I`m in favour of cruelty to animals - but if I had to live in -30 degree weather for a couple of months a year, I think I would want what the bears have got too...

Au revoir, mon ami!