I'm en route to Québec City! I am currently sitting on an Orléans Express bus; we just made a stop in Longueuil, and now it's off to Ste. Foy and then Québec! I set my alarm for 7 this morning... or at least I thought I did. I woke up at 7:30 to the sound of one of my roommates' alarms going off... Turns out I never actually turned on my own alarm. Oops. I got lucky, since the bus was set to leave at 9.
My lack of comprehension of simple un-American things, like kilometers and temperatures in Celsius is really glaring, especially now that I'm on the road. I just saw a sign that said Quéebec: 115, and I was like, "Damn! That's far!" Then I realized... kilometers are smaller than miles. So I whipped out my trusty iPad to do a conversion and, voilà, it's about 71 miles, which makes a hell of a lot more sense. Also, when I wait on platforms for the Métro to arrive, they have screens that tell you what temperature it is outside, and of course it's in Celsius. So when I see that it's 15 degrees, I'm like, "I'm going to freeeeeze!" until I realize that that is the equivalent of 59 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point I'm like, "WOOOO! IT'S SO WARM!"
Later
We now rejoin our story's heroine at approximately 2pm in Québec City. Okay, so I'm a dumb. I have been seriously directionally challenged all throughout this trip, as evidenced by the fact that it took me three separate occasions to find La Banquise, and now the fact that I had intended to take a bus from the station at Québec City but instead ended up hoofing it all the way because I took a wrong turn. However, my instincts did lead me to the right place in the end, although it took about 30 minutes when it should have taken 15. Oh, well.
So once I got into QC, I turned left too soon and ended up walking down rue St. Paul, which isn't part of the bus route I wanted to take. Nevertheless, I knew I was heading in the right direction, which was toward Château Frontenac, as at some point I saw the very tip of it peeking up over the roofs. Vieux-Québec was to my right, and the fleuve St. Laurent was to my left. Eventually I got the urge to turn right, which turned out to be a good thing, as this eventually led me to a steep hill that Lauren and I often trekked up and down last summer. It was tiring. I made it up that hill and then l'Escalier Frontenac, which is how one gets from Bas-Québec to Haut-Québec if one does not want to use the furnunculaire.
Once I made it up the stairs, I was confronted with the great Château Frontenac, which had become the image of my time in Québec last summer with Lauren. A quick photo later, and I was heading down the familiar rue St. Jean, turning right when I saw the classy-looking-but-not-really McDonald's, to find... Chez Ashton, the poutine joint of my dreams! God, it was so warm and it smelled sooo good. When I ordered the largest poutine size, the woman asked if I knew how big it was, to I which I replied something like, "Oohh, oui." The fromage was squeaky to perfection, the gravy and fries delicious. Drool. Of course, I couldn't finish it, which is what I intended when I ordered such a large size, so I got a lid and a bag and took off, heading toward the bus stop to the university. (They raised the fare from$3 to $3.25. How rude.)
And so now, here I sit, in the sort of Student Union of l'Université Laval, blending in as if I'm still a student here, even though I'm really not. I'll probably walk around the campus for a bit, go see the mall and Archambault nearby, before heading back to Place d'Youville and touristing some down rue St. Jean. I've probably given myself too much time here in Québec City, as my bus back to Wonderland doesn't leave until 7:30 tonight, but I'll try to keep myself occupied. It's also quite cold, so I can't really make myself want to go outside again.
In the mean time, it hasn't really kicked in that I'm going to be seeing Bruno tomorrow in Drummondville. I know I saw him on Sunday during Un air de famille, but that was different; I was far away and it wasn't HIS show. Now I'll be right in the front row of his show with Guy St-Onge, and hopefully I'll have the chance to meet them after the show. I really, really hope so. I don't think the bus to Drummondville leaves 'till around noon, but I have to check out of the hostel by 11, so that'll be interesting. I'll prolly just hang out at the bus station and probably sip on a strawberry smoothie. 'Cause that's what I do.
Speaking of the bus station, something interesting was going on while I was there. It looked like a film crew was interviewing this guy in a wheelchair. With him was a young woman with short, black hair in Animé-style clothes, and she kept going back and forth from them to a trash can near me. When I got up to get in line, I looked over to see her kiss the guy in the wheelchair, at which point I realized that they were doing something scripting, like a film or short film or whatever. Practically everyone was staring at them, most looking pretty weirded out by the whole thing. Then, eventually, they both got up, changed clothes right there, and left. Weird.
Later
I made the mistake of taking the bus from the university around 3:30, just as schools were letting out. At some point there was a wall or 12 - 15-year-old boys in front of me, all hanging onto the holdy-on straps above, all grinning and being weird, as boys that age often are. Currently I am sitting in Second Cup of Place d'Youville with a cup of hot chocolate that it supposed to be hot chocolate but is actually mostly whipped cream. When the woman was taking my order, she asked me something, and I didn't understand, so she said it in English, and then continued talking to me in French! It was magical and much appreciated.
I'll probably start walking around rue St. Jean in a little bit, taking pictures of how beautiful it looks at night, especially with all the Christmas lights they have up. I still have like two hours before I need to start heading to the bus station, though, so I'll take my time. I kinda wish I had taken pictures of Vieux-Québec while it was still daylight, but oh well. Two more hours in Neverland and then it's off to Wonderland!
Later still...
I'm on a bus! Again! I ended up arriving at the station an hour-and-a-half before I needed to, mainly due to panic that I wouldn't be able to find the right bus stop from Place d'Youville, especially since it's nighttime and I don't really have any idea where anything is. But I did find it, and upon arriving at the station, I learned that a bus to Montréal was due to leave at 6:30, whereas mine left an hour later. So I went and asked if I could change times, and the woman told me that I'd have no problem doing that, that I just needed to board the bus now instead of later. Sweet! So here I am! It was a lovely day, but I'm already thinking about what awaits me tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment