Entering Quebec City and A New Dimension in Linguistic Disaster - June 10

Sunday, June 10

Today is an MZ-free day, as we drive a Toyota to Quebec City, some 3-4 hours east of Montreal. Going there on motorcycles would be just as boring, but much slower and much less comfortable, so it's perfectly fine with me. Once there, I see the attraction of the place, particularly for Canadians used to flat cities with grid systems: Quebec's old capital looks very much like a lot of French towns I've been to, with narrow, winding streets, and a Chateau overlooking St. Lawrence river. (Seemingly half of this province's geographical locations like streets and towns have an 'St.' prefix).

It's also wall-to-wall crammed with tourists and the usual hotels, cafes and souvenir shops catering to them, with top dog amongst them all being the former fort and governor residence Chateau St. Louis, which now is the hotel Chateau Frontenac. Prices range from CD$500 and upwards into four-digit territory - but which after all is affordable for the G7 top meeting guest today, who had a dozen wailing police Harleys escort his or her convoy of black cars away from there.

Nicest railway station I've seen, with just as nice interior.

Above and below: One of dozens of the Can-Am Spyder trikes we saw today, this one ridden by people who - like the others I asked - didn't ride motorcycles before embarking on this one. I'm pretty sure the people riding trike-modified Goldwings and Harleys used to be on two wheels.

Then we do some more sightseeing by circling the car around the architectonically interesting town a few times, enjoy the sights and the French cuisine, after which it is four boring hours back to Montreal. I notice many more aluminium or stainless steel clad churches, as well as a few more Can-Am Spyder trikes.

Got bored on the way back and started taking pictures of stuff.