I drew the lucky straw for sure. I had the opportunity to lead a sightseeing trip to Quebec City, Canada! My co-leader Stephanie and I brought ten campers across the border to visit our friendly northern (French speaking) neighbors. When we got done with our drive on the first day, we dropped our things off in the dorms of the prestigious Laval University. We then took a short van ride to do a little exploring of “Old Quebec.” For our purposes, Quebec was sort of divided up into three sections. The first one was residential Quebec. This is where the majority of the apartments, businesses, and tall building were located. We spent the least amount of time here. The next was Old Quebec, which was close to the water but very elevated. Cars could drive through this part but the streets were smaller and the buildings were squished close together to give it the old-timey feel. And then there was Old Old Quebec (talk about what we did there later). That was on the edge of the water and you could only get there by walking down or taking elevator like gondola. Anyway, we spent the first night eating and exploring Old Quebec. We found a grassy overlook next to the capital building that the campers would walk around on and take in the views of the beautiful city.
The second day we spent the morning in the Quebec Mall. This wasn’t just any mall. It had a roller-coaster AND an ice skating rink in it. Kids were in there hockey pads flying around like it was no big deal. Canadians love hockey more than Americans love anything. Anyway, after the mall we did more walking around Old Quebec. At night we descended onto Old Old Quebec and some kids got a ghost tour while others strolled along the cobblestone roads and sat by the water.
The third day we ventured just outside the city to see St. Anne’s Cathedral. It was pristine. The ceiling seemed at least 70 feet high, painted in beautiful and great detail. The whole building was coated in fine artwork and mosaic images of stories and characters from the bible. Quite the serene experience. We then went to staple of any trip to Quebec, a visit to the waterfalls called Montmorency Falls. The Falls themselves are actually taller than Niagara Falls by a couple of meters. We rode a gondola to the top of the falls, walked along the footbridge, and then came back down. After that we stopped to eat and then made our way back to the point! Overall it was a fantastic trip.
More updates as far as life at camp goes coming up soon.
Old Old Quebec!
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