Travel Log - Day 8

We stayed in Quebec City for the day and another night. I decided to walk from the hotel to the old city area. It didn't take me too long to realize that we weren't very lost last night, we were only about 5 minutes away, but we drove around for at least an hour!

The old city is made up of cobble stone streets, some of the streets are only for foot traffic. It's like a little bit of France plunked down in Canada. It's rich with history, color, texture and lots of tourists.

I left the old city in search of Tim Hortons which has been my beloved friend during this trip. I've stopped in at least one per province to have my tea and...whatever else I feel like at the moment. On my way out of the old city, I noticed another [new] favourite of mine - a Tourist Information Center. These are all over the place and in my opinion are the rest stops of Canada. We don't seem to have as many rest stops like there are in America along the I-5. These information places are along the Trans Canada Highway as well as in and around the individual provinces in the different towns/cities. They have clean bathrooms (not pit toilets like at our rest stops), plus they have grassy areas with benches or picnic tables. There's lots of room to stretch out, have a snack, use the bathroom or ask one of the travel counsellors about the local area (they all seem to be very well informed).

After my stop in at the information center, to ask where I could find the nearest Tims, I began walking in that direction. Along the way I met an elderly man sitting on a bench. As I approached, he started waving his arms around and gesturing towards the construction that was going on across the street and he was speaking in French which I, of course, couldn't understand at all. Why didn't I pay better attention in school. I know words, not sentences, well not any of the sentences he was putting out. I tried to explain that I didn't speak French which he understood and his English was equivalent to my French. Anyways, he understood that I was driving from the west to the east.

"Ahhhh, voyageur" said he, in his kindly French way.


"Yep", I thought, "I suppose I am".

As I got closer to Tims and was about to cross the street, I realize I really don't get how these traffic lights work. All of the signs on the posts, where the buttons are to push for the walking signal, are in French. Again, why didn't I pay more attention?! When I thought it was my turn to go and I went, a woman across the street shouted "Madame, Madame!".....and some more French sentences. I must have gotten it all wrong - I shouldn't have crossed , by her tone, I'm certain I shouldn't have.

Back in the old city, I was delighted to see and hear so much. I have a far greater respect and understanding of our country's bilingualism. Being in the west it's not as prevalent, but being here in the east, it's everywhere. I spent seven hours walking around today, I figure I probably walked a marathon.

Okay, I get the crosswalks now. When all of the traffic lights go red at the same time on every corner - that's when you walk. You get to walk across one way or the other or even diagonally. How 'bout that. I like it. I wonder if this is how it is in Manhattan too as people walked in every direction there as well. I was much younger when I was in Manhattan (22 years ago!) and probably never even considered stopping to observe how it all worked - elevation of thought comes later in life - part of the aging process I suspect...at least it is for me.