Cold in Québec

Up early (for us at least) and being the well oiled functioning foursome we have become over the years at 10:00 am our gear was being loaded into a suitably sized taxi and off we whizzed through the grey streets of Montreal city to the bus depot. Bus depots all over the world look the same - dreary, desolate, drab - full of people who can't afford a more expensive way of travelling. And they know it. It's for this reason no one smiles at bus terminals. Even at arrivals. The owners/management of these places dont bother making them look nice in an attempt to get patrons to spend money, because they have none to spend. If they did they would be at the railway stations or airports - that's why those places have boutiques and decent coffee. And thus we found ourselves - slurping on some sort of warm concoction which may have had a coffee bean grown in the highlands of Werribee waved over it at sometime in its history and rushing onto a caboose full of single travellers who all wanted a window seat just so families could not sit together.

Being long distance journeys they have washroom facilities. An obvious necessity. As are the delightfully aromatic chemicals eminating from them. Guess who spent 2&1/2 hours breathing these delightful fumes... As we headed northeast the outside vistas quickly changed into picturesque snow covered landscapes. Still shrouded in fog it all bodes well for the white Christmas ahead (apart from the forecast that is). Arriving at the terminal in Quebec city we jumped straight into a large taxi (much luggage) drove around the corner and alighted at our hotel. Very funny. Should have looked that one up beforehand. We could have walked faster than the time it took to do all that loading and unloading. The old town of Quebec is covered in snow (for the moment) and the sounds of Christmas songs fill the air. Literarily. Everywhere you go. It's in the streets. It's in the shops. It's in the pubs. It's in my head. It's in my head...(sorry about that). After checking in to our squashed (but OK) room we hit the town. Lots of olde worlde charm combined with snow and Christmas themes (trees, lights, music and tourists all lapping it up).

The girls waited patiently in line to get free portrait with Santa (yes the real one) whilst a foursome serenaded them with commercial carols sung in both languages (suspect they were just showing off). By the time we scaled the cliffs which define the old quarter it was bitterly cold and getting dark. 4 pm. Time for a drink. So we found a pub and had tea and cheeses whilst letting the bones thaw a bit. 5 pm here feels like 10pm at home. Well worth a look as they have gone to a serious effort to make the place interesting after dark.

We plodded the cold/slippery old cobblestones back down to pizzeria for dinner (really good - square pizzas - who'd a thunk?). Heaps of photos of the snow taken because apparently it all disappears tomorrow due to global warming.