While Olga and kids were sleeping last evening at 20, Tim went for a small walk in our neighboorhood to capture the night life, which was mostly cold and dark. There was still a lot of ice in the river.
He goes to bed at 21. Zeno is awake at 3 (10 CEST). As we stay in an open appartement, it’s a challenge to manage the energetic toddler ready for the day. We can stay in bed until 5, with the help of some puzzle books.
The supermarkt at 10 minutes walk already opens at 6. We dress up warm and conquer the icy streets and wind. The kids are hungry, luckily we see some squirrels in the trees to entertain them and distract them from the cold.
We buy a simple breakfast and also eat the left over Iranian dinner of yesterday. We scrape the ice off our car and head for a bigger supermarket for some serious groceries.
Unfortunately, there is not much fresh food on offer, because of a « disturbance ». We collect some vegetables that are left and will improvise the coming days.
They don’t sell winter jackets. Also in the next door outdoor shop we cannot find any jacket for Zeno. The kids do get a helium balloon and they are over the moon. We drive 15 minutes for a Decatlon where they sell one warm childrens jacket. Although it’s freezing and snowing outside, winter sale seems to be over. The jacket is for kids of 6-7 years. If Zeno runs around, we see two small feet and a small blond head, all the rest disapears in one big green jacket. But the jacket is warm and Zeno likes it. We ignore all other stalls with bathing suits and summer dresses. Summer feels very far away.
It’s 10 when we’re back. We eat a peanut butter sandwich before we head out to old Quebec, which is just a 10m walk from our apartment. The big chateau Frontenac dominates the hilltop and has a boardwalk in front with great views of the St Lawrence river with lots of icebergs floating by. Unfortunately the snow slide « open all winter » seems closed – it does say « forbidden access / at your own risk ». Very confusing texts. We are tempted, but let this one for what it is.
We descend by stair from the upper town and go to the Rue du Petit-Champlain with it’s 18th century buildings. We spot a popcorn shop which offers dozens of flavours. We go for the Quebec special, it’s very tasty, maybe because of the maple syrup. Tim promised Zeno hot chocolate this morning and even with his huge coat, Zeno isn’t a fan of the Artic winds. So we sit down in a cafe for some hot chocolate and tea.
Cleo loves the cold. She jumps from snow stash to icy streets and back. At the end of the street is a sugar cabana, where maple syrup is poured on fresh ice to make traditional Sugar Shack. The start of spring marks the maple harvest season.
We wander the streets of lower vieux Quebec some more until we get to the Musée de la Civilisation de Québec. It’s very busy here as it offers all kind of Easter activities for the kids. It also has some big rooms dedicated to aboriginal art, the iroquios, the inuit and the alonquians. And we get some more insights into the diversity of the American aboriginals and their treatment by the colonizers.
The children get a spray painted tattoo, decorate a flower pot, paint some eggs and run around in the children museum in the basement. Olga hunts them down crawling through the children tunnels. As everyone’s energy is dwindling fast, we climb back to the upper town to walk home. We visit the 19th century cathedral which isn’t very interesting. The christmas shop on the square intrigues the children more and Cleo is exciteted to pose with every christmas tree.
The church of the convent is a bit more interesting but the statue of the non with two native girls leaves a bitter taste since because of the 6000 school children who were found in mass graves in 2023.
The children stay to play in the snow while Tim leaves for some relaxing on the couch. back home, Olga cooks mashed potato with cale, mashed by using a dough mixer. It works extremely well, we recommend it! With the final energy we clean the kitchen and bring the kids to bed. Olga goes to sleep next to them while Tim seeks for some secret energy to go for another night shooting walk in the cold.
