Scène Bell, Take 2Despite our unpleasant experience at Scène Bell on opening night of the the Summer Music Festival of Québec on Thursday night, we took our chances and returned on Friday to hear The Lumineers, an American folk rock band. Our assumption was that since this group didn't have the mononymous star power of Sting, the crowd might be more manageable. We were right! Before the late-evening concert, Alison went on a relatively disappointing ghost tour of the Old City of Québec with our friends from Lexington. I was able to successfully anticipate the disappointment and chose not to join them. Before the ghost tour, we had another wonderful dinner out, this one at a small restaurant on a side street off of Rue Saint Jean. I enjoyed a rare sandwich of smoked meats on gluten-free rye bread, while Alison similarly enjoyed her salad with smoked salmon and pears. Before dinner, Alison shared her time between sewing and walks along the promenade. I continued to work from my small desk here in the corner, overlooking Rue Saint Louis. VideoA 14-year old boy and his dad perform on the promenade. Tidbit #1
Tidbit #2
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Scène BellThe Summer Music Festival of Québec is a big deal. It has seven stages set up in the heart of the city, the largest of which is Scène Bell, the main stage on The Plains of Abraham. Last night was opening night for the festival, featuring Sting and Peter Gabriel on their Rock Paper Scissors Tour. Alison and I learned a lesson last night: we're not main stage people. Imagine a rectangular space roughly the size of four football fields, with their sidelines side by side. Enclose the entire space in twelve foot steel fencing, to prevent people from sneaking in, and then place an exit in each corner. Then, fill the space with untold thousands upon thousands of people, so many that you are standing shoulder to shoulder, belly to back no matter where you are in the space. Lastly, send a small army of young men and women into the crowd, squeezing their way through, selling beer and liquor shots to enormous numbers of already inebriated people. Now, ask the sun to set and queue the music. It was not pleasant. 20 minutes into Sting's set, we left. Tidbit
Lunch with Gaye, dinner with AmélieWhile I was at my desk working, Alison joined our friend Gaye for lunch at Ciel! Bistro Bar, the only rotating restaurant in Québec City. Far from being a gimmick, this restaurant was elegantly appointed and served delicious food. (At my desk, I nibbled on a meat stick and cheese curds.) For dinner, we grilled pork chops on the back patio and dined with our friend Amélie, pictured in the last photo below. Amélie is such a unique personality, with such a colorful life story, that she deserves a blog of her own. TidbitCanadian bank notes are available in the following denominations:
FriendsWe now have a few friends here in Québec City: Amèlie, our neighbor; Ariane, our Airbnb host; and the Johnson Family, also vacationing here from Lexington, Virginia. The Johnsons just returned to QC after spending a week up north, so Alison pedaled over to their house and spent the day with them. In the evening, Alison and I both took a long walk over to their house for dinner. Tidbit
The Garden of QuébecÎle d'Orléans is a large island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, just east of Québec City. Early French settlers were attracted to the island because of its rich soil and abundance of wild grapes. In fact, Jacques Cartier named the island Île de Bascuz (Bacchus) because of those grapes. The island was later renamed after some forgotten son of some forgotten French king, as was common back then, and the new name stuck. Île d'Orléans is roughly twice the size of Manhattan, but slightly less populous (6,711) and with fewer traffic lights (1). Today, the island is known as "The Garden of Quebec" because of the numerous farms that produce most of the locally grown fruits and vegetables for the city. Strawberries in particular are incredibly abundant on the island. Alison and I spent our 13th wedding anniversary today on a leisurely, self-paced tour around the island. Here are some of the photos. The SelfiesAlison thinks that we're improving. I'm just trying to figure out where to look. The PanoramasI love this feature of the iPhone.
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Joshua GolubAn occasional blog about what's going on in our lives. Categories
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