Québec

Allo allo ma famille!

Québec is lovely, and I will tell you pourqoui... This portion of Canada was first settled by the indigenous population (Iroquois) 12, 000 years after the first evidence of Indigenous Australians in coastal QLD; connected to what is now Russia until just 52, 000 years ago; and, it maintained solid trading relationships with the Inuit people up until the C18 - by which time the area was heavily colonised by Europeans (predominantly the French). Québec is also linguistically interesting too - though not as bilingually leaning as Montreal, most people (NB. shop keepers etc.) will also speak English in addition to the local French dialect of Québécoise (which is tricky to understand: not as clean sounding as French proper and with less emphasis on fricatives [this is for Pete]). The English spoken bears as close a resemblance in present day to the sounds of English spoken during the reigns of the Tudors. It is said that Québécoise thespians are not to be sniffed at when performing Shakespeare, being as phonetically true to the original scripts as is possible.

Unfortunately, not dissimilar to most of the places Europeans eventually settled, Québec has a sad past - which is (un)surprisingly silenced by the tourist industry in Vieux Ville de Québec (where we have spent most of our time). Le Parc d'Abrabam (the oldest parks and gardens in Canada) was the site of a war during C17 and again in the C18 between the French and English settlers. During the fighting, both parties effectively reduced the indigenous Iroquois populace to a near nothingness and, consequently, drove those remaining to a posterity of nomadic dispersion. Now the battlegrounds are reserved for public use, housing - among other things - skating rinks, snow slopes, small châteax, and the original city fortifications including replica canons amid the crenelations. Québec is also the oldest fortified city in Canada and USA (the next closest is Mexico City). As a result, the town is built up into a high plateau skirted by a river on one side and (what was originally) heavy forestry on the other. This is the first place on our trip which hasn't been flat and the only place which boasts architectural features preceding the C18 (excepting Philadelphia). The local stone is a honeyish Greg color, and most preserved buildings like the Château du Frôntenac bear close resemblance to the exterior of Versailles - neoclassical, rectilinear, verdigris finials. The latter site was the place of the first meeting of what would become the UN (after WWII) to discuss the management of the world's agricultural production (Roosevelt, Churchill, etc., met here), and now the premises is owned by the Hiltons (for shame, Canada, for shame).

Today, after a walk in this park, the construction of a paltry snowman, and some faire du palinage (ice-skating), we explored this part of town. It is very picturesque, but rather like The Rocks - all tourist-driven boutiques and commercial galleries. Nonetheless, it is truly unlike any other place any of us we have ever seen and we were all thusly impressed. Tomorrow we are off NE to Mont Sainte-Anne for some more skiing. More photographs to follow anon.

Trusting everyone had a lovely Christmas,

D. x