Parlez-vous francais? Un tres tres peu!

We spent some time with the natives in Quebec City this past week while they celebrated their 400th birthday (1608 folks!), and we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. For the most part we celebrated it in the rain as they told us they were having their wettest summer in 75 years. That must have put something of a damper on the celebrations, but the flowers sure were pretty, and I bet they never needed watering by hand.

Strangely, we both discovered that our 2 yrs. of high school French did us no good whatsoever. We could never even manage to decipher one word of the canned female voice message that spoke to us each time we exited the elevator. I wanted to ask the desk clerk, but every time we walked by they were busy; I'm still considering emailing them. If nothing else, reference librarians are curious and require answers.

All of the colorful characters in period costumes in the picture with me were part of the summer-long celebration. The guys with Bill were in front of one of the ubiquitous souvenier shops. We visited many to get out of the rain. We also bought 3 bottles of 100% pure Canadian maple syrup we at one (after looking at the 12,000 different kinds, price per ounce, beauty of the container, etc. and so forth) confiscated by Quebec security when they discovered them in our carry-on. Was Bill, the airline traveller (but not souvenier buyer), ever angry with himself! I, on the other hand, hardly pay attention to any of the rules at security as I walk around in a fog at airports I'm unfamiliar with. I have locational deficit disorder outside my own house anyway.

Our little hotel, at the foot of the famous Hotel Frontenac, was very comfortable and came with a free, though expensive, breakfast. Due to bad weather in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 4, we had to push back the trip to the next day, so we got to pay for an extra night at the hotel too. An extra bonus in the always unpredictable realm of travel. But we enjoyed the architecture of the old city, the flowers, the history, and, of course, the food. And it was our first post-retirement trip. Priceless.