On Friday 10 Sept we drove down to Shefford, Quebec, in the Eastern Townships between Montreal and Sherbrooke where my old friend Clem stays and slept over with him for the night. He is a gracious host and was only too happy to have us use his home and hospitality as a staging post at each end of our holiday - Friday 10th and Saturday 18th.
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| Evening view from Clem's front yard |
On Saturday 11th we drove up to Saint-Ferréol-Les-Neiges which is NE of Quebec City along the St Lawrence River. More of that in forthcoming posts. Suffice to say we had problems getting through Quebec City because I missed a turnoff and then could not take the route that Samantha wanted me to take because of construction. (Samantha is the patient lady who gives me directions on my GPS.)
A week later, on Saturday 18th, we took the trip back to Clem in Shefford. This time Quebec City itself was no problem. The curved ball came from construction on the highway when a detour forced us onto the north-bound lanes and prevented us from taking our off ramp - and the next three off ramps. Samantha took us through back roads and little villages where the locals had never seen English speakers before. We had lunch in a little place called St Christine. Ingrid and I practised how we were going to ask for an egg sandwich. It all turned out better than we feared because they had a menu and we could point to what we wanted. It turns out that Clem's mother came from that place.
A week later, on Saturday 18th, we took the trip back to Clem in Shefford. This time Quebec City itself was no problem. The curved ball came from construction on the highway when a detour forced us onto the north-bound lanes and prevented us from taking our off ramp - and the next three off ramps. Samantha took us through back roads and little villages where the locals had never seen English speakers before. We had lunch in a little place called St Christine. Ingrid and I practised how we were going to ask for an egg sandwich. It all turned out better than we feared because they had a menu and we could point to what we wanted. It turns out that Clem's mother came from that place.
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| Clem's place. Definitely Québécois |
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| Line dance - Weekly dance for seniors |
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| Le musée du chocolat - Terry, Clem, Ingrid |
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| Breakfast at Le musée du chocolat |
Sunday morning after mass we had breakfast in the chocolate museum across the road from the church.
I will tell you about the intervening week in future posts.
I will tell you about the intervening week in future posts.
