Carnadian Adventures: Fun on the Funiculaire

The past two days have been low key for me (and Anna, since we do everything together!), but they have passed surprisingly quickly. Montreal was a whirlwind, so we have enjoyed our two days back in Quebec City!

Class has been going well, since I know you are all so curious about that aspect of this trip. Monday was a long day because Friday’s class was short due to our test. The room where we have class every day is also the breakfast nook, and it does not have air conditioning. That wouldn’t be so bad, except we keep the door closed so there’s no ventilation. Not a fan.

No pun intended.

Anyway, today I had to teach a lesson. I taught the class about “les pronoms complements,” aka pronouns for direct and indirect objects. It is interesting to study these grammar concepts in French because we take them for granted in English. I think my teaching went well, but I admit I was nervous to talk in French in front of the class. In a hot room with no ventilation.

After lunch on fait du shopping! In English… we went shopping! Anna, Holly, and I tore up H&M and Old Navy today. Yes, yes, we have those stores in America. But who can pass up $5 dresses and $8 shoes?? That’s what I thought.

I have also done well with souvenir shopping. So well, in fact, that I will probably come back flat broke. C’est la vie.

Tonight we had our small group dinner with Drew, our professor. Anna, Katie, and I went to L’Echaude in la basse ville. Ohmygoodness. It was so good. So SO good. I would have taken pictures, but we didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves. I got lobster risotto as an appetizer and a chicken dish as my entrée, and a cherry/maple cake with crème and raspberries/blueberries.

I know, I know, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. And the good part about the whole deal is that we had to walk up a huge hill to get back to the hotel, so I burned off ~~one~~ a few of the calories I ate!

I skipped yesterday – we shopped around the part of the city near our hotel. Mostly touristy stuff, but we did see some cute things! We ate at “Le Cochon Dinge” – “The Crazy Pig.” It is a Quebecois restaurant that specializes in – you guessed it – pork! They serve barbeque, but we each got a croque-madame with pesto chicken and goat cheese. And it came with fries and coleslaw. I’ll have seconds, please!!

They eat mayonnaise with their fries here. The coleslaw was wonderful!

Perhaps the most exciting part of our day yesterday was the funiculaire. What is a funiculaire? Why, I am glad you asked. It is basically an elevator. In English it means "incline railway." This city is probably more hilly than freakin San Francisco, and to get from la basse ville to our hotel you have to climb a HUGE hill. So, Anna and I paid $2 to ride the elevator type thing up to the top of the hill and it was amazing. Not necessarily because it was like an elevator, but because it took us straight to the top of the hill without having to put forth any effort. That’s my kind of funiculaire.

Don’t worry, we took lots of pictures. We will ride it again ~~probably every day~~.