Walking, freezing and BONHOMME!

11.02.2008

Today was a day for walking. We went on two walking tours, one in Basse-Ville, and another one in Haute-Ville. They were all really good ones in the Frommer's Montreal and Quebec guidebook. We walked over here, read some stuff about history and old buildings, then walked over there, to the old port and had a coffee and cake at a small bistro called Cafe de Saint-Malo on rue St. Paul.

It was so far, the only palatable coffee I have had in this god-forsaken city. Everywhere I go, what they call "cafe" tastes like charcoal. Honestly, charcoal and dirty socks. This time, it was almost as good as you know, McDonald's or something.

Then we went up the "funiculaire" (a little glass elevator thingy) to haute-ville and walked around, looked at more old buildings and climbed up to the citadelle. Awesome. After we had thoroughly frozen our legs and faces, we went back to the hotel, had some pizza, ravioli and more caribou and then thawed out in the sauna. I don't know what I would've done without it! (The sauna, not the caribou)

By this time, it was 5:30 p.m. and I could not contain my excitement at being THIS CLOSE to actually meeting Bonhomme, that eternally smiling character I had only briefly glimpsed in my grade 3 "Let's Learn French" text book at age nine and decided that if only one day, JUST FOR ONE DAY, I could go to Quebec City and play in the snow at Carnaval with Bonhomme, my life would be complete. Finally, my childhood dream would come true. Little did I know that it would require me to lose all feeling in my extremities before this dream was to be realized.

OK so I went to the skating rink and SKATED WITH BONHOMME. It was everything I hoped it to be, and more. I gave him a big hug and he said, "BIENVENUE A CARNAVAL" in that sexy, robotic, snowman voice.

And then I skated away and went out for crepes, my lifelong dream finally fulfilled.

Goodnight!

Chateau Frontenac