Day Two: Celebrating 400 Years of Quebec!

The Soap Box Races and the Musee de l'Amerique Francaise
We began the day on foot today! How nice to emerge from The Delta hotel into a sparkly Saturday sunlight and the celebrating crowds of Quebecois and tourists. Our hotel is just blocks away from the fortified part of the city where the Carnival is held, and on our way we stopped to watch the Soap Box races. Although the build up to the race was exciting, after the two boys rolled down the hill in their fancy home-made cars, we were ready to head on up to the first major stop of the day: the Musee de l'Amerique Francaise. This museum chronicles the growing relationship between the French and the Americans, and a high point was a fifteen minute movie of this history narrated by a musician-storyteller. I'd never before thought about why the British might have wanted to invade Canada (one reason: in the United States, their expansion was impeded by the Appalachian mountains, but in Canada the land stretched continuously westward) or about how many of the explorer men here got their wives back in 1600s (they were women brought over from French orphanages). It's so much fun for me to learn along side the kids, since this is a history I know little about! --Ms. Wegner

Gabe's Report on the Citadel
Today our class visited the citadel. The citadel is a star-shaped fortification that was built by the English after they took the city from the French. In person it is a very stunning structure, its walls reaching nearly 40 feet high. Our guide was fantastic, and gave us stories and personal references that taught us a lot of stuff that we could not have learned otherwise. After seeing the armories and inner structures, we walked along the ridge of the walls. From there we could see the huge Chateau Frontenac (see picture below), the city, and the icy St, Lawrence river. The very personal guide and the amazing scenery made for a great tour.

From Quebec 2008

Jack's Blow-by-Blow of the Snowball Fight
Today we had a huge snowball fight at the plains of Abraham (which is a plateau that the French and English fought on for the fate of new France). We all had lots of fun and re-enacted the battle on the plains of Abraham. There were lots of funny parts of the battle when the kids would hit the teachers (mostly Mr. Tanaka and M. Vincent) and then they would fight back. We would also get lots of snow down our shirt, and we would all be screaming, but Ms. Wegner got it out for us. When we finished the battle, we had tire (pronounced "tier"), which is a maple syrup substance that you put on a stick and eat. After the battle, we got to go back to the hotel and have chill time, yea!!!!! Here's an action shot of Charlie throwing a snow ball:

From Quebec 2008

Elise on Our Evening Chez Hermosilla
This evening we took a public bus that was PACKED with people. There was no one sitting on a isle seat who didn't have some stranger hovering over you. Since it is the 400th anniversery of Quebec this year (yay!), today was a party in the city! Many adults would sing on the bus really loud... our class didn't understand. It was complicated French. Finally, we got to Vincent Hermosilla's childhood home in the suburbs of Quebec. These parents are some of the nicest people I've ever met. Vincent doesn't even work at Saklan anymore, and they still let us in his home. They served us some yummy pasta and these amazing "little syrup cakes." The family has spoiled us so much. After dinner we went down the street to the night parade. The class all sat on huge snow banks and played in it while we were watching the parade. The people in the parade were so happy and energetic. Now that we're back to the Hermosillas, we have just started epilogue in the family's home, warm and comfy. (Note from Ms. Wegner: In epilogue we sit in a circle in the dark and share a reflection of the day; today we are sharing "thank you"s to each other and also remembering "quotes of the day.") Here we are at epilogue before the lights are turned off:

From Quebec 2008

Stephanie' s Food Report
Today we ate really good food. Because we didn't have enough time to go to Mike's pizza (we were scared we'd be late to the citadel, which runs on military time and doesn't like late comers), we had a choice between Chez Ashton and McDonalds. Most of us chose McDonald's. Then later on we had tire (pronunced "tier"), which is maple syrup on a stick. It was delicious. For dinner we went to M. Vincent's parent's house. We had chicken broth, fruit salad, spaghetti and "little cakes" (cup cakes covered in maple syrup and cream. Yum!). After we watched the parade, they gave us cookies and hot cocoa. They were so nice!

Alex's Weather Report
Today's weather was about 28 degrees Fahrenheit and very sunny. The snow was just perfect for making snowballs! As night approached, it got steadily colder. Luckily none of us have frozen... yet.

Kevin's Random Noticings
During our walk to the citadel, I saw people on the roof of a building swinging huge hammers at the roof that they were standing on. At first it looked like they were trying to bring the building down, but they were actually breaking the ice off of the roof! They were using big sledgehammers like things people use to clean the roof. It was awesome!

Stay Tuned Tomorrow For Reports By:
Charlie, Michael L., Jessica, and Grant