Drawing Tutorial

How to draw an elephant

By Amanda 

https://youtu.be/KvYst7skXTU

Movie making

The kids were at it again last night.

They wrote out a Halloween skit, and set it all up on their own.

Amanda then edited the video, adding sound effects and music. I am impressed with how quickly she learned how to use the editing software, Filmora.

From start to finish, their video was complete in just over an hour.

Today they are back at it again...

Here is their Halloween Special:

https://youtu.be/EJN2RrqmU4g

Videos of Quebec City

Here are some videos I took while in Quebec City.

These give a much better idea of the real atmosphere there.

Bell service at Anglican Church

Chateau Frontenac, the Boardwalk and street musician

Ferry to Levis

And in case I forgot anything, here is a more professional description of the city.
This video is fantastic!! It covers everything we saw...

Old Quebec City

Anniversary trip to Quebec City

Here is a recap of our anniversary trip, as I am remembering it a week later. Many of my photos are duplicates, as I was using a camera, phone and iPad at various points in the trip. I also have some videos that I may put together as a montage later on.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Dave suggested we take a trip to Quebec City for our 12th anniversary. I was game!

We had been to Montreal as a family about 6 years ago, and loved it. But we had heard that Quebec City is even better, like being in Europe. It was also in the top 10 of most romantic cities in North America.

Originally we had planned to fly there, but after realizing it was only a 6 1/2 hour drive, we decided to take a good old road trip.

We left home at 5 am, hit up our local Starbucks, and began driving north.

Once we were through Boston, we had the whole road to ourselves. 

The further north we got, the better the foliage looked.

In New Hampshire, we spotted two black bears. One ran in front of our car and the other stayed off to the side near the woods.

I had brought tons of CD's to listen to, but we ended up listening to podcasts the entire time! Both to and from our destination.  

This American Life, Radio Lab, The Moth... We love them all.

Once into Canada, we stopped at a McDonald's and had a chuckle at the menu. 

Their hot cakes were called crépes. Their McGriddles were called McCrépes. 

They also had healthy looking McBLT wraps and BLT McMuffins, which Dave ordered. 

The cashier spoke NO English. We were surprised that someone could live so close to the US border and not speak English.

Here we are, crossing the St. Lawrence River, into Quebec City.

We arrived at our hotel, Auberge let Vincent, at noon. The hotel, situated in Old Quebec, was described as industrial chic, and had a Vincent Van Gogh theme.

The friendly concierge gave us a map and some suggestions of where to explore. He took our luggage up to the room, and we set out to explore the city on foot.

 It also had a beautiful view of the neighborhood. Dave did an excellent job of choosing this hotel.

Once we got some Canadian money, we began searching for a place to eat. We decided on Poutineville. 

As the name suggests, poutine was their specialty. If you couldn't find something on their lengthy poutine menu, you could special order it with just about any topping you can think of. 

I was a bit nervous about being in a city that spoke French, especially with my food allergies. I was relieved to learn that the waiters also spoke English. 

Dave went for the house special poutine; I opted for the steak sandwich. 

As we waited for our food, we studied the map and established a plan.

I sure wish I could have eaten the poutine.

We learned that on Friday nights, they have 80s and 90s music videos projected on a big concrete wall. We kept that idea in mind for later and set out to explore the city. 

So much to see!!

So many talented street musicians.. 

We made our way to the Citadel complex. Here is the wall around the city. 

Quebec City is the only city in North America that has a fortified wall around it.

Cannons everywhere in the city.. 

Rifle stations in the wall

Arts Conservatory

We walked...and walked...and walked. 

I had no idea how hilly the city was! So many staircases to climb. It felt like we were in San Francisco.

In this shot, you can see the mountains in the background. 

Cobblestone streets

 Chateau Frontenc

 Double decker tour buses

 So many historic statues

 Cruise ships

 St. Lawrence River

Parliament building

St. Louis Gate 

That night, we went back to Poutineville....for MORE poutine and some nostalgic music videos. 

It was a fun time and we slept very, very well that night. My FitBit showed that we had walked over 20,000 steps in just half a day.

***************

On Saturday, we got up early in search of coffee.....and more walking.

What struck me is how well maintained everything is in the city. People really take great care in their properties, store fronts, apartments, etc.

And the streets? Immaculate.

That morning, the streets were all wet as if it had rained. We realized that street cleaners come through every day at the crack of dawn.

We stopped at Baguette & Chocolate for coffee.

An Americano? Yes, please!

This was taken from the top of the 4 flight staircase that we climbed a million times every day.

Notre Dame Basilica

Chateau Frontenac

This was taken outside the Bureau of Tourism, another example of an outstanding street musician. 

We decided to sign up a two hour walking tour of the city, so we could learn more about all of the things we had seen the day before.We were in luck, as there was an English speaking tour beginning shortly.

Waiting for the tour to begin..

The tour was an excellent decision. We learned so much that after just ten minutes, we agreed that we had already gotten our money's worth! 

We learned about the history of Quebec City, about the 7 Year War between the French and the British, about the differences between the Catholic and Anglican churches, and how to distinguish the Bristish buildings from the French buildings.

I only wish I could remember the names of everything I took pictures of...

Basilica

French Quarter: canoes hanging over the streets

Restaurant

Funicular

More stairs..

Funicular

Graffiti everywhere...but it's very artistic.

We were astonished when our tour guide mentioned the tides on the St. Lawrence River. We had no idea the tide went that far inland. That played a big role in the ships coming in and out, especially during war time.

Cruise ships anchored

Chateau Frontenac: a 640 room hotel

Under the boardwalk pictured above, there are archeological remains of a castle built in the 1600's. We decided to explore those the next day.

More cannons..

Lots of statues

Chateau Fontenac

After a long day of walking, we finally decided to stop for a bite to eat. 

We ended up at an Irish pub called Nelligan's. 

They only had a small menu, so I took a chance and ordered the curry tofu panini for us to split.

It was so delicious and by the next morning, I joked that we may have to go back for another one. (Dave wasn't as thrilled with the panini as I was, but he humored me and we went back the following night. For the record, the panini wasn't as good the second time around.)

We found a Metro grocery store, and bought a few snacks. It was fun to see the different products that we don't have in the U.S.

We bought a few bags of the poutine flavored chips, as well as Dave's favorite ketchup chips.

During one of our other trips to Canada, we kept seeing pogo on the kids menu. I took this picture for the kids. 

Lobsters were $14.49/lb! When on sale, we can get them for $5.99/lb. 

This is one of the smartest things I've seen: a self serve wine tasting station. For about a dollar, you can test a 1.5 oz sample of wine before yo buy it. We didn't try it out but I thought it was nifty.

Walking around on Saturday night 

The giant staircase....again

Side street near our hotel 

***************

On Sunday morning, we again got up early in search of coffee. We had planned to hear the bell service at the Anglican Church, tour the St. Louis Chateau castle ruins, take a ferry ride over to Lévis, explore the Plains of Abraham and do some shopping. 

We killed time shopping while we waited for the bell service to begin. As it turned out, the bells were not very impressive. There were supposed to be eight bells, each one being run by a different person. We only heard three bells, playing a repetitive broken chord sequence. Oh well. At least we had time to purchase some souvenirs to take home.

Next stop, the Chateau Museum...

The castle was built by the French in 1626. 

The British took it over and renovated it. It was interesting to learn that the sandstone parts was the original building material, whereas the red bricks were used by the British.

There were so many neat artifacts, over 500,000, that were found. 

It must have been really difficult to piece these things back together, especially when many pieces are still missing. It's like doing a jigsaw puzzle without having cover to look at for reference. 

Toothbrushes made out of wood and the stiff hair from wild boars

The original castle walls 

The original castle floor 

One of the storage pantries.mthe dividers were built after the British took over the castle.

The French Governers 

The British Governers 

Cannons 

An old map: Notice how Lake Michigan is called Lac des Ilinois

Map of New France 

In the winter, there is a giant slide on the Boardwalk, built in 1884. Sledders can reach 35 mph!

After we had finished touring the museum, we had lunch at a fantastic Italian restaurant. I had one of the best salads of my life. There were so many different kinds of vegetables in it, some of which were unknown to me.

After lunch, we purchased ferry tickets for the short ride across the St. Lawrence River. Our tour guide had given us the tip to do this so we could get the best view of Quebec City. As we boarded the ferry, the clouds began to roll in.

Cruise ship 

After returning on the ferry, we took a different route home.

Before we knew it, it was time to start heading back to hotel to get ready for our dinner reservation. Unfortunately there was not time to explore the Plains of Abraham, but that gives us a reason to come back to Quebec City.

We did walk through the area and took a different route home. It was nice to see a different part of the city.

Another view of the wall 

I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at these beautiful buildings and architecture. 

Plains of Abraham

The restaurant

This is the restaurant we would be having dinner at, called Ciél. It is on the 22nd floor of a hotel and promises spectacular views of the city.

Graffiti in our neighborhood 

We quickly got ready for dinner, and treated ourselves to a cab. It had begun to sprinkle on our way home, and neither of us wanted to make the 20 minute walk wearing nice clothes. It was a good splurge.

In the lobby of the hotel, I noticed this machine, yet another nifty idea.

It was a phone charging station. Each slot had four types of phone charges, and for $10 you could get a 15 minute charge. 

The restaurant was gorgeous. As we stepped out of the elevator, this was our view.

So fancy, a relaxing atmosphere, good food, and unbeatable company.

Dave was disappointed that the one night we planned to see great scenery was the one night it rained. But it was still a very, very nice treat. The restaurant rotated so we saw a 360* view of the city, and also watched the sun set.

The purple lights are the restaurant we were at. 

A rainy night

**********************

We checked out of the hotel the next morning, and began our long journey back home. 

The foliage seemed so much further along on the ride back to Massachusetts.

After eight hours on the road, we finally hit Boston.

What a wonderful trip! We can't wait to go back again.

In the meantime, we'll be working on our French.

To Dad and Reda, thank you so much for watching the kids while we were away. We are so very grateful to you for allowing us to have the vacation of a lifetime.