When I arrived in Quebec City it was late afternoon, dark and windy – very windy indeed.
Leaving the bus station I was almost blown away and not very amused that I was completely lost and walked all around the bus / train station. I was even less amused when I finally found the right street, followed it and noticed after a while that there was a different name on the sign, so back again and double-check but it really was the correct street. In the end the hostel was only a 10 minute walk from the bus station but it took me about 20 minutes to get there.
And imagine my delight when I opened the door and saw…..stairs: many, steep and narrow S-T-A-I-R-S….oh yes. That was my reception in Quebec City.
That the hostel manager was a weird guy who told me the next morning that he had cleaned my pot (which I had forgotten to wash up) was just completing the picture. I think, he expected life-long gratitude…but got only a uncomprehending head-shake.
On the next morning it was still raining but…hey…you are in Québec, so get out and pay the prettiest city in Canada your respect. Which I did for the following…hmmm…..four hours or so.
My résumé after my thorough exploration of the city is as follows:
Québec city was
- grey (yes, that was just the weather but it’s still a great influence on your first impression, right??),
- old (so old and nice that I got homesick for the first time in a long time),
- people are very well dressed (I felt even worse in my hiking boots and tourist rain jacket outfit),
- lots of tourists (there were three cruising ships present, one of them being the German club ship Aida)
- and expensive (no surprise there).
So, after being cold and depressed most of the morning I headed “home”, spent the afternoon in front of my laptop, went to bed early and left the city on the very next morning.
Yes, this is kind of sad but I promise I come back when Quebec City and I ,both, are in a better state 😉
Some pictures of this beautiful city, nevertheless:
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