Back Home Again!
We arrived back home from Quebec City early Saturday morning (and I mean early - our plane left at 6:30 a.m.), and our daughter picked us up at the airport which was nice. To be perfectly honest I spent much of Saturday on bed, I was so exhausted from the trip. I loved Quebec City, but it was exhausting. We stayed for three nights at the Fairmont's Chateau Frontenac and were thrilled with our choice. On arrival, we were told we had been given a free upgrade on our room, which was a nice surprise. The Chateau was centrally located and we could walk everywhere we wanted to go. The old part of the city is divided into Upper Town and Lower Town, with the two being connected by the Funiculaire (a sort of outdoor glass elevator). Turns out the Funiculaire was just out the back door of our hotel, which was great. We had breakfast at a wonderful restaurant that was housed in a building that was built in 1640 and was a marvellous combination of old and new together with great food. The first day we wandered down Le Petit Champlain, fallling in love with the shops and the narrow cobblestoned streets, moving on to the rest of Lower Town. We explored old churches and market squares and were completely thrilled. The second day we explored Upper Town, including Notre Dame Cathedral (it was lovely, but Montreal's Notre Dame was better). That night, hubby decided he wanted to go for a walk along the promenade that begins at the back of the Chateau and follows the line of the cliff in order to take pictures. I know my hubby; when he gets caught up in his photography the rest of the world fades away. Normally this is fine, but I didn't think it was such a good thing when he was going to be out at night in a strange city, so I tagged along. We both thought the walkway would eventually lead us to the top of the wall surrounding the old Fort, which is supposed to be gorgeous at sunset. So, I hauled myself up 550 steps (I counted them on the way back down) and countless yards of walkway, only to come out at. . . nothing. Seriously, we were in a small parking area OUTSIDE the Fort's walls with no way in. So basically, the walk was a waste because there weren't even any good places to take pictures. I kept telling myself "the exercise is good for you".
On day three we went back to Lower Town for the morning, then returned to the Chateau, packed up and moved to the Hilton, which is outside the walls of Old Quebec, but right across the street from the Parliament Buildings (Quebec City is the capital of the Province of Quebec). We opted to go up to the top of the hotel to the restaurant there for there buffet lunch, which was fabulous in so many ways. The food was fantastic, as were the views from the floor-to-ceilling windows. We decided within minutes that we were coming back the next day. In the afternoon, we walked across to the Parliament buildings which were really fascinating. There are a large number of statutes there and I discovered that my ability to read French was actually pretty good. The door was locked, which was disappointing, but we decided to try again the next day. Hubby went off and bought the three of us some takeout for dinner which we ate in our room, as we were all pretty tired by that point.
Day four we headed back up to Floor 23 for our free continental breakfast, which turned out to be much more than I expected. Hot and cold cereals, fruit, yogurt, pastries, breads, eggs, juices, teas and coffees. Definitely enough to fill you up. Then my mother-in-law decided to go back the room while hubby and I headed back to the Parliament Buildings. This time I figured out which door we were supposed to go in (why they have the front door as the exit door is beyond me). There was a lot of security to go through, but eventually we were issued Visitor passes and allowed in. Unfortunately, there wasn't going to be any tours until late afternoon, and the areas where we could wander were extremely limited. I'm a bit of a political science buff so this was a letdown. By the time we left it had started to rain, so we wound up taking a free shuttle to a shopping mall, where we all split up and spend a couple of hours enjoying ourselves. It was nice, because the shops (for the most part) were different than the ones at home, and I picked up two tops and some jewelry at bargain prices. Back at the hotel we decided to head back up to the top for hors d'oeuvres which turned out to be enough for dinner. I think I forgot to mention that because we were staying in an Executive Class room, breakfast and the hors d'oeuvres were free). The view of the city at night was magical - everything all lit up. Afterwards, we went back to our room to pack for our early flight the next day.
So, we all decided that we want to go back, which is a good sign. My body is pretty much ready to mutiny. The beds were hard for me to sleep in, and all the walking (and let's not forget those 550 steps) made for pain in my back, shoulders, knee, calves and feet. This is why I spent most of Saturday in bed. LOL. It was worth it though.
The cats - well, they did what cats do best - they were glad we were home but weren't about to admit it. The first night back Little D made a point of sleeping elsewhere, just to show that she wasn't too impressed with me. She was back the next day though (because I keep the treats in my room). The kids had taken out the garbage and done the dishes and kept the house in good shape, so that was good too.
Tomorrow, I had to check on my appointments. I have a sick feeling that my endoscopy and colonoscopy are scheduled for the same day as my daughter's GRE test. Not good. I'll reschedule. My daughter is already fairly stressed about this test and I don't want to throw a monkey wrench in things by asking her to book her test for a different day. I'm quickly becoming immersed in the process of grad school applications. It's not a simple process; there's letters of recommendation from professors, letters of intent (from the applicant), studying for the GRE, researching graduation schools and the professors at each one, and more. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my daughter gets into a school that she wants. She told me she was disappointed that she couldn't apply to one of the "big name" universities like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc., but none of them have her program. It's not that she had her heart set on going to one of these places, she just thought it would be fun to apply. My heart nearly stopped as I imagined what the tuition fees at those places would have been like. One school has already said to expect to pay $67,000 a year for graduate school. I don't know how they get their numbers, but I ran them and get nowhere near that figure. Are they figuring you'll be renting a room at the Ritz for the year? I know that tuition is $20,000 a year, but it shouldn't cost an addition $47,000 a year for living expenses! God, I'll be glad when this application process is over. Too much stress.
Well, it's 2:40 a.m. so I really should head off and try and get some sleep.
On day three we went back to Lower Town for the morning, then returned to the Chateau, packed up and moved to the Hilton, which is outside the walls of Old Quebec, but right across the street from the Parliament Buildings (Quebec City is the capital of the Province of Quebec). We opted to go up to the top of the hotel to the restaurant there for there buffet lunch, which was fabulous in so many ways. The food was fantastic, as were the views from the floor-to-ceilling windows. We decided within minutes that we were coming back the next day. In the afternoon, we walked across to the Parliament buildings which were really fascinating. There are a large number of statutes there and I discovered that my ability to read French was actually pretty good. The door was locked, which was disappointing, but we decided to try again the next day. Hubby went off and bought the three of us some takeout for dinner which we ate in our room, as we were all pretty tired by that point.
Day four we headed back up to Floor 23 for our free continental breakfast, which turned out to be much more than I expected. Hot and cold cereals, fruit, yogurt, pastries, breads, eggs, juices, teas and coffees. Definitely enough to fill you up. Then my mother-in-law decided to go back the room while hubby and I headed back to the Parliament Buildings. This time I figured out which door we were supposed to go in (why they have the front door as the exit door is beyond me). There was a lot of security to go through, but eventually we were issued Visitor passes and allowed in. Unfortunately, there wasn't going to be any tours until late afternoon, and the areas where we could wander were extremely limited. I'm a bit of a political science buff so this was a letdown. By the time we left it had started to rain, so we wound up taking a free shuttle to a shopping mall, where we all split up and spend a couple of hours enjoying ourselves. It was nice, because the shops (for the most part) were different than the ones at home, and I picked up two tops and some jewelry at bargain prices. Back at the hotel we decided to head back up to the top for hors d'oeuvres which turned out to be enough for dinner. I think I forgot to mention that because we were staying in an Executive Class room, breakfast and the hors d'oeuvres were free). The view of the city at night was magical - everything all lit up. Afterwards, we went back to our room to pack for our early flight the next day.
So, we all decided that we want to go back, which is a good sign. My body is pretty much ready to mutiny. The beds were hard for me to sleep in, and all the walking (and let's not forget those 550 steps) made for pain in my back, shoulders, knee, calves and feet. This is why I spent most of Saturday in bed. LOL. It was worth it though.
The cats - well, they did what cats do best - they were glad we were home but weren't about to admit it. The first night back Little D made a point of sleeping elsewhere, just to show that she wasn't too impressed with me. She was back the next day though (because I keep the treats in my room). The kids had taken out the garbage and done the dishes and kept the house in good shape, so that was good too.
Tomorrow, I had to check on my appointments. I have a sick feeling that my endoscopy and colonoscopy are scheduled for the same day as my daughter's GRE test. Not good. I'll reschedule. My daughter is already fairly stressed about this test and I don't want to throw a monkey wrench in things by asking her to book her test for a different day. I'm quickly becoming immersed in the process of grad school applications. It's not a simple process; there's letters of recommendation from professors, letters of intent (from the applicant), studying for the GRE, researching graduation schools and the professors at each one, and more. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my daughter gets into a school that she wants. She told me she was disappointed that she couldn't apply to one of the "big name" universities like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc., but none of them have her program. It's not that she had her heart set on going to one of these places, she just thought it would be fun to apply. My heart nearly stopped as I imagined what the tuition fees at those places would have been like. One school has already said to expect to pay $67,000 a year for graduate school. I don't know how they get their numbers, but I ran them and get nowhere near that figure. Are they figuring you'll be renting a room at the Ritz for the year? I know that tuition is $20,000 a year, but it shouldn't cost an addition $47,000 a year for living expenses! God, I'll be glad when this application process is over. Too much stress.
Well, it's 2:40 a.m. so I really should head off and try and get some sleep.