Quebec

Up at a reasonable hour for a change, restrained ourselves at breakfast as we have lunch and dinner on todays schedule.  Still raining so happy to sit on bus for the day.

Stopped at the Sugar Shack for an early lunch.Sugar Shacks are what they call the maple farms and processing plants.  Had an interesting 'authentic' canadian lunch of pea soup with bacon rinds,  maple cured ham, baked beans, chips, beetroot,omelete, meatpie followed by pancakes with maple syrup and taffy.  A bit overwhelming really but they had entertainment in the form of a woman singing and we all played the spoons or the canadian equivalent which look like wooden tongs and make a fabulous noise, Alan had a great time with them and now new granddaughter has her very own noise makers.

On the road again and we stopped at a river at Saint Anne de la Perade which freezes in winter (as does everything in east Canada) and they do ice fishing.  Fascinating process as they dig a hole thru 1mtr of ice, move a little timber shed onto the ice over the hole and fish in comfort.  The sheds have a floor, a wood heater and all the comforts of home.  The ultimate winter man shed!  This particular river has become so popular that 13,000 people came last winter and they now run electricity to the sheds and have toilets so it becomes I little village on the ice.  Before the thaw all the sheds are towed back home for the summer.

Weather absolutely foul. Picked up a local guide for Quebec (pronounced with the K sound not Qu)
and after the first time of trouping us off the bus to look at some statue and view that could not be seen thru the sleet, realised it was better to just point things out from the bus as we were frozen solid.  Amazingly temps her are -35 to -40 in winter and up to 38 in summer.  Just about every house has a pool, suppose they use it as an icerink in the winter. 

Had dinner in the Chateau Fontenac  (our hotel)(second photo), it was a buffet but the lamb and beef just melted in your mouth.  The chef kindly gave me all the cruchy bits so I was in 7th heaven.  Finally got some decent red meat.

Only 5 degrees today and rain stopped but the wind is unbelievably cold.  Went for a walk this morning and 1/2 hr was all I could stand even all rugged up.  Alan's cold has returned with a vengence and he has wisely decided to stay in bed all day.

I braved the cold again to go on our scheduled cruise on the /St Lawrence seaway - expecting to get very seasick as the wind was whipping up huge waves.  Thankfully the boat was very stable but the view not that good due to overcast conditions and spray.  I wasn't dedicated enough with the camera to venture outside.  Now back in the room and think I may do a bit of reading and hopefully the weather will clear a bit later to today and I can go find somewhere for dinner.