Le champion du Canada

Québec City, like Winnipeg, was very cold but who are we kidding? This is Canada in January. Québec City was rad. My activities did not find me straying very far from le Vieux-Québec where le Carnaval d'hiver, which started the day before, was in full swing. Shortly before heading out of town, a pair of co-ed drunk punx (yes, that's "punks" with an "x") spilled out of le Vieux-Québec's fortifications and onto an outdoor skating rink. They were both very certain in the way they mocked the whole Carnaval but as I stood there, thinking to myself that I may have almost certainly become one of them had my life been only slightly different, I realized how similar this urban societal class is to les Habitants of a Québec that once was. And I'm talking everything fashion (rags), language (barely even French), philosophy (non-conformist, anti-establishment), etc... It all makes sense now. If this were 150 years ago, Montreal's crusty-punk population wouldn't be roaming the streets looking for trouble or dirty windshields to clean, they'd be among those we now call les coureurs des bois - living outside/above/below "civilization", operating within different modes, different economies, different lifestyles, etc... Paradoxically though, still participating in the system they oppose.

Maybe I'll put more thought into this and change my mind, but those are some initial thoughts on the matter.

Le Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec was very pleasant and surprisingly large. A great exhibit of work by Fernando Botero (if you aren't familiar, among other things, picture non-realistic beautiful albeit morbidly obese naked women with amazing skin) and a permanent exhibit of work by Jean-Paul Riopelle. There was also a great exhibit of Inuit art, but I was very hungry by then.

Getting to Québec City is fairly easy and if you decide to stay within Vieux-Québec, you can pretty much see everything on foot. For various reasons though, I ended up being basically forced to pay $65 in cabs. How I longed for the cheap public transit found in Winnipeg, but I digress.

Ici mourut Wolfe / Here died Wolfe

Tobogan sur la terrasse

Boulet de canon sur la rue Saint Louis

Fortification

Saint Vincent de Paul

Some more photos from my day in Québec are on my Flickr.