Quebec City

Quebec City is beautiful, clean, charming, friendly, quiet and very cold! Yesterday it was 16 below, but we walked around the city for about three hours anyway. (there's a 97 degree difference between here and Malibu!) We are having so much fun. John Thacker, our dear friend is taking very good care of us here at the Loew's Hotel. We are so grateful and appreciative because this is just the perfect place to decompress. The city is decorated for it's 400th Year Anniversary, in addition to all the Winterfest Carnival activities. We have never laughed so much in our lives. We love watching all the adorable little kids bundled up like Randy from A Christmas Story being pulled around town in sleds - usually lying down because they can't even move. The Winterfest park is really cool, filled with so many ice sculptures (in fact the sculptures are everywhere around the whole city). We had two incredibly fun sled rides, one on an old fashioned toboggon down a luge style chute (crazy fun). The other ride was in the Winterfest Park where they put you in a round raft and send you flying and twirling down a massive hill. We laughed so hard. Then, we were so freezing, we went and sat inside the heated area while Matt went and bought us a local treat called a Beaver Tail, one of the most delicious concoctions we've ever tasted. It was a warm, crispy pastry topped with melted hazelnut chocolate, and of course, shaped like a beaver tail! (all I can say is thank goodness the Beaver Tail wasn't what Matt orginally thought it would be, which was a maple snowcone! I don't think any of us would have enjoyed that nearly as much!) We took the ferry across the river, rode the Finnicular, walked through Bon Homme's palace (he's the Winterfest icon), and we had a very traditional, yummy fondue dinner at this local restaurant that we've been trying to get since we were in Paris four years ago. We've been sleeping in, working out, walking everywhere, talking with the locals, reading, doing school work, playing ping-pong and fooseballs and generally enjoying ourselves. We are very content to just do what comes naturally, even if it means we are missing something we should be seeing. We have so much ahead of us and we are mindful about pacing ourselves. So far, so good. Tomorrow we take a three hour train ride to Montreal where we catch a plane to London, then another to Dublin. We can't wait. We have only just begun and we are all anxious and excited about what's next. Oh, by the way, we decided to re-name Flat Stanley. We're calling him Flat Laird because he's wearing board shorts, carrying a surfboard and has a BU tee-shirt on. Since Laird Hamilton is not only an amazing surfer, but a local Malibuite, we thought Flat Laird was appropriate! He's in at least three photos below!
See you in Dublin!
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Love - Lisa, Matt, Alex and Madeline