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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Quebec City and A Louise Penny Tour

My son and I visited Quebec City this past weekend with our weekend ending with a very informative Louise Penny Tour featuring her book, BURY YOUR DEAD.


What a beautiful city and what lovely people.  French is the main language spoken, but if you do not speak French, no worries.  Everyone begins speaking to you in French, but when they realize you do not speak their native language, they immediately begin speaking to you in perfect, fluent English.

Quebec City is very quaint, and you will think you are in Europe.


We stayed in a beautiful hotel, Le Chateau Frontenac, and the second day we were there the weather cooperated with a balmy 60 degrees.  There were still remnants of snow on most streets, though.  They had gotten 11 feet of snow over the course of the past winter.


Here is a view from our hotel room. The St. Lawrence River is in the foreground with the melting ice moving at a rapid pace.  The ice is something tourists come to see.


We also attended Sunday mass at Notre Dame de Quebec which was a bit of a challenge since it was in French.  :)

Moving on to the Louis Penny tour.  We had a fantastic tour guide named Francois who spoke PERFECT English even though his native language as all of Quebec City is French.

He was an excellent guide and took us on a tour to the different places in Louise Penny's book, BURY YOUR DEAD.  Francois gave us very informative background facts about the city as well as Louise Penny and showed us all the places she used in the city for scenes in her book.  She actually lived in Quebec City for a few months to do her research.

The best part of the tour was the library that Louise Penny used as the place where the body was found in her book, BURY YOUR DEAD.

The plaque below is on the outside wall of the library.


Here is a photo of my son and I in the library that houses books which are all surprisingly in English.  All books are able to be checked out. Isn't the library beautiful?



A few photos we snapped while in the library.  The "old" books were encased in glass book cases, and were not able to be checked out of the system.


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_James_Douglas,_1st_Baronet


I hope you get to visit Quebec City some day, and I hope you enjoy your visit as much as we did.

Quebec City has a European flair, but with a much shorter plane ride for a nice getaway.  :)
 



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29 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 14, 2015 at 1:34 PM

    Wonderful!

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  2. ElizabethApril 14, 2015 at 1:35 PM

    Thanks for stopping.

    I hope you enjoyed your quick visit to Quebec City. The photos do not do the city justice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dorothy BordersApril 14, 2015 at 2:14 PM

    What a wonderful, interesting visit. Thank you for sharing it with us. I am a big Louise Perry fan and much of what I love about her writing is the atmosphere of Quebec which she evokes so well.

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    1. ElizabethApril 14, 2015 at 2:27 PM

      It was a wonderful visit and tour of the city.

      Such an interesting place. Too bad Three Pines isn't real. :)

      Thanks for stopping, Dorothy.

      Delete
  4. DarleneApril 14, 2015 at 2:42 PM

    How sad that I live in Canada and haven't been to Quebec. Your trip sounds wonderful and what a great thing to share with your son. I really enjoyed the photos!

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    1. ElizabethApril 14, 2015 at 2:47 PM

      I hope you get there soon, Darlene. Which province do you live in?

      As you can see, it is beautiful.

      You can visit the Louise Penny sites too.

      Thanks for stopping, Darlene.

      Delete
    2. DarleneApril 14, 2015 at 2:52 PM

      I'm in Alberta Elizbeth. Pretty far from Quebec. It does look beautiful. My cousin went to University there and she loved living there.

      Delete
    3. ElizabethApril 14, 2015 at 2:54 PM

      It is a beautiful place.

      Alberta is far away. I hope you are warming up. We are getting some mild temperatures.

      Thanks again for stopping by.

      Delete
  5. Emma LitttlefieldApril 14, 2015 at 2:44 PM

    Sounds like a wonderful weekend. Love the idea of tying a visit up with a book.

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    1. ElizabethApril 14, 2015 at 2:48 PM

      That was very fun. It actually was my son and my husband's surprise even though my husband didn't go with us. :)

      Thanks for stopping, Emma.

      Delete
  6. KayApril 14, 2015 at 3:07 PM

    How marvelous! Such a fun thing to do. I'd love it sometime. Although I'm a long way from Quebec. Thanks so much for sharing it with us - with pictures. :-)

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    1. ElizabethApril 14, 2015 at 3:22 PM

      You are very welcome.

      The pictures definitely added to the post.

      Thanks for stopping, Kay.

      Delete
  7. Katherine PApril 14, 2015 at 3:30 PM

    My husband and I were talking about places we want to visit the other night and Quebec was high on his list. We won't be going anytime soon but it sounds fascinating! When I hear Quebec I tend to just think of Montreal but I'm adding Quebec City to our travel list! Great post!

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    1. ElizabethApril 14, 2015 at 8:29 PM

      You will love it, Katherine.

      Go when it is warm, though. :)

      Thanks for stopping.

      Delete
  8. SukoApril 14, 2015 at 5:26 PM

    What a terrific post, Elizabeth! It looks like you had a truly wonderful trip with your son. The library is grand. I'm glad I stopped by and saw a bit of Quebec City.

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    1. ElizabethApril 14, 2015 at 8:29 PM

      And I am glad you stopped by too, Suko.

      It was a wonderful trip.

      Thanks for your comment, Suko.

      Delete
  9. bermudaonionApril 14, 2015 at 7:57 PM

    My husband's been there on business but I never have. I hope to one day.

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    1. ElizabethApril 14, 2015 at 8:30 PM

      It is lovely as you can see.

      Thanks for stopping, Kathy.

      Delete
  10. Colleen TurnerApril 15, 2015 at 12:27 PM

    Wow, what a wonderful trip! The photos are beautiful and I hope to go someday (although I am in Florida so it would be quite a trip :) ).

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    1. ElizabethApril 15, 2015 at 1:50 PM

      That would be a long trip, but I hope you can make it to Quebec City some day.

      Thanks for stopping, Colleen.

      Delete
  11. TracyKApril 15, 2015 at 1:10 PM

    Sounds like a great trip. Great picture of you and your son in that beautiful library.

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  12. UnknownApril 15, 2015 at 1:51 PM

    I've heard so many great things about Louise Penny; can't believe I haven't read anything by her yet. Need to get busy on that. :)

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    1. ElizabethApril 15, 2015 at 2:04 PM

      Start at the beginning of her books. Still Life is her first one.

      Thanks for stopping, Diane.

      Delete
  13. DebbieApril 15, 2015 at 7:32 PM

    I've only read two of Louise Penny's books... I need to get on that! How fun for you to do the tour.

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    1. ElizabethApril 15, 2015 at 8:49 PM

      The tour was fun.

      Thanks for stopping, Debbie.

      Delete
  14. stacybuckeyeApril 26, 2015 at 4:23 AM

    What a great trip to take with your son! We haven't been yet, but hopefully one of these years soon!

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    1. ElizabethApril 28, 2015 at 10:42 PM

      I hope you do get to visit.

      It was a lot of fun.

      Thanks for stopping, stacybuckeye.

      Delete