Promenades Littéraires

One of my guilty pleasures in Québec City is to go on a promenade littéraire - a literary walk through the streets of Vieux Québec where we visit authors' famous haunts, characters' houses and view the often overlooked corners of the city, as well as the grandiose vistas, through the eyes of Québec's literary icons. Unfortunately, I couldn't entice any students to go with me this year, but I was in heaven as we walked the streets of la Haute Ville in the footsteps of Anne Hébert, one of Québec's grandes dames of the novel. Having read and studied several of Hébert's novels when I was an undergraduate student at the University of Alberta and seen one of the film adaptations of her novel Kamouraska, this was a big thrill for me. The weather was wonderful and the guide was absolutely mesmorizing as she shared her passion for the literature with us. Walking through the winding cobblestone streets and stopping to read passages aloud under the very window that the character of Elisabeth D’Aulnières sat at the death bed of her husband at the beginning of the novel, was like stepping back in time for me. We walked along les remparts - the old walls of the city - for a spectacular view of the Laurentian mountains, the St. Lawrence River and the wonders of la ville de Québec! I now feel like picking up her books again and diving into them, with my mind still wandering the streets of Vieux Québec...

Cinéma Le Clap - French films without subtitles!

A small group of us went to the Université Laval cinema which specializes in showing international and local films in their original versions. We saw the Québécois film La Petite Reine which was based loosely on the life of disgraced Québec cylist, Geneviève Jeanson in 2007 when she admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs (à la manière de Lance Armstrong). The film was difficult to watch at times as it was graphic and also when you realize how high level athletes are often not in control of their own lives. It was also a challenge for students who had never watched a French film without subtitles. Several of the characters had thick accents and, as in most films, slang and other regional expressions were often used. It was a good exercise in language comprehension! I enjoyed the film very much. This was the first film I had seen with actress Laurence Leboeuf who was excellent. Director Alexis Durand-Brault said that rather than showing the disgraced athlete in a completely negative light, he wanted to create a sympathetic character that the audience would feel for, despite the fact that she willingly took drugs since the age of 14.

Weekend Plans

After a week of hard work in language classes, everyone is ready for the weekend. Students have Saturday and Sunday free to choose their own activities and travel outside of Québec City if they wish. A group of students are traveling to Montréal, about a two hour drive from Québec and well worth the trip!

A couple of students took a tour up to Tadoussac to go whale watching. This part of Québec is extremely picturesque and having done this trip myself in 2012, I can confirm that they will see and learn much about the different whales that populate the St. Lawrence river as it empties into the Atlantic.

Students staying in town this weekend will have no shortage of activities to engage in and places to go. Le Vieux Québec comes alive on the weekends in June and July, especially when the weather is so nice as it has been these past few days. The festivities are getting set up for la Fête Nationale to be celebrated on Monday night and Tuesday, June 24 - St. Jean Baptiste Day.

Be sure to read their blogs on the right to follow their adventures this weekend!

Art, History and some Ghosts!

It has been a busy week so far. After settling into the language classes during the first couple of days, everyone is now into the routine and looking forward to the week-end. We have been on several interesting excursions. The Musée de Beaux Arts de Québec is within walking distance of the Collège and we took advantage of half-price admission on Wednesday evening. In addition to featuring four prominent Québécois artists: Jean-Paul Riopelle, Fernand Leduc, Jean-Paul Lemieux and Alfred Pellan, there is a rich collection of Inuit and First Nation Art. The museum is housed partly in a former prison and they have very creatively preserved the cells in the middle of the galleries. The current temporary exhibition spotlights two French Canadian painters, Morrice and Lyman, who spent most of their career traveling and painting in France, the Maghreb and the Caribbean. They became friends and disciples of Henri Matisse and the museum has borrowed a few Matisse paintings to include in this collection. I very much enjoyed this exhibition and did not know these two Canadian artists before.

I gave an informal tour of Le Château Frontenac on Thursday afternoon. The hotel used to offer guided tours led by costumed guides and we could get inside rooms and little known corridors of the hotel. But, alas, this is no more since 2012 when the hotel found it to be too disruptive. So, this year, we talked about the history of the hotel, its place in Québec City culture and as a Canadian icon as well as visited some key areas of the hotel, such as the room where Hitchcock's 1953 film I Confess with Montgomery Clift was filmed. Many celebrities have stayed in le Château over time including members of the royal family, Paul McCartney, Steven Spielberg among others. The hotel was built in 1893 by New York architect Bruce Price who was commissioned by William Van Horne, general manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CPR) as a way to encourage luxury tourism across Canada. It is now part of the Fairmont Hotel chain which includes such other iconic Canadian hotels as the Banff Springs, Château Lake Louise and the Hotel Vancouver. The Frontenac has expanded over the decades, adding on additional wings, towers and gardens. It was built on the original site of Château St. Louis, the first governor's mansion in New France in the 1600s. The view from la Basse Ville is spectacular!

Each year on the program, it has been a tradition to participate in a Promenade des Fantômes where we walk the streets at night with a costumed guide and hear tales of the dark side of Québec. We heard stories of murder, sorcery, innocent men sent to the gallows and ghosts that haunt some of Québec's most famous buildings and streets. We had an excellent, very dramatic guide this year and the tour finished with a visit inside a very dark, very haunted cathedral, from which we managed to escape just after 10:00 p.m.!

Classes and Poutine!

Language classes began today: 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours of conversational activities in the afternoon. C'est beaucoup and everyone is understandably tired after a first full day of French immersion. Student have the evening free and are in search of some good poutine. In Québec, I love the poutine at Chez Ashton. It's a chain restaurant throughout the province in a fast food style, but poutine is their speciality and they have several different kinds. I'm hoping to get some UC students hooked on poutine before the two weeks are over!

Tomorrow we are visiting le Musée des Beaux Arts du Québec.

Arrivée à Québec!

We all safely arrived in Québec - tired but excited to be here! We got settled in yesterday and went to the grocery store. Everyone noticed the difference in prices and despite the higher value of the USD$ still found things to be expensive here. Today, we visited the Huron Village Site - the only working Huron Indian reservation in Canada. We learned about the history, lifestyle and cultural practices of the Huron Nation. There are 11 different First Nations in Québec, many of which lived in the more isolated regions to the north. In the afternoon, we went on a walking tour of Vieux Québec and stopped for a café on the terrace. We saw the Château Frontenac, La Terrace Dufferin and other important sites that beg to be visited over and over again. Classes start tomorrow. Everyone is doing well with the language and gradually getting used to the immersion environment.

Bon Voyage!

We are almost a week away from starting our program in Québec. Final details and preparations have been completed and the packing begins! Here are some photos from our Bon Voyage party this week on the beautiful UCBA campus! A bientôt à Québec!!