Friday, February 13, 2009

Freezing Friday

****Breaking New***********
The Lap Lady was just accepted to Law School!!!!!!!!!!


Today I'm going to let the Lap Lady tell about her freez-cation she and the Tall Man took in Quebec City in Canada. The primary purpose of the trip was to go skiing at Mont Sainte Anne. This is a very cool mountain that overlooks the St. Lawrence River and has amazing views.

It was a rather challenging mountain and the trails varied in difficulty greatly even in the same "color range". Ski trails are ranked green-circle (easiest), blue-square, black-diamond, double-black diamond. This mountain had blues that were easily double black diamonds at US mountains in New England. Needless to say the Lap Lady stuck to the greens and one blue that the Tall Man had checked out first.


Luckily there were greens from the top of the mountain so the Lap Lady could get down after visiting the upper lodge and doing some trails on the back side of the mountain. The Tall Man loved it and was very challenged and its hard to challenge him on a ski mountain.


There was certainly a bit of a language barrier as in Quebec the language is French. Both of the humans took French as their language they studied in school but that didn't mean too much. People spoke so quickly and they basically just got by by saying bonjour, merci, and being able to count (for the lifts). Many people at the hotel spoke English but not really well.

The food report from the Lap Lady said she ate wonderful local muscles, salmon, steak, duck, and tons of fabulous fresh fruit and cheeses. Everything was local- even the fruit was from local greenhouses! The strawberries were amazing.

On the way into Quebec City for a night they stopped at the Basillica de Sainte Anne de Beapre. Apparently its a very famous church known for miraculous healings. It was so cold out that the Lap Lady could only really use her point-shoot camera and could only be out of the car a few minutes.




Next they arrived at the Chateau Frontenac, the most photographed hotel in the world! The hotel sits on a bluff behind the fortress wall overlooking the river.

They tried to walk around the city but had to go back to put more layers on as they couldn't feel their legs after 5 minutes out there. After a nice bundle up they decided they had to get out there and see the sights. Vieux-Ville was just beautiful and so charming. They felt like they were in Europe!

They visited the city during the famous Winter Festival. Here they ate tasty maple toffee (which the LL ordered in French and they guy looked at her like she had 3 heads.) There are all sorts of crazy outdoor activities but the coolest part were the ice sculptures. There were so many! These were two of her favorites.


It was so cold that even the woofies out there had booties on! They humans slipped and almost fell with every step but the locals were too so they didn't feel too foolish.

They ate a fabulous meal in the Petit Champlain District. This area is right below the Frontenac- STRAIGHT DOWN the cliff. To get there you have to take a cool glass elevator or the Break-Neck-Stairs.
They ate here (and no they did not eat any bunnies!!). They basically had the restaurant to themselves and its the only restaurant in Quebec with a gluten-free menu. The Lap Lady actually found that on this trip despite the language barrier people took wonderful care of her dietary needs and understood she couldn't eat gluten. She has never had such an easy time of ordering food. At home people generally do not understand what she's talking about and just about every dish has wheat in it somewhere. The local dishes up there did not use wheat for the most part so it was simple for her to eat and eat well!



The Lap Lady SO wanted to buy the meezer in the window but the shop was closed.


They wanted to walk around more, but again it was FREEZING. So instead they explored the inside of the Frontenac and found cool rooms, corridors, and historic photos and such.


Then they drove home to us! They also visited the Montmarecy Falls but used a different camera for that so we'll have to show you them later. They are higher than Niagra Falls!

35 comments:

Gemini and Ichiro said...

My human would love to go to Quebec and visit there. I can't believe they didn't leave some blues groomed. Around here you can always find something that's steep but still a cruiser.

The Island Cats said...

Looks like your beans had a wonderful vacation! Even if it was cold!

michico*Adan*Lego-小芥*阿丹*樂高 said...

First of all, I can tell that is REALLLLLLLLLLLLLY COLD~!

I like "Basillica de Sainte Anne de Beapre", it's very very beautiful~!
I am imagining, what is that feel staying at Chateau Frontenac? Must be really good, how is the breakfast that hotel offer?

The art working at Winter Festival looks great~!

That cat shop looks very very warm, I would like to buy something in there as well.

They DROVE? Well, I have no common sense about there, but I think it should be very very far away~!!
It was a great trip~! I am so happy for your beans!

Tama-Chan, Benny, Vidock, Violette, Ollie, Heloise, Momo, Ryu said...

That does look a little chilly, but lots of fun too! Our #1 has been to Quebec (in the summer!) and just loves it too!

Your Friends,
Tom and Tama-Chan

Parker said...

My Mommy has always wanted to go there - it looks wonderful!

Angel Junior, Orion and Sammy said...

Freeze-cation indeed! Looks like fun though!

Concatulations to your LL on getting accepted to Law School!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cliff and Olivia said...

Skiing and school and snow and pretty pictures... Where are our friends. We want some cat news. Helloooo??!?!

Humans: Cliff & Olivia! Behave. That was a nice, interesting post with some stunning pictures. And say congratulations to the cats female, who got some good news.

C&O: Okaye, we guess. But next time there better be kitties!

Humans: Cliff & Olivia!

C&O (sulking): Congrats.

The Furry Kids said...

Those pictures are so cool!


CONGRATULATIONS TO YOUR LL! That is awesome awesome awesome news!

Skeezix the Cat said...

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!! Yer ladey is goin' to law skool!!!!!

Rosemary B❤️ said...

Oh goodness, what wonderful news that your mom is going to law skul.
I am so happy that your beans are home from their freezcation. what a wonderful adventure they had. the photos are just lovely too

Daisy said...

Beautiful photos! It looks like they had a wonderful time.

Congratulations to your mom!

jenianddean said...

Congrats on getting in to law school! That is wonderful exciting news.

Those pictures look amazing. I'm cold just looking at them. I'm glad they came home in one piece.
--Jasper

Lux said...

Oh wow - many congratulations to your Lap Lady!!! :)

Those pictures are very good, but I must say it looks rather nippy there! Love those ice sculptures!

The Creek Cats said...

Big, huge, major concats to your lap lady!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

Barb said...

Ummm... let's see. A cool glass elevator or the Break-Neck-Stairs... No brainer. It does look a bit like Europe, not that we've ever been to Europe! hahaha!

Congratulations to you Mom on getting accepted into Law School! We had not a moment's doubt, but it is still very exciting. Mom's niece and her class competed with several other colleges in Bostonin mock trials. Mom's niece's team won 2 out of 3 and was highly complimented by the judge. He gave her his card! We think that means he wants a free intern this summer! :)

Gemini and Ichiro said...

Congratulations to your person! Good thing she got her skiing in now--she'll be a busy one soon.

Sunny's Mommy said...

Congratulations to your LL! That is wonderful news :-D

Great photos. It's so beautiful there. I can't wait to see the rest!

Unknown said...

ConCats to yer LL !! Yay!!!!!!!!

It looks furry cold there, we dun fink us kittehs wud like it so much.

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

Hi Chase, Latte and Kaze! It's been a long time since we visited...we blame mom. We blame mom fur a lot of stuff. Hehehehe. We'z glad yoor beans had fun, ours wouldn't find dat to be a vacation at all...mom sez when yoo freeze yoor but off 5 months of da year warm should be da destination.

Jake and Bathsheba said...

Yay, Lauren! Way to go!

Nancy & Bathsheba

Max said...

MAJOR CONGRATS TO YOUR LAP LADY!!! That deserves a Snooy Dance! Everybody jump up, so the Snoopy Dance!

(You have to picture 1,000 kitties all dancing like Snoopy here.)

And the freezecation pictures are awesome, thank you for sharing those. I don't think I could ski, but maybe sled. That would be funny. And I would not scream like a little girl, nope... ;)

Just Ducky said...

Woohoo to the Lap Lady, I knew she could do it. Now she will make her brains mush for a couple of years.

The pictures are awesome but yeah the place can be cold, just like here!

SophieKitty said...

Congratulations to the Lap Lady! What an achievement.

Looks like your beans had a fun vacation.

Willow said...

That looks like a wonderful freeze-cation! The pictures are gorgeous. Such cool ice sculptures. My Food Lady only skied once when she was 16 so those hills might have been a problem for her! Plus she took German and can't even pronounce the full name for the show Le Miz in French...

Huge congratulations to your Lap Lady being accepted to Law School!!!

Purrrrrrrs, Willow

Beethoven said...

Wow wow WOW!!!! That's an awesome trip! And concatulations for the LL for getting into the Law School.
I've given you an award Chase!

Quill and Greyson said...

Yeah for the Lap Lady!! We never doubted it! Love those ice statues.

Honey P. Sunshine said...

Congratulations to the Lap Lady. so glad she and the am are back to cuddle with

Quasi said...

Our human female would like to go to Quebec sometime too. But it beats the heck out of me why humans would CHOOSE to be cold. Anyway, Happy Valentines' Day!

jenianddean said...

Happy Valentine's Day!
--Jasper

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...

Concats to your LL. Our Beans loved seeing those photos because they went to all those places in October and now they can see what it looked like with snow. They stayed in the Chateau Frontenac but only used the steps once. They made sure they used the funicular the rest of the time.

Just Ducky said...

Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

Madness, Trouble, Squish and Milkbone said...

Congratulations on being accepted to Law school!

Victor Tabbycat said...

So, was it cold in Quebec? MOL. We's gifin you an award. Why? Cuz. Oh, Mom amost squeed at da window full of kitties. A squillion would fit right in!
Purrs and Happy Valentine's Day,
Victor & Nina

Petey said...

beautiful pictures and congrats on the law school accecptance.

Lorene said...

Congrats and Congrats and CONGRATS on being accepted in to Law School! WOOO HOOO!!!! My kitties will all do the "Happy Dance for Law School" for you this evening!