Au revoir, Quebec! It was great getting to know you first-hand!

We had such a great time! Our last day started quite early, and we pre-packed our stuff as we would have to leave our luggage in the luggage room after 12, and we didn't have to leave for the airport until four. Here is one of my favourite photos from our trip - Morgan checking out the St. Lawrence one last time before we leave the room at the Chateau Frontenac:

One of Morgan's projects was to create a funny photo of his dog to send around the world. Here, he is with the Chateau dog Santol (like the aquarium dog, Santol was a guide dog but now gets to visit all the neat people in the Chateau lobby). He's holding the two puppies side by side:

He gave one card to a concierge at the hotel, and she promised she would give it to another traveller. The idea is that they take the photo card of Shadow (instructions are on the back) and take a photo of themselves with Shadow's card in their hometown, then email the photo to Shadow's email address, and give the photo card of Shadow to another traveller. We'll see how far he gets! Morgan gave another card to a family from Maine who were quite excited about the project and promised they would take it to Atlanta with them in a couple of weeks to give it a jump start. Only time will tell if Shadow goes anywhere! Farewell to Santol, such a sweet puppy:

Morgan than went in the elevator on his own to the 17th floor to mail his postcards to his grandparents. The hotel still uses an old mail chute - I stood at the bottom and took video so he could see his postcards falling into the big bin lol. The postcards and the elevator from the 17th floor arrived at pretty much the same time....hmmm....

From the hotel we walked to Ashton for our last poutine of the trip. It was tasty, of course! Along the way, I stopped at this soap store and dropped off some samples for the owner - I told her I could do the labels in French if she was interested in importing them for her shop. So we will see. 

We also stopped in a couple of other gift shops, and the second medieval themed store, but didn't really see anything we wanted to buy. There was lots of beautiful art, glasswork, and jewellry, but I was very restrained. Morgan bought his souvenirs mostly at la Citadelle - go figure!

At two, we had  a tour booked for the ice hotel. Wow! What an amazing piece of work! Here is the main entrance (there are about ten chambers this size all in a row - built with blocks of ice, then insulated with a thick layer of snow):

Each room had a different theme - this was a tree of life theme or something similar. The beds are made of ice, but have regular mattresses and furs on top:

Some had fireplaces!

Us on an ice bench:

One chamber was even  beautifully carved church, with ice pews (too bad you can't see the front in this photo):

And no ice hotel would be complete without a Sword of Damocles light fixture:

The hotel itself is truly impressive but Morgan and I were quite disappointed that there were so many people there touring through it. It's become a major tourist attraction and we both felt that while beautiful, our experience wasn't as nice because there were raging hordes everywhere - tour groups, school groups (from preschool right through high school), there were people everywhere. In fact it was way more crowded than Carnavale, but I guess Carnavale doesn't squish you into small rooms :) We didn't even bother to take the tour we paid for - we wandered through and saw everything on our own, and then sat and waited for our tour bus to come back.

We then retrieved our luggage and shoved it all in a taxi to the airport. After our first and only rude encounter with someone who was mad that we didn't speak fluent French (Tim Horton's staff at the airport hint hint), we boarded our slightly delayed flight out of Quebec City. We easily made our connection in Toronto. Morgan has quite the aptitude for directions and was finding our way for us around Quebec City by the time we left, and I let him find our way from the tarmac in Toronto to the gate, which he did no problem, even though we had to walk for EVER. We boarded and had a pretty quiet trip home - watched a movie on the plane and otherwise tried to nap, unsuccessfully. I was surprised that Morgan went so long without sleeping, but he was so pumped to be going home to Dad. Kim met us at the airport; so great to be home!

This morning I unpacked my mug. I have a lot of mugs from the places that I've been (I don't have one from St. John's and it bothers me!). This ended up the only thing we brought home that actually had the word "Quebec" on it. In it, is the first cup of good tea I've had since I left. It's really hard to make tea in coffee makers - even the clean ones lend a certain horrible taste to the tea. The hotels had tea available in the rooms, but no way to make it without the coffee aftertaste, ew. Even Morgan thought it was gross smelling.

Here is what I would change if I were packing again for a similar journey:

• We didn't actually use our ski pants once. But if we hadn't brought them, we would have needed them.
• All my black pants have white salt stains about a foot up the legs. I think I need taller boots. 
• I could have brought half as many shirts, and three times as many socks (or, waterproof boots for me). 
• Ten year old boys don't require a choice of shirts, they just need A shirt; alternates aren't required and won't be used if they are brought anyways. 
• Wearing your winter gear (ie long underwear, boots, heavy jackets) on the plane home is HORRIBLE, especially if you've been using that gear all day already. I thought my feet might actually rot after being wet from 10 a.m. til 1 a.m.. We could not possibly have been sweatier and stinkier than when we got off that flight. Next time, re-think the packing so we can change shoes and outer gear before heading to the airport.

Here is the biggest thing I would change about the journey as an educational tour, but I knew this before we went:

• Bring more people. 

More kids means the fun level for those kids is multiplied. I hope that the next journey Morgan and I take is one that includes you! Plus, when families travel together, they save money on accommodations, they can share suites and use kitchenettes, they can save on tours and activities by accessing group rates, and there are that many more people for those kids to learn from. 

What I wouldn't change:

• Everything else :) I'm so glad we went. There is no better way to understand your country than to travel it personally. No better way at all. Quebec City was beautiful, friendly, and a lot of fun; and that's entirely beside the historical significance. 

Carol-Lynne