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Definitely needed some down time so we booked a chalet in Quebec near Sainte Ferdinand in a more rural area. We toured the area of course but mostly sat on our asses doing nothing at all….. okay not nothing….. we drag ourselves to the pool which is 4 steps next to the cabin but what else can we do? I can recommend it to everyone. Sometimes I just forget I'm not on holiday but traveling around and I forget to take some time to myself because there is so much to see and do. I know, it's a luxury problem but hey, that's the world I live in at the moment.
Free little library is a very common thing here and as I love to read also very convenient. There's something called an e-reader I know but I just love the feel of a book so I need my books! My backpack offers limited space thus I can't pack an entire library so I frequently visit a free little library that has the concept…. take a book…. leave a book. Great system…….. but when in Quebec there are hardly English books available. These people claim to be a dual language state but if that means you only speak French then you're in the right spot. I finally found a free little library with 3 bookshelves packed with all sorts of books and there were 2 English ones…. Wiiiieeeeeeeee, I can read again…. happy, happy, happy.
Quebec also offers a great selection of cheese…. another thing I can relate to:-) Not very easy to get your hands on when not in Europe. They also have a specialty here called poutine. It's really the worst greasy food you can get your hands on but it tastes really great. In basic it's French fries swimming in gravy with cheese on top however………. You can put almost every topping you want on the dish and I mean everything, so in short…… one serving serves the three of us for about 3 days.
My addictions are simple…. coca cola and cigarettes….. especially the last one is a bit on the expensive side over here but hey, I can sub stain my addictions in a normal way I don't have to go through great lengths to obtain one or the other. Cheese is a bit of a problem but if I have to choose….. coca cola and cigarettes, no doubt! Coffee however is a different cup of tea….. pardon my pun:-) At the moment I have two coffee addicts tangling along with me. Coffee is quite difficult to obtain over here…… I hear you thinking……. Coffee? You can get it everywhere. Well that's true but it isn't coffee. I mean it's black and it smells like the stuff but it doesn't taste like coffee. We have put it to the test and here are the results……
It doesn't matter where you buy the stuff as long as you buy cappuccino and that's problem number one. You have to go to a coffee house to have a cappuccino and there are not a lot around, at least not in the remote area's we stay in. Thank god for navigation which holds a programme where you can select the nearest Starbucks or Tim Hortens. All the diners, gas stations, supermarkets and what not you can just get plain old coffee….. with every flavour you can imagine….. hazelnut, vanilla, chocolate, caramel….. I've been told that the coffee only tastes worse if you try a flavour. So cappuccino is the way to go. When you have hunted down a starbucks or whatever, you have to try and put your order in…… Problem number two rises it's ugly head……Just order 2 cappuccino's doesn't work around here……. Noooooooo, it's like a police interrogation, there are so many questions to be answered before they can take your order it seems like rocket science. What questions do I mean you wonder? Well here's a small selection……
What size do you want?
Do you want 2%, 4% or 10% milk in your cappuccino?
Do you want a frappe?
Do you want it hot or cold?
Which flavour do you want?
What kind of coffee bean do you want?
The list goes on and on. Understand why we needed some down time? I mean we've seen coffee in teabags which they sold off as fresh brew???? All kidding aside….. we really like it here. As soon we get dad and sis their coffee we're good to go:-)
Just to let you know that we not only slept and went swimming we've uploaded some photos of the time we spend here and some of the activities we did. Mind you, hiking here is like hard core survival….. flies, mosquitos, snakes, etc.……. We were hoping for some sweet little squirrels but mosquitos and snakes were all we've seen…… so the swimming pool became a necessity as the chloride really and I mean really helped against the itching of the mosquito bites. This is our last day of our down time tomorrow morning we are hitting the road. New adventures ahead!
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Mirella Ziet er goed uit allemaal! Have fun!