Yesterday once I checked out I headed to the metro station to then get to the train station. Because of the blistery winter weather they get in Montreal, there are lots of underground tunnels that connect to hotels, malls, grocery stores, beauty salons, metro stations etc. Technically you could spend all winter and not have to go outside. These tunnels are a bit hard to navigate though, I think. I'd get lost all the time if I lived there. While not that far away, I found the signage to get from the metro station to the train station a bit confusing.
Train ride was about 3 hours, slept most of the way.
Once I got to Québec City I picked up a map and it took me a while to figure out where the train station was on the map. Once I did I found the street this hostel was on and couldn't see street signs outside to figure out which way to start walking. I didn't feel like trial-and-error walking like I usually do, so I asked a cute construction worker which way to go. He spoke no English but got the gist of what I was asking. It took him quite a while but he finally pointed me in the right direction. Merci merci.
Once I found the hostel and I opened the door I was greeted by a little white dog. Up a narrow staircase I got to the hostel. After I checked in and had my tour, my first thought was - I wonder what Carol and Megan are going to think of this place. It's not the worst hostel I've stayed in, but down there on the totem pole. I'm staying in an 8-bed shared dorm and they are staying in a double by themselves which feels like a palace compared to my room.
Once they settled in it took us quite a while to find a parking lot for their car. Many of the automated ones were closed. We finally found an outdoor lot, said goodbye to the car, and wandered into the Vieux-Québec, the old walled-in part of the city. We walked down Rue Sainte-Jean and found a pub to have a local beer. I forget the name but I got a nice amber ale. Then after a bit more wandering we settled into a restaurant's outdoor spot for dinner.
This morning I set my alarm for 8am and we're getting ready to head out and explore. Only bummer is it rained last night and the sky doesn't look like it's going to behave for us. Fingers crossed.
As I was waiting for them to arrive yesterday I sat outside of the hostel in the sun and read my book. There were trucks and crew setting up a bunch of speakers and TVs outdoors. I asked one of them what was going on and he said that there is a big festival this weekend. On our way home from dinner we got to witness some of it. I just looked it up online. It's the 12th Carrefour International de Théâtre where along several streets there are theatre, dance, visual arts, and music performances. Last night was the sound-check and practice night. The festival is from 9pm-11pm every night so we'll have to make sure to eat an early dinner so we can head back and walk through the streets and watch some of the creativity unfold. I feel bad cause while Carol and Megan's room is very nice, it faces the street, and there is a bar right across the street that apparently was hopping until the wee hours of the morning. My ghetto-room luckily faces the back of the building and was pretty quiet, other than the creaking beds.
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