This morning we got up and packed our suitcases (we should be good at this by now, but aren’t). After breakfast and a very quick walk round the square outside our hotel to look at the statues again, we checked out and asked reception to book us a taxi to the railway station. Instead a chap from the hotel drove us to the airport and in discussion it turned out he’s from France and planning on moving to New Zealand next year with his girlfriend.
We checked in to the train and waited in the business lounge for 90 minutes. When it came time to get on the train we discovered we needed a printed ticket, which we didn’t have, and were told we better get one as soon as possible as the train was about to leave!
After a frantic couple of minutes we got our ticket and sat back and enjoyed the three and a half hour train trip to Québec. Fun fact is that passenger trains have to give way to freight trains. Turns out freight trains can be over 4km long so no wonder other traffic has to give way.
There was a bit of chaos at Québec station due to taxis, but we made it to the hotel, quickly unpacked then walked to the local laundrette – another triumph!
Next to the laundrette was a nice corner shop which made us some pizzas to eat – we sat by an open window and watched the world go by (quite fu as it was near the top of a steep street so people were puffed out on the way up and joyous on the way down).
Also this evening we’ve seen four bands playing for free as part of the Québec summer music festival. There are some free concerts alongside the paid ones. Today we saw Carl Mayotte, Bada-Bada-, L’Rain and LE ROY, LA ROSE ET LE LOU(P).
Video is party made by AI today so some of it doesn’t sync with the music as well, but you get the idea. I might try using this a bit more to save some time over the remaining few weeks. We’ll see.