A Whale of a Time!

This weekend was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada! Yes, this is a month earlier than the US Thanksgiving. There are various reasons for this however here’s the story I have researched. It was first celebrated in 1578 to celebrate a British explorer making it across the Atlantic. In 1872 it was then transferred to be the official celebration of the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a long illness … so the efforts of the British explorer were deemed less important than the recovery of the Prince. Nowadays it is apparently a celebration of harvesting … similar to that of the US but harvesting apparently happens a month earlier in Canada. So there you go. That could be completely incorrect but I gave it my best shot!

To celebrate the British explorer/survival of Prince of Wales/harvest time, Joep and I decided to make the most of the long weekend to check out another Canadian city – Quebec City! Before we moved here we both chose 1 thing we really wanted to do. Joep’s was whale watching (actually, he had two … lobster fishing is also on his list … I don’t understand it either) … mine you will hear more about later! So we combined the trip to Quebec City with a whale watching tour!

On Friday night we picked up the car and hit the road! We also decided to mix things up a bit and I gave the driving a shot … something I haven’t done for a long time … while Joep gave navigating a shot … something he won’t be allowed to do for a long time. Needless to say we had some navigational issues, which ended in hysterical laughter and eventually, finding our hotel late in the evening.

Saturday morning saw us sleeping in and enjoying a loooong breakfast before hitting the road for Baie-Sainte-Catherine, which is a small town right near Tadoussac. The drive there was amazing and once again we were blown away by the beauty of a real fall/autumn whichever you like to call it. It really is a whole spectrum of colors!! There were a couple of slight hiccups along the way. First we got stuck in an astronomical amount of traffic … this put us a little behind schedule so then we were rushing a bit. Whilst making a speedy recovery from this set back I glanced at the fuel gauge to see that it was on empty … and flashing. I announced this is a very panicked voice to Joep who responded to this announcement with a similar state of panic. Why? Because it is Canada, which is bigger than Australia and in Australia, it is a long way between fuelling stations. In Canada it is only reasonable that it is even further between fuel stations. A tense silence followed broken only by Joep announcing to me that ‘My hands are shaking Jenni! My hands are shaking!’ My fear was less because I had already concluded that I would not be the one walking in the snow (yes, snow was falling at this point) to the nearest fuel station. Thankfully, the reserve tank of a Toyota Yaris is at least 40km’s meaning that we made it to Baie-Sainte-Paul just in time to refuel. Crisis averted!

After fueling up and taking a few relaxing deep breaths whilst finally seeing the funny side of the situation, we hit the road again and made a beeline to Baie-Sainte-Catherine. We arrived just in time to make our boat … Relief!!

 The boat tour was amazing. It was freezing cold (literally … it was well below zero) but it was worth every freezing second of it! We spotted so many whales including minke whales; hump back whales and even a blue whale that came very close to the boat. Might I add that the blue whale grows to 27m long and is the second largest creature EVER to exist … yes, including dinosaurs. Incredible! Furthermore, all the whales in that area are there to eat up before winter hits. They double their weight in the months of August, September & October to survive the winter. A little bit like what Joep & I have been doing since arrived in Canada … joking! A little bit.

Whale watching over with we hit the road to enjoy a night in Quebec City. We were not disappointed. After wandering around the city for a little while we settled on dinner at a lovely, romantic spot called Le Maria Clarisse … perfect choice. The food was phenomenal. The service was infallible. The atmosphere was the epitome of romance. And the wine wasn’t too bad either! After enjoying a long meal we headed to a club recommended by our breakfast waitress … Chez Maurice. Hilarious. We hit the dance floor with gusto, enjoyed a few more drinks and had an absolute ball!

Sunday morning rolled around far too quickly and we were up early to make the most of the city. Quebec City is the only fortified city in North America. It is also one of the oldest cities in North America and is the home of many firsts. First girls school, first stone church etc. etc. It is also home of the oldest North American newspaper and oldest North American hospital. Random information. The city itself is beautiful and full of things to see and do. We were hard pushed to fit everything in and as a result we will most definitely be planning a return trip!

 Oh and there is so much to do that it is very easy to get confused between sights … for example, while walking down the street away from the Notre Dame an older couple stopped us and asked if we knew where the Notre Dame was. I confidently pointed them back the way we had just come. The lady was confused by my directions but her husband was grateful and they headed off. 5 minutes after this, as we walked in the opposite direction, we stumbled across the Notre Dame. Huh? No, the other church was not the Notre Dame. Joep, of course, already knew this. Right.  I. Felt. Terrible. And also a little bit scared that the people would find the Notre Dame and me in front of it and shout at me. The last hour of sight seeing was therefore a little bit stressful as I was afraid of bumping into the strangers and Joep was hopeful that we would.

We headed back to Ottawa shortly after this incident and made it back without issue. Monday we had planned to make a Thanksgiving feast. A 5kg turkey, sweet potato pie, broccoli and homemade stuffing were served … yes, enough food for a whole family. Or one ‘Jen & Joep’. True story. Dessert was still consumed … tarte tatin. We had it as dessert at the restaurant on Saturday night and decided to make it ourselves. It was a success!

The remainder of the day was spent vegging out in elastic waisted pants … and picking at the leftovers …

A perfect first ever Thanksgiving celebration!!