Bonne St. Jean!

400 years of history all came together in the celebration of St. Jean-Baptiste day in Quebec on Monday night. I made sure I didnt say a word in the world of francophonia. It was pretty awesome though!

Back-track--
Ottawa was awesome! We had a beautiful hot day to wander around the capital with Julie. I had previously only been to Ottawa in the winter so it was really nice to see the beauty of the city in full bloom. Although, I will admit, both are very nice seasons for the city. Then we had dinner with Barb, John and Julie. John makes a mean roast beef and there was excellent conversation to be found! (thanks again Barb and John and thanks as well for the comments!)

We were a little slow to leave the next morning because I for some reason was exhausted and after successfully waking up for breakfast I laid down on the bed again after my morning meal and managed to nap for about 2 more hours. It was crazy! I felt really awake at breakfast and then kind of just conked out again. Anyways, it was okay because the rain that had been coming down all morning stopped as we finished prepping to leave and we were lucky that it didnt pick back up for the rest of the day!

We are about 10km out of Quebec city right now. We have had some lovely days biking in Quebec along the St. Lawrence River. The weather for the most part has been really great too! Monday night, as I was saying, was the celebration for Bonne St. Jean which this year celebrates the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec. We were in Jolliette, a sizeable city, and they had a huge music festival and fireworks! (which is nice, as I will be missing the annual OBrien Fourth of July bash this year). It has been hard for me in Quebec though, Im not used to not being able to really join in on conversations. Neil speaks excellent french so he usually does the talking, however, we did meet two girls from Switzerland one night who spoke English and we played cards with them at the campground. But at rest stops, and whenever we come across cyclists on the road, it is usually Neil who does the chatting.

We are having a rain day today because the rain hasnt really let up since it started last night and we didnt feel like packing up all of our gear wet. If the weather clears up we will bike into Quebec city today, but if it stays kind of yucky we will wait until tomorrow morning (when it is supposed to be nice) and bike in tomorrow.

We are still having a great time, Quebec has been beautiful (beautiful countryside and old houses). We will be entering New Brunswick the day after tomorrow!

Sorry about the lack of pictures today... promise to post more next time.

(oh, and Dad, thanks for all the comments on the pictures... youre right... I always DID wonder what you thought :) )

Hope all is well at home!