Fleur-de-Lis et Fromage


 

I learned about the Plains of Abraham in history class but our visit to Quebec City taught me that the name is a misnomer. We climbed 398 steps to get from the lower town to the ‘plains.’

Karen and I made it through the Eastern Townships and took a few days rest in Quebec City. We explored the city and cycled around île d'Orléans. A highlight of our time there was coming across a four person craft market in the basement of an old church. The elderly crafters consisted of a crocheter, a weaver, a stained glass maker, and a man playing spoons. No one else was there either buying or selling, and no one spoke any English, but it was amazing seeing their works. Karen chatted with the crocheter as best as she could and showed off a picture of a cowboy hat she crocheted last year for the Stampede. 

I love flags, and it’s been fascinating to observe the changes in flags over the last few weeks. Leaving Ottawa the day after Canada Day there were Canadian flags everywhere. Then, between Gatineau and Montreal there was a mixture of solo Quebec provincial flags or Canadian flags beside Quebec flags, but no solo Canadian flags apart from federal buildings. In Montreal we were told it was very abnormal to see so many Canadian flags in any part of Quebec, and that we have Trump to thank for the recent resurgence.

Through the Eastern Townships it became rare to see any Canadian flags but there were still countless Quebec provincial flags. We also began to see several flavours of Quebec patriotic flags, none of which I had ever seen before. These ranged from variations of the Quebec provincial flag, called the Carillon-Sacré-Coeur, to some very aggressive looking green-white-red flags with an image of a guy in a toque smoking a pipe and holding a gun. Personally, whether it’s the Winnipeg Jets or Quebec patriotism, I’m not a fan of flags with weapons on them. 

After Quebec City as we biked along the southern shore of the Saint Lawrence my vexillology-loving self went into overdrive. In a single day I saw only two Canadian flags, a handful of Montreal Canadien flags, a smattering of different pirate flags (the homes we passed seemed to be cute fishing houses or summer lake cabins), more and more Quebec patriotic flags, and countless Quebec provincial flags.



Just when I thought I had an idea of Quebec flags and what they mean, we came across this home that had a Canadian national flag, a Quebec provincial flag, and a Quebec patriotic flag and now I don’t know what to think. The real takeaway is that there’s a lot I don’t understand about Quebec culture. 


Yesterday a friend asked me if I feel like an elite cyclist yet. The short answer is ‘no.’ Karen and I continue to plod along at a slow pace, but we can go for many hours. I do certainly feel comfortable as a touring cyclist, though. The solution to almost every problem we come across is to do more cycling, and I love the simplicity of that, even if the action itself continues to be a challenge.


If I didn’t get a good sleep last night? I should bike more today and I’ll sleep great tonight. If I’m feeling grumpy? Bike it off. If we ate too much food and we feel gross? More biking. If it’s supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon? Better wake up early tomorrow and get our biking in before the rain hits us. Even on rest days we feel better if we bike around whatever city we’re in and do 80-100 km.


As an aside, we surpassed the 6000 km mark this past week (which doesn’t include the few car rides or ferry rides we’ve take ). One bike tourer told us hitting 6000 km is a common metric people use for the minimum required to say they’ve crossed Canada. With our non-direct pathing we’ve still got a ways to go. 


Here’s a compilation on the cheeses we bought from Quebec fromageries 

Karen’s Quebec book of the week: The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was



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