Le Cirque du Soleil sous les étoiles (et un peu de pluie) de Québec

Last night we had the opportunity to see the world famous Cirque du Soleil perform live, outside under the highways of Québec City. We all stood on uneven, gravel ground in the drizzle for about two hours to see the show. It was all worth it - What a treat!

Many people don't realize that the Cirque du Soleil is québécois by nationality. Founded in 1984 by two Quebec street performers, the company is based out of Montréal now and is world renowned, particulary in Las Vegas where it now has two permanent shows. It is described as "contemporary circus because of its "theatrical, character-driven approach and the absence of performing animals" . It really is a combination of acrobats, circus and street performance with a live musical soundtrack.

Paying hommage to their humble roots, the Cirque offers free one-hour shows every evening during the summer months in Québec City. I read that this also provides good training ground and practice for junior members and for the troupe to try out new shows and ideas.

Je vous invite au spectacle - C'est magnifique!

http://www.quebecregion.com/en/what_to_do/ideas/cirque_soleil?a=vis

Les Fantômes à Québec...

Did you know that Québec is haunted by its past? Maybe not in the way you might think!

Québec City has one of the most colourful histories of Canadian cities. As the site of the "official" loss of Canada to the English, Québec has its share of stories. In addition, as a new and struggling colony, the city suffered hardships from the cold, lack of food and long distance between the mother country.

Tonight we took la Promenade des Fantômes (the Ghost Walk), and we were treated Stories of murder, treason, unlawful condemnation and general mayhem as we walked along winding cobblestone streets, up and down stairs and hills between the Upper and Lower towns. Our guide was a costumed interpreter with a dramatic flare for storytelling and carrying a period lantern to light our way as the sun set in the city and darkness swifly fell.

The visit finished with a visit inside a haunted cathedral. As we waited to enter, the previous group, high school students, came running out screaming in terror. Wimpy sorts like me got spooked and it made for a very interesting ambiance inside the dark sanctuary. I was grateful for my students' protection! Brittany was very brave to stay at the end of the pack to take some pictures inside the dark church. Check out her posting to the right for her photos!

This was a very enjoyable way to spend a summer evening in a beautiful, historic city and to practice listening comprehension in French. Although many words were unfamiliar, the dramatic manner and visual clues helped students with their comprehension.

Les fantômes à Québec? On n'en a pas vu mais la lanterne du guide s'est éteinte mystérieusement au beau milieu d'un conte...

http://www.ghosttoursofquebec.com/ghosttoursofquebec/aboutghosttours.htm

Lévis et les escaliers!

The beautiful sun today provided a wonderful scenic backdrop for our short "cruise" across the St. Lawrence River to the city of Lévis on the other side. During the British attack on Québec in 1759, General Wolfe built a fortification Lévis for a strategic vantage point for his attack.

Lévis also boasts the home of Alphonse Desjardins (the white one), the founder of the first caisse populaire = credit union - in Québec in the early 1900s.

The view of Old Québec as we pulled away was spectacular and as we approached the new shore, we quickly saw that warnings of having to climb many stairs was very true! These were stairs!!! and then hills... At this point, the sun and heat were not doing us any favours. Lévis has a wonderful old, historic district with picture perfect houses and churches and glorious views. Then, of course comes the descent. I think everyone slept well after that strenuous workout.

On continue à découvrir les richesses de la région québécoise, y compris ses desserts! Les étudiants ont bien profité du célèbre chocolatier à Lévis pour goûter ses délices!

Wendake - Le Village Huron

We spent most of today visiting the Huron Village of Wendake which is about a 20 minute drive north of Québec City. We took a guided tour through the historic village and learned about how the Huron Indians lived, ate and slept in the early days. During the drive, we could see the modern reservation and although there were some similarities with the Indian reservations in Alberta which I am used to seeing, the Wendake reservation is certainly a more wealthy people thanks to their artisanal products as well as their custom-made canoe business.

In this historical village, we saw some traditional clothing and dance as well as demonstrations of cooking, worship and sleeping arrangements. We enjoyed a wonderful authentic lunch in the village and we sampled: elk, deer, salmon, bannock and roasted sunflower seed soup. It was all delicious, including the thick white cake with maple sauce and mint-infused tea for desert.

Before lunch, we spent time shopping in the artisan boutique where there were great souvenirs to be found - all handmade by the Huron Indians in Wendake. Jewellry, leather, totems, statues, carvings, pottery and natural herbs and healers were among the highlights.

Malgré le temps pleuvieux, on s'est bien amusé à Wendake et on a beaucoup appris sur cette culture qui mélange les premiers citoyens du pays avec l'héritage francophone de la région. L'importance de la nature, des animaux et des croyances naturelles nous rappellent l'histoire du pays et de la province.

http://www.huron-wendat.qc.ca/

Cinéma Le CLAP

Tonight, a few of us decided to go to the cinema on the Université Laval campus - Le CLAP which has a variety of international films shown in their original language as well as American films dubbed into French. A comfortable bus ride from the college residence, the cinema offers a $5 ticket to students with a valid ID after 9:00. This is a good deal, so we decided to take advantage of this. We saw Les Emotifs Anonymes - a France/Belgium co-production in French with no subtitles. The film just premiered this weekend and had received good critiques in the Québec newspaper. The film was good, a cute sort of romantic comedy where boy gets girl at the end, but yet somehow differently than in the standard American rom-com formula.

This was the first time students had seen a French film without subtitles and they told me that although it was difficult to understand, there were enough familiar words and the context and scenes made it possible to follow the plot. Aside from the realization that butter costs a whopping $1.75 extra on top of your popcorn, we all managed to get tickets, snacks and seats with no problems!

A very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday evening and I am happy to have discovered this cinema and its treasure of foreign films.

On y va pour la deuxième semaine!

Ile d'Orléans - terre de patrimoine et de Félix Leclerc

An optional tour this weekend was a trip to the Montmorency waterfalls and to the Ile d'Orléans. Brittany took the tour with other students and a guide from the school and loved it - having sampled many of the local products and been soaked by the falls!

I decided to go to the island as well in the car as I wanted to visit the author Félix Leclerc museum that I did not have time to see last year.

Accessed by a large bridge from the mainland, the island has become a real haven for locally grown and harvested products and is a weekend getaway for many city dwellers and tourists alike. Its rural views and lush climate play host to orchards, vineyards, trout fishing and artisanal products ranging from baked goods to apple cider to maple syrup products. At this time of year, the berries are sublime.

Notwithstanding the bountiful and bucolic setting, for me, the highlight of this year's visit to the island was the museum. Félix Leclerc is a huge folk hero to the French Canadians. He began his artistic career as a singer, writing and performing in small clubs in Paris in the early 1950s à la Jacques Brel and Georges Brassens, before making a name for himself in his native Québec: in fact becoming a pioneer of the "new" French Canadian folksong along with La Bolduc. He was a poet at heart and wrote very sentimental verses of th century youth and hard work. He also wrote fables in a kind of hommage to the great fabulist LaFontaine. He wrote short stories, maxims and novels - all paying tribute to love for country, for nature and the land, for family and for life. In the 1970s and 80s he was a great post-Quite Revolution separatist, rallying his people towards a yes vote for a sovereign Québec. From what I have read, the failed separatist referendum in 1985 almost destroyed him, and he more or less retreated from public life until his death in 1988, surfacing only for the occasional interview, private concert and to receive the National Order of Québec from then Premier René Lévesque.

Here is a sample from his early and later musical peformances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSa9Ri2oCaw&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtVSORM_tOU&feature=related

I was capitivated by his simple, heartfelt lyrics and rich, golden voice. It was nice to be transported back in time for a couple of hours.

I left with a couple of his books: poetry and fiction. I think these would make for good reading by students, either in a language class or for pre-trip preparation for study abroad. Much of the more contemporary French Canadian literary canon owes a debt to Félix Leclerc.