January 2017
Vehicle:
2017 Volvo V60 Polestar
Notable locations:
Hôtel de Glace
Village Vacances Valcartier
Porte Saint-Jean
Au 1884
Château Frontenac
Rue de Petit-Champlain
Montmorency Falls Park
Chemin du Roy
Quebec City changed me.
I’d never been a fan of winter. Aside from the few times each year my daughter would beg us to bundle up and take her ice skating, I’ve long made a habit of sitting under blankets drinking tea and waiting for the coldest months to pass.
In Quebec, though, you’ll hear a well-known line from a song by Quebecois poet Gilles Vigneault: « Mon pays ce n’est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver. » My country is not a country, it is winter. It encapsulates a beautiful aspect of French Canadian culture, a deliberate commitment to refuse to put life on hold but instead to fully embrace this unique aspect of northern life.
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