Day 2

Olaf the Snowman (from Frozen)

Our second day in Quebec started with a phenomenal breakfast at the hotel, and shortly after, we departed for downtown to visit the winter carnival.  We got as far as the gate before learning that due to last night's snow, the park would open an hour later, meaning we would have to miss it completely.  However, we did get a chance to see the ice sculptures.  Soon, we got on the bus and headed off to our guided tour of the ice hotel.  Apparently, they really like cold here! We had two excellent tour guides lead us through the hotel, and then we had some time to roam around on our own.  Keeping with our theme for the week, there were several sculptures and rooms in the hotel dedicated to the Disney movie, Frozen.

Our next stop was inside the "old city." We stopped just outside of Le Chateau Frontenac, and we split up into smaller groups to visit some of the local restaurants.  The most popular seemed to be this unique French Canadian hole in the wall called Le Subway.  Some of us found a cool creperie, which was excellent.  We soon learned that it was the exact same place we were scheduled to eat dinner.  Whoops!

After lunch, it was off to St. Brigid's Home, a retirement community, where we performed to a very full house of residents, as well as some friends and relatives of Opus students.  The audience was extremely receptive, and one man even gave a very heartfelt speech to the orchestra after we were done to thank us.  The man spoke lovely French, but we don't really know what he said....someone assured us that it was beautiful though.  In all seriousness, the kids played really well, and we're looking forward to our next two performances.

Given our experience with unexpected road closures and freezing conditions during last night's parade, we decided not to attend the closing ceremonies for the carnival.  We came back to the hotel, some students went swimming, others got ready for dinner and just relaxed for a bit, but many we heard practicing on the sixth floor.  Yes, that's the truth!

Dinner time came, and we headed back to the old city for our old trusty creperie, this time for some fondue.  Once we figured out how we were supposed to cook the thin slices of raw beef in front of us, we had a fantastic meal, and a great new eating experience. Not to worry, there were also some lovely meatless pasta dishes available for our vegetarians. For dessert, we had crepes with whipped cream and maple butter.  Wow!

We had a great day, and the students have been awesome so far.  They are always on time, respectful, and we are constantly receiving compliments everywhere we go on what a great group they are.  They are getting along very well, and we are enjoying watching new friendships form, as well as old friends reconnecting who haven't seen each other in a long time.  Time for bed now, as we have another long day tomorrow, including our first performance for the general public.  More pictures coming soon, because I need to download Rosetta Stone tonight so that I can speak to the audience in perfect French tomorrow, which I certainly didn't do today....

Saturday Photos

Happy Sunday!  Here are some pictures from our dinner last night, and the sights right outside the restaurant.  Off to see the Ice Hotel and to have our first performance!

- Sam

A snowy rest stop in Vermont...

Day 1

What a day! The drive up was smooth, our drivers Peter and Lucky did a great job getting us and our instruments to Quebec safely and ahead of schedule. We had no issues at the border, and the border guard was very complimentary of our group's behavior.   Our hotel is beautiful, and our tour guides from USIT have us busy for the next few days.  Tonight, we had a great pasta and salad dinner at La Vieille Maison du Spaghetti, followed by a viewing of the winter carnival parade.  We learned a few things about Canada tonight.  1. It's cold.  2. It doesn't seem to bother people here.  3. They have a parade to celebrate how cold it is outside.

We had a little trouble connecting with the bus after the parade due to some traffic issues, but we are now all thawed out and back at the hotel. The kids are in bed resting up for a long day tomorrow, which includes our first performance!

We have wifi at the hotel, but not while we are out.  If you are trying to get in touch with me or your child, and they have an iPhone, please make sure you're sending your message as a text, rather than an iMessage. Otherwise, it won't be seen until we get wifi service.

More coming tomorrow, including some pictures from our adventures today.  Bonne nuit!

Hi!

We've set up this blog in order to keep you all up to date on our adventures north of the border.  Check us out for daily updates, pictures and video of our live performances!