We had more and more glimpses of the St. Lawrence today as we headed east along Canadian route 20 from just outside Quebec City and on to route 132 and the western edge of what is commonly referred to as "Gaspesie" (the Gaspe peninsula). Although it wasn't a particularly good day for picture taking because of gray skies and intermittent drizzle, we enjoyed the terrain as it changed from flat farmland to rolling hills, and had fun getting more familiar with the French language by trying to understand road signs and billboards (with dictionary in hand). We're watching tonight's news in French - is there any chance that we'll understand what we're seeing by the end of our trip?
A couple of random observations so far:
(1) There are an inordinant amount of places up here named after saints (Ste or St something). Perhaps just as telling is the fact that every little town we see, no matter how modest, seems to have a cathedral-like church in its center.
(2) We brought a small amount of Canadian currency with us (planning instead to use our credit cards for most purchases). I've already encountered a couple of vendors that have easily accepted U.S. dollars with no adjustment for the devaluation; their explanation is that "I'll use the U.S. dollars - I go to Florida every year". I wonder if they know about the other 49 states.
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