Date:         Wed, 4 May 2005 11:29:26 -0400
Reply-To:     Doug Alcock <doug.alcock@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Doug Alcock <doug.alcock@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Canada, Quebec side trip
Comments: To: Al and Sue Brase <albeeee@mchsi.com>
In-Reply-To:  <42785448.80403@mchsi.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hi Al --- you're right, 48 hours isn't much time. Don't worry about
starving to death, many Quebecois speak excellent English. I always
start any conversation in my limited French, very often I am instantly
rescued by a reply in English. A friend and I once spent an hour at a
Quebec city outdoor cafe talking (in French) to the people we were
sharing a table with. The conversation got quite philosophical and all
of us were having trouble conveying the concepts we wanted to.
Finally, one of the Quebecois --- frustrated at our lack of
understanding --- started to speak near perfect English to get his
point across. It turned out, to our shock, that they all spoke
English. We asked why they hadn't just said so and were told --- 'you
guys were doing fine in French'. The moral of the story, I figure, is
that your attempt to speak as much French as you can will be
appreciated and you'll get a better response than if you walk up
somewhere and say, "Anyone here speak English?". Get to the old town
of Quebec city if you can, it's beautiful and has an essence that is
much more European than North American. If you're travelling during
the summer pay attention to nailing down your campsite for the next
night. The Quebecois seem to be avid campers and campsites can be in
short supply.

Cheers,
Doug

On 5/4/05, Al and Sue Brase <albeeee@mchsi.com> wrote:
> I'll be making a quick trip out to the east coast, New hampshire,
> actually and have decided to make a side trip to Ottawa and Quebec. I'll
> only have about 48 hours time. Any suggestions on what to see up there?
> (I know, that's not very much time!)
> I've always wanted to visit Quebec. I just hope I don't starve to death
> considering I only know about 3 wours of French!
> Al Brase
> (better copy me on the mail header. I'm not sure I was successful at
> turning my mail back on.)
>