Quebec
This time, we had succumbed to the traveller way, and booked ourselves into the hostel there. We trekked up a very long hill to the hostel, and actually it was a welcome sight - not nearly as bad as I had imagined. In fact it was a great place to stay, full of fellow travellers and having a real buzz of excitement and friendliness about it.
We were given our bedding and set to making up our bunk beds within our dormitory. We then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening wandering the streets, buying food from the French Marche and then cooking pasta in the hostel kitchen. It was quite surreal - it felt like we had gone back to university days fighting over utensils with our fellow travellers, then sitting in the bar eating, drinking murky pints and listening to a French man singing Bob Marley songs.
The next morning we awoke to the alarm clock of the couple in the adjacent bunk beds - they were away for the weekend from school, and it was very funny watching them trying to be so quiet and yet failing miserably. That evening we were moving into a private room - after all we were a married couple. 
We spent the day exploring the architectural wonders of this amazing city, and the views from the castle walls. We wandered down cobbled streets lined with boutiques, gift shops, restaurants and bars. It reminded me of Sauz D'oux in Italy where we had been skiing the year before. The Fairmont Hotel in the Old Town with its elegant furnishings was a haven for two travellers trying to escape the cold and wet and just have a few minutes of heat.
Quebec is a beautiful city and whilst we enjoyed being there and seeing the sights, we were beginning to look forward to the National Parks which were on our travelling agenda in the next few days. We had planned to stay longer in Quebec or return to Montreal, but there's only so much to see in a city, and with no money to spend we were beginning to wonder if we had trodden the streets one too many times. That's why at 11:30 that night we chose to change our plans, and opted to do a 19 hour journey to Halifax to see the second largest harbour in the world. That is the beauty of being a traveller - with no firm plans in place you can chop and change what you are planning to do. So with our room cancelled for the next night, we booked a room at the Halifax hostel and we hoped that Halifax would be worth the 38 hour return trip. At least by travelling for all that time, we saved ourselves quite a bit in accommodation costs. I never realised how much a bonus that would be!
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It's a funny thing travelling..it's not a holiday so you don't have much money to spend, you know how long you're away for and suddenly it dawns on you what that means...you crave contact with family and friends. One week away seems like an eternity maybe because you know how long you're going to be away for or maybe because there's not much to do on an evening - alcohol - you can't afford it, rooms - either shared, freezing or dirty, and so you spend your time talking and thinking. The only time reality hits is when you're in a kitchen cooking, when the room is buzzing with people or when you see an individual sat on their own reading. It's a lonely existence - you could be in a room full of people but your world consumes you. So many people say they find themselves when they are travelling, and at that time in Quebec, I truly came to believe that they were right. One things for sure, already we have met some amazing people on our travels - today we met a 60 year old English Gentleman who was away doing 3 marathons in 5 weeks - such an interesting and intriguing man, and unbeknown to us we would be meeting him again in the not so distant future - let's say for now - it's a very small world!!
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