Day two in Quebec City and we are in love with the city. The old city is … well … old. In a very good way. So there are lots of narrow streets and alleys loaded with character. And the food. Oh my! The food is simply amazing. It feels just like going to Europe, but without the jet lag.

We spent today wandering around the old city enjoying the ambience and looking for places to eat dinner. It’s what we usually do when we travel. One of the interesting things we saw was this building mural, which was amazingly lifelike. The characters in the mural are key characters from the last 400+ years of Quebec history.

Here is another smaller mural.

There isn’t any snow on the ground yet, but it is getting cold. In fact it was cold enough that we had to visit Simon’s, the local department store, to buy a warmer coat. It wasn’t just the temperature – the stiff wind was funnelling through that narrow streets and making it feel even colder. These pictures give you some idea of just how windy it was.

The Christmas markets open later this week, and we plan to check them out. The interesting thing is that these are billed as “German Christmas markets”. Not French markets, or European markets, but German markets. There is probably a story there, but I have no idea what it is. In preparation, the Christmas lights are everywhere.

One final thought. With all the talk about supply crunches we’ve been hearing there will even be a shortage of Christmas trees. I think we may have figured out the reason for the shortage…