My third week in Quebec ended with me running low on funds, so I had planned on not doing anything until Monday when my mom would be able to put some more money on my debit card. When I called her, she told me that I had a hundred dollar more than I thought I did. So on Sunday, I went to the Musée des Ursulines.

    I got off the bus at the Station d'Youville and stopped at a Tim Horton's for lunch on the way to the museum. Tim Horton's is a fast food chain here in Canada.

    The Musée des Ursulines is part of a Ursuline convent which once ran a boarding school for girls. The Ursulines have been a fixture of Quebec's educational system since the colony's early days in the 1600s but the current convent/school dates to the nineteenth century. The first exhibit was about the embroidery which the Ursulines were famous for.

There was a piece of burlap put out so that guests could try their hands at embroidery. I embroidered my name.

    The rest of the exhibits were dedicated to life at the Ursuline convent, specifically the boarding school it ran. One focused on the artistic accomplishments such as music, drawing, and painting which contained art supplies and musical instruments.

Another was about the sciences such as biology, geography, and chemistry. It had a fascinating cabinet filled with specimens such as stuffed birds and seashells.

The last two exhibits were about life for the convent's students.

I finished my visit by taking a look at the convent's chapel.

Tuesday night was my fourth excursion: a dinner at Aux Anciens Canadiens. At 3:30, I met with the group heading into Vieux-Québec. We arrived a little bit early so we went into the lobby of the nearby Chateau Frontenac. The lobby has an exhibit on the famous people who have visited Chateau Frontenac such as Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II.

    I would definitely recommend Aux Anciens Canadiens; the food is wonderful.

Our first course was some kind of terrine, which was delicious. I asked the waitress what kind of terrine it was and she said: pheasant and elk. For my main course, I had ragoût de boulettes grand-mère which is meatballs and potatoes in gravy that were fantastic. Dessert was an excellent maple syrup tart. During the meal, I made small talk with the three other girls who sat at my table: Molly, who is from Calgary, Sonya, who is from Vermont, and Laura, who is from Spain. It was a wonderful evening.

I had planned to go on the trip to Cape-Rouge and Plague Jacques-Cartier on Thursday but I was not feeling well, so I skipped it. One of the places on my "to see" list was the Monastère des Augustines and fortunately, Laval was running a trip there on Friday.

The Monastère des Augustines was founded in the seventeenth century by three young Augustinian nuns. The Augustines are a nursing order, like the Ursulines are a teaching order, and their monastery once contained a hospital. Today it is a wellness center, which offers services such as yoga classes and massages, and a museum which displays artifacts from the monastery's history.

As someone who enjoys needlework, one item I found interesting was a pall, a piece of cloth which covers the top of a communion chalice during mass, embroidered by a nun that lived in the monastery.

An interesting fact that I learned was that when a young woman took the vows to become a nun, she wore a wedding dress and was given away by her father since becoming a nun was seen as marrying Christ.

After our tour of the museum, we walked out through the monastery's garden, where we said hello to two of the nuns who live on the premises. The Monastère des Augustines is a place I would like to bring my mom when my parents come to visit.

Saturday was my fifth excursion: to Montmorency Falls and Île d'Orléans.
We left Laval around ten o'clock and our first stop was Montmorency Falls. There's a bridges which crosses over the Falls and has a spectacular view.

Those who are braver than I am can zip line across. That's what my mom's friend Dawn did when they visited a few weeks ago. After walking over the bridge, we descended down to the bottom of the falls. Stairs are my mortal enemy, so I'm thankful that I didn't have to climb back up again. The breeze coming off of the falls felt wonderful on such a hot and humid day.

In Île d'Orléans, we stopped for ice cream at the Chocolaterie de l'Île d'Orléans. This part of the island reminded me of the town in Maryland where my grandparents used to have a vacation home: lush, humid setting; quirky small-town feel. At the Chocolaterie de l'Île d'Orléans, I tried the maple syrup ice cream which was delicious but very rich.

When we were finished with our ice cream, we drove to the a cinder farm called the Cidrerie/ Verger Bilodeau. The drive through this part of Île d'Orléans reminds me of the one through the New Jersey countryside to my Aunt Suzie's house or through rural eastern Massachusetts to my mom's antique shop in Rowley: fields and farms and folksy mom and pop shops.

At the cider farm, we tried several examples of its produce. My favorite types of cider were "Nectar Glacé" and "Le Petit Bonheur," which is flavored with maple. I would have bought a bottle of each but I didn't have enough money. Behind the shop are pens for animals: sheep, goats, a pony, and an alpaca. Using one of those coin operated feed dispensers, I was able to give them treats.

Next week is my final week here in Quebec and I cannot wait to see what other adventures are in store for me.