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On Sunday, I took the bus to the Musée Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Québec. I had heard about an exhibit on the works of Berthe Morisot, one of only a few female painters in the Impressionist school. She was the sister-in-law of Édouard Manet, being married to his brother, Eugène. Strange for her time, she kept her maiden name after their marriage and continued with her artistic career.
Her art has been described as decidedly feminine: depicting women and domestic life.
The first painting in the exhibit was called Le Berceau (the cradle), one of Morisot's best-known works, which shows her sister Edma looking over the cradle of her daughter, Blanche. Edma and her children were common subjects in Morisot's art. Another of Morisot's frequent models was her and Eugène Manet's daughter, Julie.
Prior to looking in the exhibit, I got something to eat in one of the museum's cafe. The cafe did not have a good selection; I had a pita wrap with salami, ham, and cheese, which was only okay.

The next place I went was Cathédral-Basilica-de-Notre-Dame. It took me awhile to there. First, because I had a hard time finding the stop where I needed to catch the bus. Once I got off the bus, I went on yet another magical-mystery-tour of Quebec trying to find the cathedral. I went to Notre Dame de Quebec last Wednesday and wanted to see the crypts, which were closed at the time. Luckily, this time I was able to see the crypts. My tour began with seeing the remains of St. François de Laval, the first bishop of Quebec. He founded a seminary which became Laval University and was canonized by Pope Francis. The crypt itself contains the remains of the of the previous bishops of Quebec and the priests who served at Notre Dame de Quebec.

To find a place with wifi where I could find out how I could get back to Laval, I stopped in the Cafe de Boude, which has wifi, to have dinner. I had the fish and chips which were delicious. After dinner, I took the bus back to Laval.
Tuesday was the day that I was finally able to see the Musée du Fort. I took the bus to Chateau Frontenac, which I found out is across the street from the Musée du Fort, and searched around for a place where I could get wifi so I could use the Google Maps app on my phone to get around. My original plan was to find a McDonalds but since I could not connect to a wifi, I ended up going to the restaurant next door to the museum, which, in hindsight, was a better decision.

The restaurant is called Chicshack and it was one of the places that were recommended to me as one of the best places to get poutine: a Quebéçois dish made from fried potatoes, gravy, and cheese curds. Their poutine is indeed delicious.

The Musée du Fort consists of a diorama of the Quebec areas as it would have looked in the mid-1700s. There is a film about the history of Quebec projected over the diorama and parts of it light up as the story is told. Quebec was settled by the French in the early 1600s and over the next 150 years, the French and British fought for control of it. The British eventually won the territory after they defeated the French during the Seven Years War. A couple of decades later, George Washington sent continental forces to attack the British in Quebec, led by Benedict Arnold and General Montgomery, whose death was immortalized in a line from the musical Hamilton: "I was a captain under General Montgomery, till he got shot in the neck in Quebec." I watched the show two times: first in English, then in French.

The Musée du Fort is one of the places I want to take my parents to when they come to get me next month.
Four years ago, when I was in Paris, I saw posters for American movies dubbed in French and since then, I've been curious about what it would be like to see a movie in another movie. So on Saturday, I went to see Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again at Cinema Cartier.

I saw the movie twice: first in French, then in English. The French screening began at 2:50 pm, so I left Laval at two o'clock. The English screening began directly afterwards at five o'clock. I could follow the plot well enough well enough during the French screening but I caught some detail that I had previously missed during the English screening.

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again takes place five years after the original Mamma Mia movie. Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) deals with running her late mother, Donna's, hotel on the idyllic Greek island of Calacari, her long-distance relationship with her husband Sky (Dominic Cooper), and the news that she herself is to become a mother. Years earlier in 1979, free-spirited Donna (Lily James) travels to Greece and has relationships with three different men: awkward and adorable Harry (Colin Firth/ Hugh Skinner), dashing and adventurous Bill (Stellan Skarsgard/ Josh Dylan), and sensitive and restless Sam (Pierce Brosnan/ Jeremy Irvine), who are all possibly Sophie's father.
The transitions between the two stories are well done, though the Mamma Mia timeline does not make much sense. Sophie was conceived during the summer of 1979 and was probably born in 1980. She is twenty-five, so the film should take place in 2005 though it appears to take place in the present day.
I wanted to live in this movie: to go to a stunning Greek island, be romanced by three hot men, and not have a care in the world. The gorgeous scenery is the best part of the movie and feeds my desire to visit Greece. My summer wardrobe is going to be influenced by the clothes worn by Lily James as Donna. The musical numbers were a lot of fun and full of color and energy. My favorites were "I Have a Dream" when Donna explores the rundown farmhouse where she will make a home for herself, and "The Name of the Game" when she is in the afterglow of her new affair with Sam. Two of them were tearjerkers: "I've Been Waiting for You," which cuts between Sophie singing a tribute to her mother and Donna giving birth to Sophie, and "My Love, My Life" which cuts between the baptism of Sophie's son and her own baptism and features a cameo from Meryl Streep who played Donna in the first movie.
I enjoyed Mamma Mia as a cheesy fun but I think Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is the better of the two because I liked the story more. It's an upbeat, escapist summer movie and I would recommend it.