Stupid Americans

So, we thought that Montreal was pretty European, but it turns out that Quebec City is like Montreal to the tenth power or something. It is pretty much indistinguishable from any city in France except for the fact that Kathy can still turn on the TV and find a rerun of the season finale of Grey's Anatomy.

We even had a restaurant hostess be rude to us, just like in France! Seriously, we walked into a restaurant with at least six or seven open tables and were told "We are not seating people anymore." Not "There will be a thirty minute wait, can I have your name?" Not even "We're sorry, but we're completely booked for the rest of the day -- maybe come back tomorrow?"

But like France, Quebec can get away with that because it's so damn charming.


See, tell me that picture isn't France all over.

Anyway, the main part of Quebec City is this very well-preserved old city with a wall around it. As Kathy and I were walking along the wall today, we realized that we didn't really know what or who exactly Quebec's wall was supposed to be protecting the city from. In fact, we realized we don't know diddly-squat about the history of Canada or who its enemies were. We actually found it a little surprising that Canada ever had any enemies at all -- such a nice, pleasant country. Who could hate good ol' Canada?

Thus we proved true the image of the stupid American who doesn't know anything about the history of the rest of the world. Alas.

It turns out Quebec has been attacked several times. It was originally founded by the French, then captured by the British in the 1760's. Then, the U.S. attacked Quebec on several occasions, including during the War of 1812.

Huh? The U.S. attacked Canada during the War of 1812? Damn, I need to retake my 10th grade history class. I guess Americans are stupid.

I will end this post by posting this picture that Kathy wanted me to share:

Talk to you back in the U.S. (Oh, and for the record, FALL has not reached Quebec City.)