My ipad travel blog: Quebec City Day 2-September 27, 2015

I had a leisurely start to my second day in Quebec.

One of the fun parts of travel is looking out into different street scenes.

After a very nice breakfast we dropped Michael off at the Centre de Conservation, as there was an open house that afternoon. The Centre de Conservation is unique in Canada as Quebec is the only province that has such a centre.

Rene took me back to the old town

and this was my opportunity to

visit the English Language Library.

You have to love that staircase!

I could imagine Charles Dickens speaking her long ago.

It is a beautiful building

I have to admit though that despite being part of the English speaking minority in the province of Quebec, I never felt like I was part of a minority until I worked at a French speaking camp the summer I turned 21. Now I did grow up in an area settled initially by English speakers but perhaps this beautiful building says a bit about the power of the English once had in this province.

Life has changed quite a bit since then...

Then we were off back to the Centre de Restoration

And it was really fun to see the different departments.

Michael taught a term at Queen's University and a group of his former students made the 5 and half hour trip to tour as well.

Not just paintings are restored here but statues,

clothing such as this loyalist uniform and even paper (maps, books, photographs)

I really admire the people who work here-I can't imagine having the patience or the skill! I also really like how the Quebec Government really seems to care about the preservation of historical artifacts.

We left Michael at work and we went to classy Maguire Avenue in upscale Sillery. Rene knew of another chocolate shop that we had to sample. And then we sat a pleasant cafe and had tea and compared today's chocolates to yesterdays. All were delicious but we chose yesterday's as the very best. It was soon time to retrieve Michael

Rene and Michael had a swing dance lesson and I took a break

but I did a bit of neighbourhood photography

I need to research why they built these outdoor staircases in snowy icy Quebec.

I like the screen effect!

Then we set off for dinner nearby on Jacques Cartier.

After an Indian dinner we were looking for the eclipse of the moon.

It was really neat to watch

We had a clear view from their balcony but my iPhone was not really quite a good enough camera to capture what we saw but I borrowed these images from a couple of good photographers with good cameras!