Bury Your Dead

Morrin Centre, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

My spouse and I read Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny together. I enjoy her mysteries and this one was particularly fun as it takes place in Quebec City. We spent a few days there this past week so I thought it would be fun to highlight some of the places mentioned in the book.  Above is the Morrin Centre, once a prison, later a college that was affiliated with McGill University and for some time now, the home of the Literary and Historical Society, an anglophone institution in Quebec. It features prominently in the book.

This is the library in the Morrin Centre - the only English library in Quebec City. The book, aside from being a fun read, is a great way to learn more about the history of the Literary and Historical Society (the Lit and Hist) as well as the history of Quebec City.



We had breakfast here - a favourite of my spouse, who spent about six months living just up the street from this café. The characters in the book frequent this café at 8 1/2 rue Ste-Ursule.

The cafe is across the street from 9 3/4 Ste-Ursule which also features prominently. Each building has a number. If there is more than one door to the building it gets differentiated by being 1/2 or 3/4...

Vieux-Québec (Old Quebec) is full of stone buildings with metal roofs and windows surrounded by wood. Many buildings date from the 1700s and 1800s. There are a few buildings still standing fromt he late 1600s. Could this be the stone home of Émile on St-Stanislas?



Quebec is known for great food. Paillard is a bakery, with lots of tables for people to sit and linger over coffee and whatever tempts you.

Le Café Buade is in a building that dates from the 1800s. There has been a restaurant here since 1919. We, like the characters in the book ate here. Cafés are a great place to linger - to chat, to read (or to discuss a criminal case as in the book).



This church, around the corner from the Lit and Hist features in the book. It is an English church - most in Quebec are French Catholic.



And yet another cafe - a great place to stop for a meal. We stayed a while and worked on a crossword. We had done a fair amount of walking up and down the hills of Vieux-Québec.

More Quebec pictures to come. And do think of reading the book!

Snow in Quebec City

Snow in Quebec City, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Mon pays c'est l'hiver - Gilles Vigneault (my country is winter)

A snowy, rainy, slushy, freezing rain day in Quebec City - but the weather did not dampen my enthusiasm for the architecture. Much of old Quebec has been preserved and their are strict rules as to what can be done to buildings. Some date as far back as the 1600s (Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608).


The Catholic Church wielded a lot of power over the people of Quebec for many years. Churches are prominent in all parts of the city.



Quebec is one of the snowiest cities on the planet. Many homes have steeply sloping roofs, but snow still accumulates. It is not unusual to see ladders set up for the roof cleaners. In milder weather, walk far from the houses as snow and ice can drop unexpectedly.


Gabled windows are a common architectural feature in Old Quebec.



The houses are often made of stone. Everything looks so solid.