PlanetEye

Celebrating the birth of a city is very much a celebration of its founders.    In Quebec's case, the celebration of its 400^th anniversary focuses a lot on its founder Samuel de Champlain a French cartographer and explorer who became governor of the New France.   His actions on and around the Saint Lawrence River are significant.

Yet no one knows really what Champlain looked like and so an emphasis is put on his deeds as a mean for people of the 21 century can get to know the man whose initiative went far beyond his professional occupations to the making of Quebec the center of a powerful colony.

Many activities are offered during the spring and summer to allow visitors and residents alike to travel back in time and discover traces of Champlain's accomplishments.   

•1-      Park Canada' teams who have been doing archaeological investigations under the Duffrin Terrace by the Chateau Frontenac have organised visits of this site were was built Saint-Louis fort and Chateau who served for 200 years as the official residence and the seat of power for French and British governors.   It burned in 1834 and was central to the political, social and cultural life of the city.

•2-      A fascinating encounter with Samuel de Champlain is proposed by the Musée de la Civilisation as you visit Québec of the 1635 through a scaled model and get to know Champlain and his time thanks to d film technology, travel narratives, maps and drawings.

•3-      Quebec's Citadel, the residence of the Governor General of Canada will be the exhibition place of an unusual object.   A 2.2 meters high and 1.5meters wide book: Le grand Livre de Champlain presented by the French cities of La Rochelle, Royan and Rochefort.   All the pages are written and drawn by hand based on Samuel de Champlain's notebooks

Of course, tribute is also paid to other figures that have left their imprint on the city's history. We will tell you about these soon.

 If you come to celebrate Québec City's 400^th anniversary, various organisations have worked hard to make thing very easy for you.  Moving around the city, for instance has always been convenient thanks to the buses of the Capital Transportation System.  Well as of May 31, it will be event easier, more adapted to your needs and best of all, cheap if not entirely free.

As of May 31, a special shuttle will go into service taking you from Beauport to the Aquarium of Québec along the Saint Lawrence River, going through the newly reorganized Champlain Park, with its works of art and various attractions.  Thanks to the financial contribution of Industrial Alliance the card that will give you access for a full day to this shuttle, allowing to get off at the sixteen points of interest on the itinerary and re-boarding it again as often as you want will cost only CA$2.00.  Further, the shuttle will have numerous point of transfer with regular bus lines.  From May 31, to August 31, it will operate every 30 minutes from 10:00AM to 11:00PM seven days a week.  From September 1 to October 13, it will only operate on week-ends and holydays.  This service will be much appreciated also for it will allow to come close to the many waterfront activities scheduled

Serving passengers for free, a series of Ecolobus (bus powered by electricity) will go around the Old city.  It will start form the pier of the shuttle to and from Levy and take you up to the walled city and around the parliament building.

For more information go to http://www.rtcquebec.ca/

One of Quebec's greatest qualities is that it allows for both urban and countryside activities, all year round.   If you are an outdoor person and you want to get a break from sightseeing tours and fine dining, this time of the year, fishing is a great alternative.   Close by, around the city, are about 119 places that can accommodate the 813,000 people who fish on a regular basis.  79% of them are between the age of 35 and 65. These are official numbers given by the Ministry of Natural Resources.  It would then seem that fishing is a sport for adults. Yet there are more and more young people, children even, who go along to enjoy the adventure, and an adventure it is for, as a friend of mine said:  «fishing is as diverse are there are places to fish in and fishes to catch».

Being an adventure, you have to know the rules set by the provincial authorities.  First you need to get a permit (you can get one at any local sports equipment store and the price is reasonable)   Also, you have to find out if the place you want to go to is classified as a faunistic reserve, to which access by automobile and motor boat may be restricted.   Also the periods during which fishing is allowed and the quantity of fishes that you can catch depend on the area.  And so I strongly suggest that you check before with the authorities at http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/.   It may sound troublesome but it's not really and a fishing trip in the area is so much fun.  One last word of advise:  bring your own equipment, I have not yet found a place here where you can rent such material. 

From May 14 to May 31, Québec will host the 2008 edition if the Carrefour International de theatre, an extraordinary gathering of actors, directors and critics celebrating the universal art of the theatre.   It is unique occasion to discover contemporary artistic productions from other countries.   In deed, foreign productions make up for more than half the program.   It is also the opportunity to appreciate original productions from Quebec that are either revivals or works by emerging artists.   According to the organizers, this year's program will be festive, in line with the celebrations of the city's 400^th

anniversary.   It will offer incursions in other fields like dance, circus, music and multimedia.   This year, one of the ten major productions will take place on Avenue Cartier, where many young adults hang out and enjoy the many sidewalk cafés.  Another promising performance will be that of Secret, a performance that literally walks the taut tightrope of circus art.  It's a solo performance by Johann le Guillerm, from France.  Also scheduled is Dave St.-Pierre most provocative production in which twenty dancers, fully naked, create living tableaux while a Mistress of Ceremony talks about love customs of our times.

Also as part of this Festival, forty young French Canadian artists will  present readings of their works in progress and creative workshops open to all.   

A detailed program and ticket information are available at http: http://www.carrefourtheatre.qc.ca/

On may 1^st will be inaugurated Quebec's biennial artistic event:  MANIFDART, a

 celebration of contemporary creators from the city and elsewhere.   This forth edition will be the largest of all.  The main exhibitions will be held in newly converted commercial spaces on St Joseph street, in the St. Rock area that has positioned itself as the artistic district of the city, with many artists studios, the Laval University school of fine arts, an important public library and Materia, the exquisite showroom of Quebec's Council for Arts and Crafts.   Many other institutions, all over the city : libraries, cafés, galleries, museums... will joint in the manifestation and host events such as lectures, films, installations, poetry readings, photography, dance and a large number of other activities all of which are expressions of the most contemporary trends in art.   Close to 80 artists or groups from all over Canada, the US and Europe are participating in this 4^th

edition of MANIFDART and are available for discussions and exchange with local visitors and artists.

Participation to most events is free but you can purchase a pass (Manif-carte) that will give you access to all the paid exhibitions for the duration of the event:  from May 1^st. to June 15, 2008. Cost for the Manif-carte is CA$ 8.00 for

 adults and CA$ 6.00 for students.

For more information and for the whole program of activities you can visit the website:  http://www.manifdart.org/ or write to info@manifdart.org .

While everyone (well almost) in Quebec was absorbed by the Hockey tournament, something very interesting happened, a sort of competition that did not however hit the medias.   Early on Saturday morning, a group of people raced up and down some of the many stairways found in Quebec City. 

To fully understand the interest of this activity, it is essential to know that the city has a particular topography dividing it in two sections:  the upper and the lower city: the upper part, at first essentially residential, the lower part essentially commercial, industrial (Québec was once an important port of entry into North America).  

There were and are still up and downhill winding slopes allowing for vehicular access, but the need for  more direct ways for pedestrians to go from one part of the city to the other led to the construction of some twenty two stairways.  Initially built in wood, at the end of the nineteenth century, at the initiative of the architect Charles Baillairge, many were replaced by ornate cast iron structures, a modern material at the time.   These stairs are still in existence today and widely used.   In 1986, because they are considered essential pedestrian means of access, they were given names just like streets and avenues. 

If you care to do some cardio while you are visiting, try going up any one of them.  It's an excellent exercise.  

Quebec has a particularly strange monument: a sculpture by the French artist Jean-Pierre Renaud called Dialogue with History.   It is placed in the middle of the Square of Paris, down by the river side.  At first sight, you might think, like I did, and like many others did, mistake it for some scaffolding, protecting a statue under restoration.  Well it's not and there is nothing underneath:  just a cement block.  It is covered however by squares of marble with black interstices that make the whole thing look like a giant white Rubik's cube.  And may be it is; contemporary art works sometimes have various interpretations.

The title however Dialogue with History refers to the generations of French men and women who settled in this part of North America, so I guess the Rubik's ideal is out, the puzzle being just over 25 years old and the French began arriving here over 400 years ago.  So think of an interpretation when you see it on your next visit.

You must know that it has had little success among the population and has baffled many visitors.  It is said that, when it was inaugurated in 1987, even Jacques Chirac, who was then mayor of Paris, had some tickly remarks.

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