Travel Tuesdays: Oh Canada!!

Window view of Quebec City from Levis, Quebec 

The initial idea of going to Canada was brought about via a desire to go to an international location that wasn't too far away and in the same time zone.  The other part of the travel experience, was to host a career mentoring retreat.  We had a few initial interest but they fell through.  However, we had already made our travel plans.  Thereby, we used the time to conduct our annual business meeting.  Our 4-day agenda covered production contracts, new services rate card,  marketing materials, and an updated streamlined website to hosts our videos and blogs.  

But enough about business. You wanted to see pictures of Quebec City, and Levis, Quebec, Canada and the SNOW!!  It was a true white-out experience.

A walk around the neighborhood in Levis, Quebec

A mural on the side of a building in Quebec City

Sharee is all smiles against a white wonderland behind her

Rhonda strikes a quick smile even in -3 Celsius (26 Fahrenheit) degree weather

View from our apt in Levis, Quebec over looking Quebec City

Night view of Quebec City from Levis, Quebec apt

View of our apt from the ferry that crosses the St. Lawrence River
We took 200+ stairs down the hill to reach the ferry & back up on our return

The ferry took us across the St. Lawrence River from our Levis, Quebec apt to Quebec City and back

Public Transportation

My sister and I had a blast in NYC over the weekend during our family gathering. Other than hitting up a few eating spots and entertainment in Times Square, most of our time was spent traveling between shopping districts.  We assisted in shuffling thirty something people from place to place via NYC's ever changing public transportation system.  We did it all.  Train, bus, taxi, and ferry.  And for a directionally challenged individual like myself, the fact that I was able to get around via the various train and bus connections, and understand that the Uptown train takes you to "locations above" & the Downtown train takes you to "locations below" (if you live or ever been to Charlotte, NC...it's the complete opposite...Uptown is actually Downtown & Downtown is actually Uptown) is miraculous. Even after more than a dozen years living here, I still can't get around certain areas in Columbia, SC without my "trusty" GPS. Anyways....

chargrillkiller's photostream via Flickr

So in my wondrous thoughts about the ins and outs of getting around the various international cities we'll be visiting, my mind pondered on a few questions.  Here in America, there tends to be a "stigma" if you utilize public transportation services, but in other countries the train, "tube", bus, etc is the way to go. Are there certain cities where public transportation is acceptable, and others where it is not? Must the population be of a certain size to be "cool" to utilize public transportation? And with recent news in NYC about another subway fare hike, is public transportation becoming less accessible to the masses?  Any thoughts or inputs on the topic, greatly appreciated.

Sharee