Most Americans I have met love our Royal family so what
better way to end the exchange than by having a whole school jubilee
celebration. I have to say, when I thought of the idea, I didn’t realize what a
HUGE undertaking it would be. At Bliss it is relatively easy to run a themed
day as each class teacher can come up with an idea, think of a rotation system
that will work and off we all go. With 4 wings each with 7 or 8 classes, it
wasn’t that easy. However, an amazing task force of people volunteered their
time and efforts. Once we’d come up with the activities, thought about
schedules and supplies, engaged the wonderful PTO, and planned a British lunch
menu we were off.
Finally, and with much anticipation, our jubilee day
arrived. First came staff in their royal finery – everyone looked amazing in
their hats, dresses and gloves – then the children in theirs. It was a great
sight to see! All the children rotated through 7 activities : hat and
fascinator making, a British tea party (complete with cucumber sandwiches),
boat making for the Royal Flotilla on the Thames, British bingo and fox hunting
(only paper foxes were harmed), netball playing, Bliss song singing and a
virtual tour of the UK. We even had TV crews turn up (thanks to the reporter's child being in my class). It was a really fantastic day which everyone seemed to
enjoy. Maybe I could become a royalist after all… |
| The Royal Flotilla floats along the Thames! |
Time to rest after a crazy jubilee day? No…off to Quebec for the weekend, a mere 6 hour drive north. We did stop for a Toots ice-cream on the way though!
It was an INCREDIBLE drive once we got on the Old Canada
Road which follows the Kennebeck river through the mountains. Full of rolling
hills and beautiful vistas. Most exciting of all though, we got to see 2 wild
moose by the road side. I got rather giddy and did a little moose dance!
The earlier thrills of the drive wore off quickly upon
reaching Quebec and getting rather lost. Eventually we found our hotel in the
old city and plopped thankfully into bed.When we awoke, the sunshine had gone and was replaced with rain, rain and more rain. Waterproof jackets on, we headed out to explore. What a beautiful place. Full of winding cobblestone streets and little nooks and crannies.
There is even a furnicular which climbs up the hillside. A nice way to save a person's legs if they have any Canadian currency...
We wandered about a bit and then went on a St. Lawrence river cruise which explained a little about the history and some of the places surrounding the old city. It was also warm and dry, two huge advantages!
Afterwards, we went to watch a very quaint film and light show over a model of Quebec in the Musee de fort which told us about how the British captured Quebec, wrestling it from French control after several attempts thanks to General Wolfe, and fought off the marauding Americans.
There was no change to the weather on Sunday so we made our
way to the Musee de beau arts de Quebec. We saw some interesting Quebec art and
some amazing Inuit sculptures inside a building that was once a prison.
Supposedly, you could have good views from the top of the tower, however, we
had to imagine these! Instead we enjoyed the wooden sculptures coming through the ceiling...
A flying visit to Canada but an enjoyable one. It was fun to
speak my terrible French again and it was, as people had said it would be, like
visiting a pocket of Europe thanks to the old buildings, the absence of a
grid system and everything being in a foreign language!
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