We woke up this morning and actually went to the morning meditation yoga class. Tracie has actually gone the past two days, but I just couldn’t make myself get out of bed. There was something magical about the beds – seriously comfortable. I want one!!

We had an amazing yoga instructor. I didn’t even catch her name but she was a little older than the other instructors, and had such a soothing voice. Perfect for an early morning class. During the Saturday class we had two others join us. On Sunday it was just Tracie and I.  Tracie asked the instructor if she could take her home.  We all laughed.

Later Saturday morning we had follow-up appointments. I with my stretching coach, and finally my holistic health coach.  Both were great, very informative and inspiring. I have a plan and I’ll find out if I can stick to it! We decided to skip the Noon yoga class. We are both literally burned out from so much breathing, stretching and twisting our bodies in directions they doesn’t really want to go! In the end we also decided to skip the dinner-time session for the same reason. It actually felt good to only do yoga once.

The meals at the Monastere are absolutely excellent. Every meal has several fresh salads in the buffet, quinoa or couscous or something similar, delicious breads, soups, hot food choices. Breakfast is silent, although we seem to be whispering. We aren’t the only ones who do this but I know the real idea is to say nothing – just eat in a relaxing and mindful manner.

Lunch is the large meal here. After the salads and soup, you are served a hot meal of your choice. Actually you have three choices, a vegetarian meal, a fish meal, or a meat meal. Often the meat is wild game. On those days I stick with the vegetarian choice. I’ve had veal flank steak a couple times and its quite tasty. There is always a small shot glass dessert, more like a dairy-free cold dessert. Most of them are covered with a fruit puree and are just enough to satisfy any sweet tooth. I don’t usually feel like I need a dessert, but I’ll take them and enjoy them. And always herbal teas. They make their own teas and they are really delicious. They have fun names, like Hope, Harmony, Simplicity, etc.

They do something fun with the soup at dinner. Since dinner is the smaller meal, they serve a veggie based soup. It was sweet potato, squash, celery and zucchini, always some rich pureed soup. There is also a broth that is designed to add a protein and a mix of vegetables offered in the buffet line. I often used the  pureed soup and added fixins to it instead of to the broth. Regardless, the idea of having a soup, with separate add-ins sounds like an easy way to serve a quick meal at home.

Sunday was check out day. We enjoyed our morning, packed and headed down for a last lunch. Once done, we stored our bags at the reception area and ventured outside to see where our walking tour would meet the following day.  There were so many families out walking in the afternoon. I can only imagine how crowded the sidewalks must be in the summer.

Our Uber arrived at 4 pm and drove us the 15 minutes to our apartment. We would have walked but the snowy sidewalks deterred us from giving that a try. When I booked the apartment, I was given entry codes to the front door and apartment door. You never know how this will go. Normally someone is there to greet you but we just let ourselves in and marveled at how much space we have. This is a 2-bedroom, 1 bath apartment with large rooms, full kitchen and dining room, along with a roomy living room. Lots of windows as well, Quite the nice spot to spend the last 5 days of our Quebec City stay. We plan to make the most of it!

@quebeccity