Week 6 - Quebec City, highlight of the week!



Quebec City, Chateau Frontenac

On the road to Quebec City

Tuesday, July 5, 2011: We leave for Quebec City via Enterprise Car Rental!
It's a 2.5 hour drive parallel to the St. Lawrence River.  Lots of lush, green countryside views of small towns and farms along the freeway.  We arrive around 3:00 pm at the Four Points by Sheraton, Levis. 

 First View of Vieux Quebec

There is a shuttle from hotel to the Quebec ferry that leaves at 3:30 and 5:30. We get settled, catch the ferry to QC City  from the 5:30 shuttle. From the ferry, our first real glimpse of the magical city of Quebec. 

Terrasse Dufferin
The Chateaux in background

We spend afternoon walking though the quaint buildings and shops above the Ferry Landing.  At the level where the Chateau Frontenac/Fairmont Hotel is, we’ve walked up several sets of stairways to the Terrasse Dufferin that eventually takes us to the Promenade des Gouveneurs (and more stairs) that leads us to the Plaines d’Abraham (or the Battle Grounds around the Citadelle). Then back down through Old Quebec to get a feel for the village.

St. Lawrence River - Levis Ferry

After this long, hot, scenic walk, we stop for refreshment the Chateau Frontenac terrace. There’s a view of the St. Lawrence (St. Laurent) River and a light, balmy breeze is provided with John’s beer and my golden Mojito along with two glasses of ice water.   We are so impressed by the ambiance of the castle, on our way out of the Chateau,  we make dinner reservations for the next night.  We’ve missed the shuttle for the hotel (there’s one more at 11:30 pm, but it’s 8:30 now) so we hail a taxi.

By the time we get back, we find out what time the hotel restaurant closes and find we have less than an hour before it closes, so we shower and change into clean, fresh clothes and have dinner at 9:30 pm. After drinks and dinner, we crash and ready ourselves for the next day.

 It is a beautiful sun shiny day when we get up.  But we've slept in and are getting a late start and take 12:30 shuttle to ferry.  By the time we are on the ferry, the rain begins, when in the  old City it is pouring rain.  We decide to eat lunch, until the rain lets up.  We eat at Spag-a-tini across from the ferry landing.  After lunch, the rain lets up a bit and we venture off to find a tour that's not outside, but first we find a shop and buy and umbrella. Then a stop at tourist information center.  The tourist info clerk is very helpful and suggests we take the Parliament building tour at 4:00.  That gives us time to wander around inspect more of the old city, peek at the Cathedral Notre Dame and ruins of an old fort. Then to the Parliament Building (Hotel du Parlement) tour.  It was a perfect tour for us, I got to see the art, the inside and constructions of this historic building and John got to learn more of the historic politics of Quebec.  We both learned something to appreciate about this lovely and facsinating provence. 

Hotel du Parlement

Salle de L'Assemblee Nationale

A quick trip back to the hotel for John's workout and jacuzzi for me at the Sheraton, then we drive back to the ferry to make our dinner reservations at the Castle.

Dinner at Chateau Frontenac, now a Fairmont Hotel, is elegant and enjoyable. Three waiters helping us would seem a little much for us, but it was very nice to be fussed over and helped with decisions of drink, appetizers and entrée.  We started with a "real" Cesar Salad prepared by one of our attentive waiters, Pier-Marc, who was impressed that we knew that the Cesar Salad was invented in Tijuana, Mexico and told us some other facts that we pretended we didn't know.  Before the entrées were served a small scoop of cucumber sorbet was served to cleanse the palate to be ready for our entrées of lapin (rabbit) and biche (venison).  After the satisfying dinner, we are asked if we want dessert, after declining, a plate of small delights is served compliments of the house - white fudge, chocolate cookie, and a chocolate truffle for each of us help make this dinner complete and satifying.

Lapin with Purple Mashed Potatoes

Venison with Fromage Stuffed Fig

It's about 10:30 when we catch the ferry back to Levis.  The ferry landings, both in quebec City and Levis seem to be lit up with street lites or amusement ride lights.  It is a very romantic ferry ride back - it has stopped raining, too, so we don't need our umbrella.

Nite Lights - the Castle

Lights at Ferry Landing

Thursday morning we pack and drive back on the south side of the St Lawrence and find the country side much the same without the "big" city of Trois-Rivieres, half way between Montreal and Quebec City.  We get home for time to rest and reflect on our first adventure out of Montreal.  I hope to have more of these adventures in the next months.

French Class

The weekend brings things like housekeeping duties, grocery shopping, cooking and reading. Oh, yes, and our Saturday French class with a trip to McGill after class.  John needs some information for a paper he is to write and I have time to relax in an airconditioned study room and read my handy Kindle - this week "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court".  

Fireworks from England this Saturday nite - lots of fireworks on the ground this week, so from our rooftop view, not so impressive as there is a tall building blocking the  fireworks on the ground.

Plans for the coming week - writing for John, woodblock cutting and test prints for me.  A work week, I guess you can call it.  Hot steamy days and rain storms in the evening are predicted for this week.  Sounds exciting, doesn't it?