Woke up with a dang headache. Ugh, hate that. Anyhow, staggered down to McDonalds to get the kids some breakfast (sausage biscuit and sausage egg McMuffin, though they didn’t call them exactly that, this being Quebec) before Michelle and I could get our breakfast at the pastry shop (Paris Croissant) down the street. I had a twist with chocolate and a strawberry and cream cheese strudel, Michelle a cinnamon bun. Addison even got in on the action and got himself a strawberry and cream cheese strudel, though I’m sure he offended everyone by asking for “one of those toaster strudels.” The place is nice but they play this techno-pop or something that the night before was fine but in the morning, with a headache, far less so…
Our hotel, the Hotel Manoir Victoria
Walked the streets a bit to get oriented and did some shopping. Quebec, more than any city I’ve been to in North America, feels like a European city. Close together buildings, steep hills, a street layout that looks like a drunk designed, lots of old stonework and wrought iron, etc.
Typical old town Quebec street scene
It is an old city, founded on July 3, 1608 by Samuel de Champlain. It remained in French hands until captured by the English in 1759 during the Seven Years’ War. The British colonies to the south (soon to be the United States of America) tried unsuccessfully to capture the town under generals Montgomery and Arnold (yes, that Arnold — before he turned traitor) in 1775. Scattered throughout the town are flags celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the founding as well as this cool “statue” of a ship found in one of the squares:
Quebec City, founded in 1608
Addison picked up a belt in a Native American store — turns out the belt is made in the U.S. — but of course he later decides it is too big. He never tries things on in the store, so, yeah, that happens! Also got a couple of magnets for the magnet collection.
Store selling Native American goods
One thing we’ve had to be careful of is these tiny electric buses that run a route through the old city. They are silent as ninjas (or, at least, as silent as I imagine a ninja is).
What a ninja that can transform into a bus might look like.
I managed to take some pictures here and there but as the sky was an almost uniform gray they aren’t that great. Man, I hate that sky — it totally kills any chance of nice looking outdoor pictures! We wandered up to the front of the Chateau Frontenac and sat along the Dufferin Terrace, a beautiful “boardwalk” overlooking the St. Lawrence (or Saint-Laurent) river. While I tried to kill my headache we listened to a performer belting out Sinatra lyrics. He wasn’t bad! The terrace has tons of seating along benches facing the river and little covered gazebo areas. Large cargo ships, many heading to or from the Great Lakes, passed beneath us. What a beautiful place.
Dufferin Terrace, Quebec City
This view from Dufferin Terrace would be beautiful were it not for the weather, honest!
Statue of Samuel de Champlain at Dufferin Terrace
Still feeling bad, but knowing we should probably eat a light lunch prior to our high tea at the Chateau Frontenac at 2p, we headed out in search of food. We ended up at this place called “L’Omelette.” It was a pretty charming place and the prices fairly reasonable, as reasonable as anything gets in Quebec that is — what an expensive town! However the service was a bit slow, perhaps the kitchen was overwhelmed. It was also quite hot and humid and my headache just kept pounding. I drank an apple and strawberry smoothie that, while good, was overpriced for the serving size. I decided to just skip lunch and have some Quebec maple syrup pie. Holy crap, that was wonderful! It is like pecan pie with the brown squishy filling but instead of having pecans and tasting like them it tasted like maple syrup. Addison had a burger he didn’t like much, Genetta got a ham omelette she liked, and Michelle some bread and cheese that was so-so.
Went on to Chateau Frontenac and, despite the headache, decided to proceed with tea. We were seated in a room with an awesome view of the river. Stained glass heraldic crests lined the tops of the windows and wood rafters defined the space. Our waiter was great and had us sniff all ten varieties of tea they offered, including one that technically wasn’t a tea but a South African bush (Michelle said it smelled like grass clippings, I think she was right). I chose the Maple Maple (of course!) to which I added maple sugar cubes.
High tea room, Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City
You should’ve seen us trying to class it up. We did a pretty good job at it (though I had no idea what this implement that looked like a strainer was for — turns out it was for pouring the tea through so no tea leaves got in the cup) and I was very proud of the kids. We started with some seasonable fruits (watermelon, an orange cherry thing, raspberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, honey dew, etc.), then that was followed up by a three-tiered lazy susan type of contraption.
The bottom level had salty finger foods like ham and asparagus (yum) and a bunch of stuff I wouldn’t eat (and probably significantly jacked up the price — oh well) like pate, shrimp mousse, salmon, etc. Genetta did try, and hate, the pate. Amazing! The middle level had ginger cookies, scones, etc. — all the cake-like stuff. The top level had more fruit-oriented concoctions with strawberries and the like. Still being full from lunch and nursing a (fortunately abating) headache I largely passed on the food. I did enjoy my three cups of tea, however, and the service was great. It was also fun just enjoying an hour or so sipping tea with the family.
My headache nearly gone, we returned to the terrace to await our turn to tour Chateau Frontenac at 4p. It was led by a lady in a Victorian dress costume. She stayed in character pretty well. We learned that the Chateau opened in 1893 with over 150 rooms and had expanded several times since to have over 600 rooms. It is nearly solidly booked in the high season of summer. They have 12 km of halls and just over 700 staff. Mind-boggling. We learned that the hotel was one of six built by the Canada Pacific Railway (Chateau Laurier being another) as a way of attracting travelers to use their trains.
Entry courtyard for Chateau Frontenac
We visited the Lindbergh suite, named after him but there is no evidence he actually slept there. The copper roof of the hotel took several years to go from copper to green and lasted 100 years but is now in the process of being replaced. Unfortunately, this continued the trend of some of the buildings I most want to photograph being obscured by scaffolding.
Chateau Frontenac with wonderful tarp and scaffolding obscuring the main tower, ugh.
There is an interior garden on the roof of one of the smaller parts of the hotel where chickens are raised (for eggs) and bees are also kept. It was really cool to see that kind of behind-the-scenes stuff. The tour wrapped up with a visit to one of the banquet rooms — beautiful chandeliers and painted walls and ceilings.
Garden with chicken fence, Chateau Frontenac
Banquet hall, Chateau Frontenac
I took some more photos on our walk back to the hotel. We also stopped at a gift shop or two and bought a couple of magnets. After relaxing an hour or so we set out to Chez AshTon for dinner. Chez AshTon is a Quebec fast food restaurant that is practically next door to our hotel. We went there on the concierge’s recommendation for decent poutine. He claimed that Chez AshTon invented it (technically, it’s in dispute) and that was the best bet.
Chez AshTon, purveyors of fine poutine
What is poutine? It is a food invented in Quebec in the late-50s or early-60s, though there are several different origin stories. It is fries covered with gravy and cheese curds in its most basic form. However, different regions and different restaurants do variations of it. Chez AshTon, for example, had the basic poutine (pronounced poo-tin) as well as one covered with green peas and another covered with ground beef and thinly sliced sausage.
So, I had the basic poutine (in a very generous “mini” size) and a roast beef and cheese sandwich. The sandwich wasn’t bad, like a better Arby’s. The poutine, however, wasn’t entirely to my liking. While I loved the gravy and fries (I mean, who doesn’t?!) I couldn’t get past the texture of the cheese curds. They were kind of spongy and firm, almost like Circus Peanut candy. Not only that, but they didn’t add a whole lot to the experience taste-wise. I think I’ll stick with my fries with gravy and parmesan cheese concoction (from now on known as pseudo-poutine, or pseutine, to me). Still, I’m glad I tried it. Michelle tried it also and had a similar reaction.
Poutine -- I'll stick to my gravy fries with parmesan, thank you very much
Headed out to an adjacent street for some shopping. In a “midieval boutique” Michelle found a pillow cover she liked and Genetta found a fancy shirt. Some more shopping was done and we headed back to the hotel for a few minutes rest before heading out again just after 9p to see Quebec’s “Le Moulin a images 3D” down at the waterfront.
It was a lot like Ottawa’s “Mosaika” in that it was projected against a building and told the history of the region, in this case Quebec. Rather than being narrated, however, it was instead a series of images and animations with some decent music accompaniment. The 3D wasn’t always that effective (and it used the old-timey red and blue variety glasses) but sometimes it stood out. It was also quite a bit longer than Ottawa’s. Overall, I think we prefered “Mosaika” better but they’re different enough that both are worth it.
Le Moulin a images 3D, Quebec City
Headed back to the Hotel, stopping at McDonalds for some quick drinks first, and bed.