Quebec City Escape Day 1: Chateaux, cobbles and croissants

Fontaine de Toury (I think)

So here I am, 9.30pm Friday night, sitting in this ridiculously stylish and well-appointed apartment in the heart of old Quebec city, congratulating myself smugly on my choice of airbnb lodgings. Right at this moment, life is good.

Today has been an absolutely fabulous day. There’s a reason that Quebec City has been on my bucket list for years – and its because its an absolutely staggeringly beautiful city. I’m already making plans to come back here in the winter when its snowy – this place just has Christmas written all over it!

The day started with a French press of coffee (wheeeeee – caffeineeeeeee!) and a 9am teleconference. The coffee was warranted given that my flight had been delayed for-eh-vaaaaah last night, so I didn’t actually get to the apartment until just gone 1am. Fortunately, my host didn’t fall asleep on me, so was there to welcome me and let me in but, though I was knackered by the time I got into bed, I couldn’t then fall asleep. I think I finally dropped off around 3am, so it was a little bit of a slow start this morning. However, after about half an hour or so, the coffee (which I haven’t been drinking for months now) kicked in good and I was bouncing off the walls!! The apartment is on Rue Saint Ursule which is right in the heart of the old town (Vieux Quebec) so, within minutes of leaving the apartment, I was already strolling down old cobbled streets lined with historic shops and restaurants! I felt (again) very pleased with myself!

First order of business was to find a bank and an ATM (just in case I got lost, so I’d have money for a cab!). The weather was overcast and a little bit gray, with spots of light rain here and there, and I was grateful I’d bought my long puffa coat and warm snuggly boots as the wind was really quite nippy. I was comfortably warm all day (though it did get a bit cold later on the carriage ride) though I can only imagine how chilly it gets in the depth of winter, if its already 40-45 degrees now! Anyway, cash was duly obtained, so next on my very loose agenda was to find the place my host had recommended for breakfast, the Trois Garcons. It was pretty close, only about a 5 min walk, and led me onto rue St Jean.

What a brilliant street! Crammed full of boutiques and restaurants – I managed to distract myself several times (Ooo! look! Bright shiny object!) with some fabulous clothing stores (stuff is pretty cheap here) and I even found a Canada Goose stockist! I made a mental note to come back and check out a couple of boutiques and then decided I wasnt quite hungry enough to warrant a full-on brunch type place but, instead, I simply HAD to go to a boulangerie and have a croissant for breakfast instead.

A perfectly balanced breakfast.  One on the left..
and one on the right.

Now, one observation about being in French Quebec City. I've noticed that my food choices seem to be driven by the remnants of school French that i can rememeber - if they happen to be "croissant" "pain au chocolat" and "cafe au lait", then who am I to complain? Fortunately, there just so happened to be one of the best bakeries in town right across the street from the brunch place, the boulangerie Paillard. It was exactly as you'd imagine a damn fine French bakery should be with a spectacular array of all things pastry-ey and yummy. It was pretty busy too, packed with both locals and tourists - always a good sign. I made my very balanced breakfast choices and happily retired to a long rustic wooden table to chow down, sighing happily as I made my way through the layers of flaky, buttery goodness.

Suitably replete, it was then time for one of the highlights of the city - the Chateau Frontenac. Now, according to Google maps, I was pretty close, again only 5 mins or so - but somehow i managed to get a bit lost, so ended up taking the scenic route and, instead of approaching it directly, wiggling round the ancient city walls (Les ramparts) and sneaking up on it from behind.

Well. I say. Wow.

First sighting of Chateau Frontenac, towering above
all the nearby buildings

Its one of those very special places that really does take your breath away, and makes you stop dead in your tracks when you first get a glimpse. Because pictures of it are plastered everywhere on guide books and pamphlets, you kind of know a bit what to expect, but its still no substitute for the sheer enormity of the place in all its impressive pointy-ness. It did remind me quite a bit of the Fairmont in Banff - similar architectural design and, like the Ahwahnee Lodge in Yosemite, its apparently has a breakfast buffet that simply Has to Be Done. And so it will be. I did have a quick wander inside to check it out - its as splendid inside as you'd imagine - all gilt and chandeliers and antiques and expensive lobby shops.  And bucket loads of tourists like me taking photos!

By this stage, my iPhone was getting very low on battery, as i'd been taking pictures for a couple of hours non-stop (and I'd forgotten my proper camera). Fortunately, directly across from the Chateau Frontenac was the tourist office, so I headed inside and found a little corner tucked away, where I could sit discretely, read the tour brochures and surreptiously charge my phone. It was nice to have a quick break after my meanderings, and I actually ended up booking a tour for tomorrow. Its called the "countryside tour" and will take me outside of the city to explore some of the cool places nearby (stay tuned!) and I also combined it with a hop on-hop off bus ticket for use either tomorrow afternoon or Sunday morning, before I have to head to the airport. I also booked my private horse carriage ride for later in the afternoon, scheduling it to begin just before sunset (according to my host, the city comes alive at night and is a city of lights!) AND I booked myself into one of the best restaurants in the city for dinner tomorrow night. Not a bad use of a 45min iPhone refuelling pit stop, I think!!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for poutine!

By this time, I actually was starting to get mildly peckish (and needed a pee), so asked the tour guide lady where she would recommend for lunch - she directed me to the place next door. Normally, I'm a little bit skeptical (I always suspect they are in cahoots with one another!) but as it had also just started to rain, I thought sod it and went in. It turned out to be a very good move as it was excellent!! The lunch special was duck pate followed by the Canadian classic, poutine (basically chips, cheese and gravy - but this one had a little bit of duck and rabbit to spice it up a bit) - terribly fattening but oh so delicious! Washed down with a couple of glasses of Hungarian sparkling wine (who knew?) and some great conversation with a couple I got chatting to at the bar (an Austrian guy and his British wife), it was a thoroughly pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

By the time I left, the rain had stopped but the caffeine had worn off, so I headed back to the apartment to stretch out on the oversize leather couch for quick snooze and to recharge, ahead of my horse-drawn carriage tour at 5.30pm. I set my alarm for 4.30pm and happily drift off in a post-poutine slumber….

Outside the Government Building, the city is gearing up
for Fall and Hallowe'en!

Then it was time to get up, put another layer on, lace up the boots, zip up the coat and head out again, heading for the Governors Garden, right next to Chateau Frontenac. Now I've got my bearings a bit (the old part of town within the city walls isn't all that big so is actually pretty easy to navigate), I really am just round the corner, so it took less than 5 mins to walk back to the Chateau. I met my "driver" Gerard with no problems, said hello to Maya the horse, tucked the blanket around my legs and off we went! I'd booked the mid-price tour (still quite expensive for just 1 person, but them's the breaks sometimes when you travel on your own) which lasted for 80mins and would take me pretty much everywhere in the city (barring the port, but I thought I could live with that).

Restaurants lit up in pink for breast cancer awareness week

Here's the description from the website of our route, Le Montcalm: You will discover the historic district with its intramural narrow winding streets, the fortifications, the Hill and the spectacular Fontaine de Tourny, the Armoury, the beautiful Parc des Champs de Bataille, greenery, trees and Jardin Jeanne d'Arc, Martelo towers and the Sacrifice Cross, the Parc Montmorency, Grand Seminary of Quebec, the very bourgeois Ramparts Street with views over the marina, Ursuline Garden and back.

About to embark on a clip-cloppy adventure!  Tally ho!

It was such a great way to experience the city. The sound of Maya's hooves clipping across the cobbled streets, the lilting motion of the carriage as it sped up and down the hills (Mumsie - you might not have enjoyed that bit quite so much!) and the unveiling of the beauty of the city as the sunset faded and the lights came on. It was fabulous.  It was, though, sometimes a bit tricky to take decent pictures so don't blame me if they are a bit blurry at times - the carriage was moving!! One of the things I was surprised about was the sheer diversity of the city and the different parts of town - there was a Latin quarter, a British quarter, French, Scottish, Mexican and Irish quarter - all with distinct histories and architecture. And there was me just thinking QC was French Canadian.

The only other thing I really remembered from Gerard's commentary (to be fair, he did throw an awful lot of dates and historical facts at me - plus his accent was pretty thick so there were some parts I just didn't understand, so had to resort to simply nodding and smiling - hopefully in the right places!) was that the term "Quebec" means "the narrowest part of the river" - referring to the narrowing of the St.Lawrence river, on whose banks Quebec City is built. I don't know if that is BS or not (I don't have any reason to doubt him, but it did remind of those times in Cambridge where the tour guides punting along the Backs used to tell the American tourists that Kings College was built on the site of an old pie factory) but it was interesting in a chicken and the egg kinda way.

Another bit.  Can't remember which.  Parliament
Square again, I think

After our tour finished, Gerard dropped me off on Rue St Jean, where I browsed a little more in some of the shops, working up an appetite to try another French classic, steak et frites, at supposedly another great local haunt, L'entrecote Saint-Jean. Honestly, it was pretty good but not OH MY GOD drop-dead delicious. And that, dearest blog watchers, was Day 1 of my Quebecois adventure. I'm sitting here, stuffed, knackered but happy and I think this little weekend adventure is going to be the perfect antidote to the stress of the last few weeks. Right now, life is, indeed, good.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Lap blanket, complete with authentic fall maple leaves

My street, all lit up in pink!

As part of the Hallowe'en decor, apparently they
used to suspend "witches" in these cradles and
leave them to starve, swinging from the trees.
Not terribly civilized, really.

Me old nag

St. Johns Gate

Yet another french classic to round out the day….