Monday, October 13, 2008

Quebec City--Happy Thanksgiving!

The ferry ride from Riviere-du-Loup to St-Simeon was pretty uneventful...oh yes, unless you count several of the dead moose who accompanied us. It's hunting season and the hunters were quite proudly displaying their successes. I laughed at all the people in the ferry line-up who were running over to have their pictures taken with the moose (until I ended up taking a picture of them as well!). Ferry ride reminded of the PEI one years ago. Everyone out of the cars and into the cafeteria like we had never seen food before!

The drive to Quebec City was very pretty. Lots more hills and churches and beautiful leaves. We drove through Baie-Saint-Paul on the way. I honestly have never seen so many artists and galleries in all my life. We didn't spend any time there as Jim was starting to get a little frustrated with the pace of the drive!

Both B&B's we tried to book in Quebec City were full, so we went back to Hotel Manoir Victoria and encountered the same "panic" we always do when we arrived. You park on the street; the valets want you out of there as soon as possible and are practically pulling your luggage out of the car. In the confusion, we forgot a few things (um...underwear!) and ended up going back today to fish some out. I realized after that trip to the car, that I had forgotten the camera and couldn't be bothered taking another trip to the secret car park, so Quebec City is photoless.

We chose one of the restaurants out of our "Bible" and went to the Aux Anciens Canadiens. It is the oldest house inside the walled city built in 1625. If you arrive between noon and 5:45 p.m., you can have a glass of wine (or beer), soup, main meal and dessert for $19.95. The book indicated that the maple syrup pie is "the stuff of dreams, but the homemade bread with beurre d'erable and heavy cream is even better." Holy moly...that is the best dessert ever! Bread with rocks of maple sugar and cream. (Maureen...if you read this, I don't know how many points that is!) It was a lovely afternoon at a great restaurant. We walked around the Old City. There is a large Francophone convention going on...tons of security cars and security guys with ear wires. Very secret spy-ish!

Quebec City is always busy. We were here in August and you could hardly move with all the people on the streets. Yesterday was no different. What a city....

Tomorrow we are off to Hudson (about 35 miles west of Montreal). We plan to stay at the Willow Inn and have dinner at Carolynne and Denis Babin's house. We stayed at the Inn about 15 years ago and they had a fire alarm in the middle of the night. All the guests ended up in the lobby in their PJs...let's hope it's less eventful this time!

1 comment:

Bernie & Joanne said...

Hi guys
It is extremely interesting reading about your trip. Keep writing we feel we are taking this trip with you!!!
Be Safe
Bernie & Joanne