Canada Trip, Part 3

Alright... It seems that, in discussing my trip with people, the most intriguing topics have been the food. So I figure that I'll pare down the rest of the stuff and focus on what we ate...

Wednesday, September 17th (My brother-in-law's birthday)

Christopher and I headed out of Montreal after breakfast at Marie's. We opted on the shorter of two routes, since our main goal was to get to Quebec City and spend time there. The drive was through rolling plains, mostly, with some of the strange "here's a great big rock that's been dropped in the middle of the plain" hills. As we came upon Quebec, we crossed the St. Lawrence River and started winding our way along streets which got progressively narrower. The Pontiac G6 (rental, remember?) and I were doing okay until we had to turn the corner a couple of blocks before we got to the hotel. 

You see... in the old portions of Montreal and Quebec, the streets are pretty narrow. And when you're driving a semi-unknown car with a longer hood than you're used to, it's just not fun to turn a tight corner when there is scaffolding immediately in front of you in the intersection. Thankfully, we were able to hand the keys to the hotel's valet and not deal with the car again for two full days.

Our hotel L'Auberge St. Pierre, was just a block off of the old port, across the street from the Musee de la Civilisation and occupied a couple of old buildings, and our mini-suite was in a building which had, apparently at one time, been a Telegraph building. As we were checking in, Christopher asked the wonderful young woman at the front desk if she could arrange for a reservation at L'Echaudee, a restaurant which my cousins had recommended on Sunday night. (sorry... can't find a website for it.) 

After checking in, we left the hotel for a tour of the Musee, then a walk through diminishing showers around the port, then to a great little coffee shop (with wonderful hot chocolate!), then to the Place Royale and the wonderful shops along the streets. We returned to our hotel in time for our complimentary half-bottle of wine, then we were off to L'Echaudee for dinner.

Our meals were delicious--I can't actually remember what Christopher had for a starter and dessert, but we each had Steak and Frites for our main course. I also had a salad with a warm goat cheese "crouton" (actually a large piece of goat cheese broiled onto a slice of toast, then placed on the salad), and a slice of decadent maple sugar tart for dessert. We had a great little table by a corner window (and right next to the window to the wine "cave"), the service was impeccable, and we finished early enough to go for a long walk through the streets of the old city before settling down in our king-sized bed for the night. 

Thursday, September 18th

We got up in time for breakfast (included) at the hotel. The food was great, although the morning "waiter" seemed more interested in being speedy than he did in being pleasant. Christopher and I spent the bulk of the day being ultimate tourists. 

We walked back to the Place Royale and looked at a few more shops. Then we took the Funicular up to the Upper Town section of old Quebec and walked along the Terrasse Dufferin. We climbed the rest of the way up to the Citadel for the tour. (Because it's a working military base, there's no wandering around--you have to be with a tour. We had a very energetic tourguide who was really pretty bad at the guiding thing. about 90 minutes after we started, the hourlong tour finally ended...) 

The afternoon was simply more wandering and shopping, with a stop at a shop for a croissant and some macarons for a light lunch. It was a sunny day, cool but not cold, so we had no problem walking around and enjoying just being together.

I'd love to write about our amazing dinner at Restaurant L'Initiale, but it would make for WAY too long a post. I'll try to do it justice in its own post, soon.

(to be continued... again...)