After two years of epic trips over the Christmas holidays (Spain in 2014 when we left on Christmas Day and were gone for NYE, and New Mexico in 2015 when we spent Christmas Eve and Day in Santa Fe), we were hoping to be home for both Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve this year. This meant I only had about 5 days to work with for our trip and therefore we wouldn’t want to spend a lot of that time traveling. As European destinations are always the first on my list, my mind immediately went to the French Canadian cities of Québec City and Montréal—they have that European feel, but are just a few hours by flight from Charlotte. I had skied in Canada as a senior in high school (all I remember is that it was very very cold…like eyelashes-freezing-together-if-you-closed-your-eyes-too-long cold), but none of us had explored any Canadian cities. We were pretty well stocked with winter layers from last year’s trip to Taos, so we were ready for the magic of a real-life winter wonderland over the holidays.
We arrived in Québec City on the night of December 26th and were welcomed by an ice storm. It didn’t stop us from exploring the Upper Town of Vieux-Québec—getting our first view of Château Frontenac, the kids enjoying a toboggan ride on Les Glissades de la Terrasse-Dufferin, and finishing our night with a fondue dinner (see images from first night from Instagram).
On the 27th, the kids donned their snow gear (which I thought was overkill, but turns out they completely intended to slide around in the snow and ice) and we headed out for a full day of exploring Québec City. We walked along the old wall to the Parc des Champs-de-Bataille. We were hoping to snowshoe or cross-country ski on the Plains of Abraham, but the ice storm of the night before had deposited a solid layer of ice over the 6 inches or so of snow. Ella and Jack enjoyed sliding (sans sleds) down the hills and the challenge of trying to walk to the other side of the park to the stairs outside the wall along the St. Lawrence River to the Terrasse Dufferin, so to them it was probably more fun. Jonathan and I, with Jack and Ella, respectively, took a ride down the 250m toboggan run this time—definitely a highlight of the trip (such great views and, boy, do you get going fast—up to 70km/hour apparently). We ventured down the Breakneck Stairs (even more accurate a nickname when they’re covered in ice) to the Lower Town to explore some shops, have some poutine (probably not the best version Québec has to offer), and wander the streets of Quartier Petite-Champlain and the Old Port.
After exploring on our own, it was nice to let a local step in to show us around (especially for me, who balances being tour guide, photographer, and tourist on our trips). We joined a Québec City food tour which took us to eight shops and restaurants from Petit Champlain to Old Port Québec City’s Christmas Market, sampling seafood, cheeses, meats, chocolates, sugar fudge, pastries, apple cider, and wine (including ice wine). Our local tour guide included some history and culture along the way. The biggest surprise of the day was a slice cured sausage passed to each of us at a booth at the Christmas Market which we ate before being told to guess what type of sausage it was…seal…it was seal sausage. No one guessed that. Apparently aggressive seals were threatening a natural area of Canada, so the Canadian government opened up hunting season. Anyways, you never forget the first time you eat seal. Or the last.
Poor Jonathan had struggled through the day with a really bad cold (he looked quietly miserable on the food tour), so Ella, Jack and I left him in the hotel that night (with the Buckleys we had purchased at the airport—Canada’s NyQuil, I guess) and explored Vieux-Québec one last time on our own. We had a delicious Québécois dinner with quirky ambience at Le Cochon Dingue, topped off by a memorable tarte au sucre à la crème (sugar pie). With full bellies, Ella, Jack, and I made the executive decision to skip those breakneck steps this time (I think we had been up and down them at least 4 times by this point) and try out the funicular to head back to Upper Town before we admired the our view of the now-lit Château Frontenac one last time. Tomorrow we would head to Montréal.
{faubourg saint-jean-baptiste, gate of an 18th century wall, and quartier montcalm, the area along the wall.}
{plains of abraham—we were the only brave souls to explore the ice-topped snowy park (we were hoping to snowshoe through the park that day, but it was too icy). | an icy st. lawrence river—we saw a group canoeing! | we braved the icy stairs along the fortifications and la citadelle for some fantastic views of the river.}
{the majestic château frontenac | a stroll along the terrasse dufferin}
{the château frontenac up close and part of la citadelle.}
{we enjoyed a super fast ride down les glissades de la terrasse-dufferin, a 250m-long toboggan ride.}
{a walk down “breakneck steps” (really l’escalier casse-cou) took us from upper town to lower town, where we could enjoy many shops and restaurants.}
{back in the upper town, we explored place de l’hôtel de ville and place d’armes.}
{l’hôtel de ville (town hall) in upper town | place royal in lower town, the site of nouvelle-france’s first settlement built by samuel de champlain (see statue above) in 1608 | la fresque des québécois, a mural depicting québec city history}
{place royal and carolers}
{notre-dame des victoires in lower town | back in upper town (we climbed breakneck stairs several times) | basilique notre-dame-de-québec}
{québec city at night}
