Quebec

---

We had planned to go directly from Montreal to Quebec after the bus trip from NYC. However the weather conditions were not ideal for driving (25 cm of snow falling), so great so we decided to stay the night in Montreal and to drive to Quebec on Friday morning. Thursday was really a day of catch up, liz and I had been fairly tired from all of the non stop things that we have been doing so far so it was good to just have a bit of a rest day. We stayed at the Best Western near Montreal airport and had our room upgraded for free to a suite. We decided to have Italian for dinner and found an inexpensive restaurant near the hotel that delivered for free. - We were not keen to brave the snowy conditions. The following morning, we picked up a rental car, it’s a Pontiac. In Montréal it costs $130 for just picking up the car from the airport in tax!!! So we arranged to collect it from another branch nearby.
We drove up the main highway and luckily we missed rush hour, a few gas station directions later we pulled up to our friends house to find the area very white and pretty from all the snow. We went inside where Clo and her six month old baby Alexa greeted us, Pat was not home so we just talked a while, waiting for him to finish his job teaching at a college. Clo organised a cheese fondue with a variety if vegetables for dinner, which was quite fun to have for the first time.

We woke on Saturday to about 25 cm of freshly fallen snow sitting on the car outside. A little while ago we had seen a documentary on the ice hotel, and were pleasantly surprised to find that it is located in Quebec City. On the way to visit the hotel, we stopped at a Quebecker style fast food place for Jahan to try poutine, This is a Quebecian meal that compromises of fries, gravy and cheese. The cheese in this is a lot different to the stuff that we get back home, it’s similar to Indian cheese (paneer), it has a kind of squeakiness to it when you’re eating it.
The ice hotel was very pretty; it had a lot of carved pillars and statues in the entrance. All of the rooms were decorated in themes and very magnificent. At the hotel they had a taffy house, and you pour the maple syrup on to snow and roll it up in to like a lolly pop and eat it. We finished the visit with a drink in the ice bar with the glasses made of ice no need to add ice cubes, nice!
We headed home to have some dinner and to play some skipbo (a card game) and to try some Quebec beer. Quebec has a lot of different micro breweries, all of them Belgian style and are very nice.
Our third day in QC took us dog sledding - such an amazing experience that we never imagined we would have done. Pat organised to have one of his tourism students doing an internship to be our guide and a very good price for the entire morning! Dog sledding is amazing, it is set in a large forest, covered in snow of course. The wind and the outdoors and the dogs make for a unique atmosphere. We both took turns at driving the sleigh and being a passenger. The dogs are so gentle, we had the chance to see some of the puppies they have on site too and a stop in the middle of the experience for a well needed hot chocolate in a Tipi style tent. Later in the evening we went to Angus Steak house, Jahan had a steak with a pepper sauce, It’s a great place because they have many types of food so there is something for everyone. - We also went here the last time we were in Quebec. Monday was a girls/boys day. The boys went skiing at Mt St Anne (which is where Pat works part time as a ski patroller in the weekends). The girls including the baby) went shopping at a large mall. The conditions were great for skiing, with a small crowd and fresh powder. The mountain has 3 sides with a huge 65 different ski runs including beginners and expert areas. The scenery was just fantastic and the ski area was quite and very peaceful. The shopping experience was interesting. Not many of the store keepers spoke English, so it was helpful to have Clo as a translator. After a long day we met back up at home to go to a local Nordic spa. It is a really different concept to the spa experiences we have in New Zealand. It works by completing a cycle for relaxation. Firstly you choose a hot option for 15 minutes (spa pool, sauna, or steam room ) after this you have a quick dash into the cold (an artificial waterfall at 2ºc waterfall or into the river covered in ice!) and then you relax in a chill out room for about 10 minutes (lie in hammocks in a room with a fire, it’s a medium temperature) then, you complete the cycle again. This was a nice way to relax with the snow all around, we completed four cycles and even plucked up the courage to take a plunge into the icy cold river. On Tuesday we went to a large shopping mall to brave the French speaking shop keepers on our own. It was interesting to see the different types of stores that we don’t have back home and we managed to communicate with the little French we knew and the little English they spoke. On the way home we braved the local grocery store to buy ingredients for cooking dinner. - Another cultural experience!

For our second to last day, we went into the old town a little and Pat took us on the ferry across the river, it was amazing to watch the ice break on the bow of the boat as we were going across the ice and snow covered water. The ice on the river was amazing and the coast guard has to drive up and down the river constantly to allow ships to travel up and down carrying for cargo to Montreal and beyond. We then met up with Claudia and Pat went to his work teach a class. Clo took us to the Big waterfall that we went to last time, The falls were all frozen over and it was just such a dramatic change from the last time that we were here. Dinner was another new experience for us. It was a traditional French dish called Racalette, You need a special type of grill machine that sit in the middle of your table. Each person has a small metal dish - a sort of spade shape about 10cm x 10cm and the raw ingredients are placed on the table in separate bowls. We had a salami, prosciutto, various vegetables and fancy cheeses (we are quite amazed at the cheese selection here, so many types we have never even heard of before). Each person designs their dish and places in into the grill to cook under an element. You then repeat the process until you are full. Today we woke up to the last full day with pat and clo, We adventured into the old city to have a look around all the old part of the city in the snow and take in some tourist stores. When we were here last time we tried to get photos of the castle but it was being renovated, this time it looked beautiful with all of the restoration. We tried the ice sleds that they have in the old city and this was a fun ride for only $2. For our last dinner with Pat and Clo, we went to a local French style restaurant called Archibald’s It’s a similar atmosphere to our Lone Star, but with traditional French food in place of American. We ended the evening with a board game that we have been playing most nights (it’s called Blokus, we hope we can find it in NZ)…. Now for the long trip home tomorrow...
We have had such a fabulous time, tried so many new things, met great people and learnt a lot. Thanks for tuning in to the blogs. Until next time, Au revior.

---

Photos

The view over the river.
This is the ferry we took

Comments

[Mummy Su]

Poo Bum....!!
Poo bum....!!** I am so,so jealous! It all looks so lovely.Their house is so cute ,nestled in all that snow,and the 'spa!' in the snow! And the gorgeous 'huskies'.Savanah will be jealous.... I have the snow hotel on my unusual hotel site!! Po..........!* Can I come over to? you can ring work and say you are staying longer! LOL xxxxxx

[Cheryl]

Question on dog sledding
Your travel blog on Quebec was great. Just what I was looking for. Do you know which dog sledding company you used? I see two companies online - it looks like a lot of fun. Thanks for any help you can give.