ON TO QUEBEC CITY

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Via Rail Canada

The day started early, the alarm went off at 6 am with 20 minutes of snoozing. The bed last night was very comfortable and felt good on my back. I made coffee in the room and we showered and left for the train station. I splurged on business class for our trip to Quebec City so we got to go in the Via Rail lounge. This is similar to an airline lounge like the Red Carpet Club. There was complimentary coffee, juices, etc. The train was of course on schedule and we had plenty of room for our luggage, in fact there were only about 10 people in business class and maybe 100 on the train.

Train travel in Canada or Europe is far better than Amtrak could ever hope to be. The trains are clean, the seats are comfortable and there is actual service on the train. It is much like flying, they have in seat food and beverage service and in business class we were served a hot breakfast and nonstop beverages, including cocktails and wine, if you wanted to start your day with a kick. I opted out of that portion of the service. We did both enjoy a nice spinach and gruyere frittata, roasted potatoes and sausage. This was served with a croissant (not even close to France) and some fresh fruit. Given that it was all pre-cooked like airplane food it was much better than most food I have had on international coach flights.

Jerry spent most of the three-hour trip reading up on Quebec City and I typed my blog for the day before. About 90 minutes outside of the city, we finally ran into snow. The fields were covered in about an inch and we had snow the entire way into the city. There is snow on the ground here but not much.

First Impressions

The one thing we have learned from out years of travel, is to never judge a city by the train station. Sure in Paris the train stations are generally all convenient and easy to navigate. However, often the station is in the worst part of town (Naples is a perfect example) or not readily accessible to transportation or the City. Quebec City’s station was beautiful on the outside and in a decent area of town and easy to catch a cab to our hotel. However, the approach to the station went through the industrial area so your first impression of the City is not of the quaint old city it is, but of a very industrial city.

We easily found a very friendly cab driver and like Savannah many of the drivers were women. We didn’t think our luggage was going to fit because it was a small Toyota but did have a deep trunk. The cab ride went through the lower part of the city up into the walled city. I thought hour hotel was in fact on the bottom of the hill, but in fact we are only a block from the big Fairmont Hotel, Chateau Frontenac. We arrived at Hotel Chateau Bellevue after a nice drive through the older section of the city. It was only 1 pm so our room was not yet ready, which was fine as Jerry had planned our first walking tour for the afternoon. The gentleman who checked us in was very friendly and helpful. He didn’t even try to speak to us in French, just went straight to English, I guess we were obvious. He also gave us great directions to the closest Scotiabank ATM and made reservations for us at the Hobbit, were we will be eating on Sunday.

Beyond the City Walls

After checking in and Jerry checking out the map, we were off for our first walking tour. We are staying in the old city which is inside the walls, so today we would be going outside the walls to check out the sites beyond the walls. The first order of business was locating the ATM machine. This proved to be fairly simple as it was on our walking tour. As we walked to the ATM machine we passed by the Parliament Building towards the convention center. We found the building where the ATM machine was located but did not find the entrance as easily. Just as we arrived it started to rain, and not the drizzle that makes all New Yorkers think they are going to melt but real rain and it was cold. Naturally, we did not bring umbrellas, it was supposed to snow not rain. Jerry had a wool hat but I just had my coat, so while I waited out of the rain, Jerry located the entrance to the ATM location. We obtained our cash for the next two days and the proceeded to ask the guard at the desk if he knew where we might buy some umbrellas. Well, he spoke zero English, so Jerry doing his best asked him in French, he did a good enough job because the guard directed us to the nearby Hilton, which fortunately for us we could access without going back out into the rain.

After buying our overpriced gift shop umbrellas (unlike NYC there isn’t someone on the corner trying to sell you a $5 umbrella that will fall apart in 30 minutes) we headed off to Rue Saint Jean. We choose this street because we were headed to the oldest continuous used grocery store in North America. Rue St. Jean is a very quaint street with lots of old world charm and many store fronts were decorated for the season. As we walked down the street we happened upon a gay bar, and not just a gay bar but a drag bar, Le Drague. We checked out the marquee to see if there were going to be any shows while we were in the city, and we were in luck, or were we? More on that later. We continued down the street a few more blocks and arrived at our first official site, Maison J.A. Moisan. The store was founded in 1871 and is still operating today. The first floor is a boutique grocery store and upstairs is a bed and breakfast. We shook off our umbrellas and ventured in. It was very crowded and packed with everything from fromage (cheese) to rare spices. They had my favorite Basque paprika from France so I had to buy some, because the only other place I have ever found it is in Pau, France. We also bought some Quebec mustard.

A brief aside: During out last trip to France (50^th Birthday part II) we learned a very interesting fact. Everyone knows that the best mustard in the world is made in Dijon, but what you don’t know is that the actual mustard seed to make it is no longer grown in France, it is in fact grown in Canada and shipped to France.

When we left the store it had stopped raining so now we did not need our overpriced umbrellas. We continued down Rue St. Jean intending on a stop at Observatoire de la Capitale. This is at the top of the city’s tallest building (31 stories) and offers a panoramic view of the city. Since it was raining and slightly foggy we decided to try and do this another day, besides we walked by the street we were supposed to turn up to get there anyway.

We continue further until we arrived at Avenue Cartier. This is a bustling street full of bistros, café’s, shops and the like. They had very unique street lights along the entire street. It was close to wine-thirty, but we also had a bit more walking to do so instead we bought a couple of bottles to have later in the room. At the end of Avenue Cartier, we headed east on Grande-Allée another shop and hotel lined street. It is a major street leading back to the old city. The original plan was to then head to avenue Laurier to check out the large homes and Christmas lights. It however, was still daylight so we just headed down the Grande-Allée in the direction of our hotel.

We entered back through the city gates where we started and continued down Rue St. Louis (The Grande-Allée becomes Rue St. Louis inside the city walls. We were hungry but did not want to spoil our upcoming Christmas Eve dinner, we were going to get a crepe but instead found a small store and picked up a baguette, cheese and rabbit foie gras to have with our wine back in the room. On our way back to the hotel we checked out a couple of potential places for dinner later in the trip and then walked to the edge of the hill where Chateau Frontenac is located. Once we were back in the room we had some wine, I blogged and got ready for dinner.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Our first real meal in Canada would be Christmas Eve dinner at Le Continental, a restaurant famous for table side service and flambés and everyone that really knows me I like nothing better than a good show with dinner. The restaurant was only about two blocks from our hotel so we had a very easy walk. The weather was beginning to turn colder, but since we were in jackets and ties we did not wear our winter coats.

We arrived exactly at 7 and were seated immediately at a very nice table that allowed us to observe several other tables and their dinner shows. The menu had a nice selection ranging from traditional French to more contemporary. We had a difficult time deciding on the first course but after conferring with the waiter that the Lobster Bisque indeed was not made with any clam product, I decided I had to give it a try. I have been disappointed in every Lobster Bisque I have ever had that I didn’t’ make, except one and that was at Monet in Ashland, Oregon. I would not be disappointed tonight.

The Meal

Before getting to the details, I just want to say that the service was perfect and every waiter and staff person was very friendly and helpful, especially our server who was working his Quebec ass off flambé after flambé. We started with our traditional glass of Champagne and ordered a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape for dinner. The first course was Bisque De Homard parfumée de Cognac (Lobster Bisque) for me and Soupe à l’oignon au gratin de Gruyère (yes French onion soup to us American’s) for Jerry. Both were excellent. The Bisque was very good but very different than what I make, it had a great deal of lobster but the base was very strong and there was no cream component and could use a bit more of a tomato base, still was clearly in the top two of bisques I didn’t make. Jerry’s started off slow, but as he delved deeper in to the soup the flavors intensified. All in all, we were off to a very good start.

The second course would be the true test we ordered Salades César pour deux. Now anyone one that knows us, knows that we are perhaps the pickiest people in the world when it comes to a Cesar Salad. Jerry makes the best there is hands down. However, in our travels we have had two others that are very good. One was in Victoria B.C. at Palo’s and the other, believe it or not was in Portland, Oregon at El Gaucho. Tonight’s Cesar would join that elite group. It was made slightly different than what we consider traditional (and when I say we, I mean Jerry and myself). Instead of lemon, white wine vinegar was used, instead of olive oil, vegetable oil was used. The biggest difference was the use of tobacco, bacon and parsley. It was very good and certainly worth the price of admission and of course made before our eyes.

The entrée was one of the best dishes I have had in ages. We had Canard à l’orange Flambé pour deux. Duck al’orange. It was superb. An entire roasted duck was brought to the table and while the base of the sauce (butter and cognac) heated in the pan, our server painstakingly carved the duck and added it to the sauce. The secret to this sauce will never be known as there were two containers that had the main portion of the sauce that were then added to what was in the pan already. The flambé was intense and the sauce then cooked for a good 15 minutes with the duck before it was served. The duck was perfect, moist and the sauce was literally to die for, I mean the butter could have caused a heart attack on the spot, but red wine prevents that.

We knew what dessert was going to be before we even looked at the menu. One of Jerry’s favorite desserts is Cherries Jubilee or in this case cerise jubilee. It again did not disappoint; I could have just used a bit more ice cream to get all of the sauce. It was a perfect ending to a great meal, which just might crack the top 10 of all-time best meals. We were going to order a Spanish coffee, but when we inquired how they make it we decided against it as it was not even close to a Huber’s (Portland Oregon institution) Spanish Coffee.

As we were leaving the Maître d’ handed each of us a small box, when we were outside and checked what was inside I was very happy, three macaroons, they were very good, not as good as in Paris, but still very good, I ate them as I finished up this blog.

The Worst Drag Show Ever

We were headed back to the hotel, when out of the blue Jerry suggested that we go to Le Drague to see the Christmas Eve show, I was hesitant because my back was killing me, but agreed in the end because we already decided that we would sleep in on Christmas Day and have a light touring schedule. The show was 2 hours of my life I will never get back. First, they weren’t just on Drag time, they were on I don’t give a crap Drag Time. The show started nearly an hour late and that was the best part. The 4 drag queens literally didn’t care about what they were doing and had no pride or showmanship. There are no words to describe how terribly awful it was. The worst drag queen I have seen in Portland or anywhere for that matter, is better than any of the poor souls on stage here. They did not know the words to the songs, they simply flapped their lips, which in no way matched the words to the song, and OMG they would be laughed off stage in a real drag bar just for their inability to hide the fact they were men, and those of you that have seen drag know what I mean.

So the night did not end on a high, but the wonderful dinner was still very present in my mind. We left the show earlier, I just could not take much more, I could have done better drag than that, and we walked back to the hotel. The temperature was beginning to drop and it was a bit nippy, but it was a nice walk.

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