Eating Our Way Through Quebec City...With a Little Sightseeing

Today was a day for strolling around Quebec City and seeing the sights. We lounged around the hotel in the early morning having our coffee. We started off the mid-morning by doing a little window shopping as we walked down to a recommended breakfast/lunch spot. Rosie ordered a melted jambon and fromage (ham and cheese) sandwich on a baguette. Rick ordered some quiche with spinach and asparagus. We each had some very strong coffee (it is a bit embarrassing the amount of sugar and milk we need to put into our coffee to make it palatable). Rosie enjoyed her sandwich; Rick's quiche was not as good as the quiche Rosie makes (...see, who says I am not a fast learner). It think Rosie may make her quiches extra cheesy...which is definitely a plus in my book.

After breakfast we hit many of the main sights in the city. Getting around is super easy...everything is more or less within walking distance. We saw the Notre Dame Cathedral...it is beautiful and ornate...lots of gold items and statues. We also walked around Montmorency Park. It is amazing with all the cannons pointed over the edges of the walled city at the harbors. We also checked out the Chateau Frontenac (http://www.fairmont.com/frontenac/), it is an amazing photogenic hotel. It looks like something out of a Disney movie. Finally we went down to Lower Town and did some more window shopping. By that time, it was now lunch time...





We went to L'Echaude, a French bistro that Susan O'Brien (Jack's mom) and Fodors and Frommers all recommended. We waited about 15 minutes to be seated...but it was worth it. We started off with a cheese plate (three cheeses, some nuts, grapes and figs). All three cheeses were excellent...the other stuff was alright...I think some apple slices would have been better. We both had the same entrees, steak frites. The fries were excellent and the steaks good, too. Rosie's was a bit beyond medium-rare, but still good. After lunch we did some more walking around the walled city.





We were too lazy to walk back up the hill so we took the funicular. It was the best $3.50 spent on the trip.




After getting back to the Upper Town, we walked up the 310 steps on the Governor's walk. The view over the St. Lawrence river was beautiful. It is a very nice country side...not over developed at all...even right by the city. We proceeded to walk around the Citadel and then back to the hotel to relax. Since we had a big lunch, we decided to have a smaller dinner. We ended up going back to the crepe place from Thursday night (Casse-Crepe Breton). We both had savory crepes (pepperoni, cheese, mushrooms (and tomato sauce for Rick)). We also decided to each order sweet crepes. Rosie went for a cherry filling and chocolate crepe. Rick went for an apple filling and whipped cream crepe. The apple crepe was awesome...it tasted like a really big warm Hostess apple pie with whipped cream. I never thought I would ever say this, but...there was too much whipped cream in the crepe. Even I had to shovel out mass amounts of whipped cream from the crepe. The entire staff on Friday night was different from the staff on Thursday night. The girl making the crepes on Friday was definitely heavy-handed with the ingredients...generally not a problem.

After coming out of my sugar coma, we did some more walking around and window shopping. Quebec City is a very romantic city...it is cool, not crowded, quaint, etc...all things I like in a city. We are now back at the hotel planning our side-trip out of the city tomorrow. We will do a little day trip to the north of Quebec City with a picnic in the middle. We will stop by a market for some cheese and bread and cold cuts. For dinner, we have reservations at Le Marie Clarisse...a highly recommended seafood restaurant. Rosie is really looking forward to ordering some bouillabaisse or fish stew.

Got to go to bed. Hope all is well with everyone.