of my top four must-see, do, sip, eat of Quebec City. Shawn and I had the best
time, and felt like we were in Europe even though we were a 90-minute flight
away from New York City. Everyone was friendly and spoke perfect French and
Shawn and I got to stay in a castle/hotel (not the norm) and eat tons of
pretentious cheese (actually we do this all the time).
Quebec to anyone/everyone.
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| Trying my best to pack smart…it didn’t work. |
Old Québec is a Unesco World Heritage site that also has great shopping, restaurants, and maple chunk-flavored ice cream. This was a ‘funiculaire’ ride away from our hotel, and is great for window shopping or actually buying souvenirs like I did. I went particularly wild for the, ahem, rock store, where an agate bookend was a necessary purchase.
Honestly walking through a Frenchish city whose architecture dates to 17th and 18th centuries brings out the history nerd in me especially when it goes hand in hand with gourmet ice cream and sparkly rocks.
The Marché du Vieux Port or Farmer’s Market was one of the best we’ve been to, so we went twice during our trip. Everyone is crazy-friendly and wants you to try what they are selling, from blueberries to duck rillette. The market is located about an eight minute walk from Old Quebec, so you have that amount of time to burn off your lunch to move onto the goodies at the Marché du Vieux Port.
when I was about fourteen, and my mom surprised everyone by scoring a
four-person reservation to high tea at the Empress Hotel. I (again!) hadn’t
packed for the occasion, but no one seemed to mind my 5-inch long Delia’s skort
as they sipped their Empress-branded tea and ate piles of cucumber sandwiches. The
high tea my family had at the Empress served as a, pun intended, high point of
all of our vacations, so I knew I had to bring Shawn and hit up the
high tea when I found out Le Château
Frontenac’s Bistro Le Sam offered the high-class anti-siesta sipping service.
up, wrote postcards, ate a literal tower of treats, and, of course, sipped tea
for three solid hours. It was a hit! I’ve already made reservations for my family
to go to tea at the Plaza Hotel when they’re in NYC over the Thanksgiving
holiday.
We ate at a slew of fantastic restaurants along with ‘sucre’ shops and creperies. The best of the best of the Frenchest and the cheesiest would be our impulse lunch at Le Cochon Dingue in Old Quebec. We each ordered our own French onion soup (we knew better than decide to share this) a Greek salad, and wine, and sat alfresco in bistro chairs. It was the kind of meal where I got in trouble for too many “this is sooo good” moans, it was that good.
A close second was our fab dinner at Chez Bouley.
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| One last shout-out to the Disney princess hotel we got to call home for four nights. I still imagine a beast lives in the attic and there’s an enchanted mirror somewhere in that place. |