My husband Ed and I flew off to Newark International Airport from Charlotte International airport on our way to a fun filled weekend in Canada. This time we are going to Quebec City. We previously ventured to Montreal. We have allocated two days to wander the streets of Quebec City. This is not enough time to fully take in all the scenery, but it was very nice.
On this trip we toured the Chateau Frontenac on Friday and the Bury Your Dead tour on Saturday. We filled the rest of the time with a self-guided walking tour downloaded from the Quebec City website. We saw this beautiful city in Autume surrounded by history. The area has the oldest wall city in North America. When you go, bring a good pair of walking shoes because Quebec City is compact and all available on foot.
The flight to Quebec City was uneventful. We flew from Charlotte to Newark International Airport to Quebec City Airport. We had a long layover in Newark, so we splurged for a day pass at a United Lounge.
The lounge was wonderful. It was large and clean. The furniture was comfortable and the food delicious. We plugged our devices into the convenient power outlet, and I played games on my phone. If you wanted an alcoholic drink, there was a full-service bar. It was a bit early for a drink, so I opted for hot coffee and breakfast. Breakfast was eggs, toast and fresh fruit but you had a myriad of food. We arrived at our gate and boarded the plane for our destination.
We stayed in a small hotel called the Hotel des Coutellier. Our room was comfortable. It was simple with a bed and bath. We did not need to go out for breakfast. Each morning we were greeted with a continental breakfast or croissant and a second bread, or muffin and juice. The coffee was a Keurig pod.
The front desk was manned by a staff that spoke English and French. They were kind with a smile and information on the area. I would recommend this hotel for the staff, comfort, and the elevator.
The weather in Quebec City was cold and wet when my husband and I ventured out on our first day. We left Charlotte amid a heat wave, so this weather change was comfortably different. Touring the old city means going up and down sharp hills. Being a woman in my sixties, I take these hills slowly, stopping from time to time to just breathe. The atmosphere is beautiful, and the sites are picture worthy, so every stop is memorable.
Our tour of the Chateau Frontenac Hotel was warm and informative. We started outside on the 1884 Pavilion which is on the board walk but soon were inside looking at a beautiful hotel. The lobby of this gorgeous Victorian manor is lined with wood and brass. The most beautiful hotel, in my opinion, that I have seen.
The Chateau hosts many events. If you can get a room count yourself lucky. Rooms range from two-bedroom suites to single rooms in the attic, all with private baths.
The tour was given by a lovely woman in period clothes. She was the countess Frontenac, the wife of the gentleman who the hotel is named after. We toured the hotel’s pre and post restored banquet rooms. We saw photos of the people who had stayed there such as Churchill, Regan, Roosevelt and many more.
After this tour we walked to the Citadel. It overlooks the Planes of Abraham, a very famous place that was fought by the English against the French. We journeyed through the building of this fortification. It is still an active military base and houses soldiers. If you are a military or history buff this is a place for you.
Dinner is delicious at the Charbon steakhouse followed by a goodnights sleep. After walking a lot, we let ourselves and our pocketbooks go and enjoyed a nice fillet. With full hearts and stomachs, we walked back to our hotel.
Do not think that I am getting paid for this travel log. I am putting down my thoughts because I forget. It is like giving birth, you forget the pain and concentrate on the joy. Canada is beautiful but the weather is a little mercurial.
My husband and I dressed for the cold. The rain finally stopped, and the sun was very warm in lower Quebec City. We went for a walk up to Upper Quebec. I was very warm so before our next tour we went to the hotel and put on clothes for a warmer day. Between walking at a 45-degree angle and the sun it felt nice with less clothes on. We saw many locals with scarves and hats on. We thought they were insane until the cold front came in.
It took two hours, and the wind came in. In another half an hour the temperature dropped 10 to 15 degrees. We felt the difference from the Lower to the Upper Quebec. Upper Quebec is very windy which added to our discomfort. Our tour began between the upper and lower Quebec. We were fine at 1:00 PM when the “Bury the Dead” tour began and by the time it ended we were blue from cold.
Bury Your Dead is a book written by Louise Penny. This is one of many books written about characters in “Three Pines” a fictional area in Quebec not on any map. My husband and I listened to her books on Audible to prepare ourselves for this tour.
Our tour leader took us to many of the houses that conjured up the background of what Ms. Penny used to write the book. In many ways, it made the book clearer. I could see Gamache walking down the street with his dog. The smell of the books in the Lit and His (Morrin Cultural Center) where the ancient tomes laden with knowledge were another device to further the background of the story, just don’t look too close to the titles. This also was background to many scenes in the book.
We were taken to where Louise Penny sat to write the book, a small coffee shop where we saw 9 ¾ across the street, the address of the murder victim. Our group sat and mused on the characters while drinking hot chocolate out of bowls, like they did in the book.
We proceeded up to the statue of Champlain. I do apologize, but at that point I was overloaded with facts and freezing. The tour guide let us go and we found sweatshirts. The tour could have lasted longer but for us it was the end of our adventure.
We strolled the streets of Quebec City. The sun was out so it was crowded. My husband and I were tired and getting up around 3:00 AM the next morning for our flight was staring at us in the face. We walked back to our hotel, downhill, gravity works much better in that direction. I had a glass of wine, to finish off the bottle and my husband took a nap. Our dinner was next door to our hotel. We had Pub grub, wings and a panini for dinner. We went back to pack for our flight home.
The day before we left Quebec City, we asked the concierge to order a taxi to the Airport for our first flight. An hour after we flew off from Quebec City Airport our flight landed in Montreal. We had a fast Starbuck’s breakfast, and we went on to Toronto. We thought that because we had an American Express Lounge in Toronto, we would be comfortable to wait two hours till our flight to Charlotte Airport, our destination. We were wrong.
The lounge and the airport needed some love. After buying a day pass to a United lounge in Newark Airport in the United States on our first day, we thought that all lounges would be spacious, and have better accomodations, this too was a bad assumption. This wasn’t the first time we had been to a Priority Pass lounge and on the whole they are pretty good. The lounge in the Toronto Airport on the US side was crowded and there was no way we could spend two hours there. It needed some TLC. We will in the future try hard to avoid long layover flights.
We gratefully returned home. Our daughter dog sat Rosie and Lillie so that they would not be stressed or lonely. She is a wonderful woman, and I am very grateful.
Vacations are a learning experience. We have learned many things about ourselves and the way we travel. Quebec was a beautiful city, and I am a better person for seeing it. When you go on vacation, I am very thankful for the opportunity to see something compelling and learn more about another culture. Canada is part of my heritage and I love seeing it.
I have also learned that not all airports will have the same space as newer airports. I am not sure why Airlines think that flying is comfortable because it isn’t. Flights are overcrowded and legroom is non-existent. Comfort away from home is very important and people are much nicer and less stressed if they are comfortable.