Parlez vous francais?

I am a bad blogger. I guess the first step it admitting it, now I am going to try to change my habits. We had a great time in Quebec City. It is a charming city that has lots of European flair. I enjoyed getting to spend lots of time walking around with Billy.

Here is the trip report for days 1 & 2 of our Quebec Trip:

Day 1 – October 1, 2008

Somehow we always manage to get early flights, so we were out of the house by 6 a.m. We parked our car at Wally Park, and made our way to the airport. Security was a breeze. We had our obligatory breakfast of Burger King while waiting to board our flight to Newark on our way to Canada. We had a quick and smooth flight. Once we arrived in Newark, we had to walk a ways to get to our gate. You could see the skyline of New York City.

Around 11:30, we boarded our plane bound for Quebec. Once we arrived in Canada, we easily passed through Customs and found a taxi. They have a fixed rate from the airport to downtown Quebec City; it’s around 32 dollars. Our taxi dropped us off at our hotel, Loews Le Concorde. We were able to check in even though we were a little early. The clerk stated that she was able to find a room with a king-size bed for us. Nice! We went our room (519) and got settled. You could see the Chateau Frontenac and Parliament from our window.

We walked in the mist down to the Old Town. I love it; it looks just like Europe. We decided to eat lunch at Aux Anciens Canadiens. It is the oldest house in Quebec City. They were having a lunch special or early, early bird special, as Billy calls it. For 16.95, you got a glass of wine or beer, soup, entrée and dessert. I was lucky enough to be dining with Billy so I ended up with two glasses of wine. We both had corn chowder soup to start with. Billy got chicken with vegetables on a puff pastry, and I got shrimp quiche with a side salad. For dessert, Billy got sherbet and I got white cake with cream and maple sauce. We were in a room with people who only spoke English or another language besides French. It was quite amusing to hear all of the questions that the server had to explain. I really enjoyed dining at Aux Anciens Canadiens; the food, ambiance and company were great.

After lunch or early dinner, we started to walk around. The rain started to get harder. We quickly ran into the Visitors Center. We browsed around and looked through the brochures until the rain subsided. We then walked back to our hotel.

Once we got back to the hotel, we relaxed and watched T.V. I took a nap. Since we had a late lunch, we were not really hungry for dinner. We continued to hang out in our room for the evening. I had a snack of Parmesan Goldfish.

Day 2 – October 2, 2008

Another day of drizzle and rain. We got up and headed to the Old Town to eat breakfast at Le Petit Chateau. I had the Crepe Duplessis (a crepe with cheese and ham). Billy had the Half & Half breakfast which included French toast, eggs, bacon. My crepe was much heavier than normal crepes, but it was good nonetheless.

After breakfast, we rode the Funuclaire down to Bassville (lower town). We walked around, and headed over to the Musee de Civilisation. I had a great time learning about the history and culture of Quebec. I want to be an anthropologist in my next life. I would not suggest bringing small children because there is only one small exhibit that they would enjoy.

We went to Le Petit Cochon Café for lunch. Billy and I shared a ham and cheese croissant. I just love French food. We each got a vanilla cupcake with chocolate ice. In the dome of the icing there was some sweet cream. The cupcakes were delicious. Definitely worth a visit to the Le Petit Cochon Café.

We walked around Petit Champlain in Lower Town. Surprisingly it was not raining. After our walk, we rode the ferry across the St. Lawrence River. You can buy a round trip without disembarking ticket. As we got back to Quebec City, it started to rain again. As I reached for my umbrella, it was gone. I had forgotten it at the café. So I quickly ran back to retrieve it. Luckily, they had placed it in the office. The irony of the situation is that it stopped raining once I got my umbrella back. Since the rain subsided and we just missed the bus, we decided to take a walk along the river. We were lucky enough to see a rainbow over the St. Lawrence River.

Instead of walking some more, we decided to take advantage of the free, electric powered bus, the Ecolobus. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the bus to arrive at our stop. During our ride back to our part of town, the bus stalled out. It was very comical to be sitting on a bus with all French speaking people. After our adventures on the Ecolobus, we went to the hotel to rest.

For dinner, we went to Le Graffiti on Avenue Cartier. It was quite the experience. I’m sure that Billy and I were one of the few visitors from the U.S. at the restaurant. While we dined two guitarists played alternative rock songs. Just imagine two French speaking guys singing Oasis’ Wonderwall among other popular 90s songs. Luckily they were pretty good. As for the food, I had pasta with shrimp, scallops and lobster; Billy had salmon. I really enjoyed my pasta and seafood. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel in the rain.

For more pictures of our trip, visit www.billylockwood.com