This year for Christmas, we tried to make a point to tone down the “things” and focus more on experiences and memory making opportunities. Our first family experience is a road trip to Quebec City, Canada. We left today, the day after Christmas, and I would love to share a bit of our day to day with you as we go! Here is a snapshot of our our travel day and first experience walking around when we arrived!
We left our house in southern Maine around 8:15am. My husband, daughter, son, my son’s girl friend and my daughter’s BFF were in for a 7 hour ride! It was a great ride – we stopped once outside of Skowhegan for lunch, gas and a potty break, then stopped once more for a coffee break once we got into Canada. The border crossing was easy (5 passports and 1 birth certificate and government issued ID) and we thought we made great time!
We arrived at our hotel – the Hotel Royal William – and checked into our two rooms (girls and boys)! Note: when traveling to Quebec Province, make sure you know a little French! We all know a bit and do our best to ingratiate our hosts by trying to speak French, but everyone here also speaks English, so a happy Bonjour goes a long way!!
We got settled then hit the road to explore! We are staying about a mile outside of the Old City and it was 13 degrees when we left the hotel this afternoon around 4pm, so we bundled up and started our hike up hill! And I mean UP HILL! Walking around Quebec City isn’t for the faint of heart – but we enjoyed the brisk air and exercise after being hold up in the car for 7 hours! The walk was lovely since we were hitting it at sunset and we reached the Old City in no time!
The city is so beautiful all decked out with lights for the holidays. This is our first time in Quebec and so far, we love it! We found an adorable little restaurant for dinner and had bison burgers, meat pie, lobster bisque and a plethora of maple desserts! After dinner, we headed towards the Chateau Frontenac, where we spied the boardwalk, funicular and toboggan run! Check out these fun pictures!
After the toboggan run (with a lot of screaming, praying and our lives flashing before our eyes), we headed down the funicular to the Lower City to wind through some gorgeous old world streets! We checked out a few shops, tasted some macarons and took some more gorgeous pictures – then we started our walk back UP to the Chateau area, then back to our hotel. Check out these gorgeous night time pictures of this magnificent riverside city!
Tomorrow, we are headed first to the Siberian Spa (woot woot), then perhaps tubing? Skating? Cross country skiing? More city walking?? Who knows! Until then – good night; bon nuit!
PS – Can I just say that I love the word, “funicular”! I mean, the word starts with FUN!!!!!
Mrs. Smith Travels 