Traveling with Laura

They say a couple of days is plenty of time to see the highlights of Québec and I would agree. I’ve been here for a day and a half and I feel like I’ve seen most of what I came here to see.

I did not sleep well last night but I still got up early and watched the (hazy) sunrise from my window while I took my time getting ready for the day.

By the time I left my hotel, it was about 6:45AM. I wandered up and down the streets of both upper town and lower town, stopping to take pictures and enjoy the relative solitude of the early morning. 

I decided I wasn’t in the mood for a big breakfast (I made up for it with plenty of food later on), so I got a chocolate croissant and iced mocha from a popular local bakery, Paillard, in the lower town and brought it to Place Royale to enjoy on a bench there. I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten a croissant where you can literally taste the butter, but this is my new standard when it comes to croissants. It might not have been the best croissant I’ve ever had, but the flaky, buttery layers put it right up there.

I may not be going to the gym while I’m here, but I promise you I am getting plenty of exercise. The city being built on a hill means constantly walking up and down that hill and up and down long flights of stairs. My next destination was as far (elevation-wise) from the lower town as possible. I climbed up to Le Château Frontenac and walked along the Dufferin Terrace. Then I climbed up the 300+ stairs of the Governors’ Promenade to the Plains of Abraham.

The Plains of Abraham is where the 1759 Battle of Québec took place (it’s now a large urban park) and at the far eastern end is La Citadelle de Québec. I quickly bought a ticket and made it in time to see the 10AM changing of the guard which takes place daily on the parade grounds. It was an impressive display of music and pageantry. Afterwards, I had an hour-long tour of the citadel. Most of the history was lost on me, but it was still fun to see and my tour guide, Brendan, was both knowledgeable and entertaining.

I stopped back at my hotel room for a few minutes then set out again to wander and eat my way around the city. First stop: poutine. I’m no stranger to poutine, but when in Québec (where poutine was invented) and all that. I read that Snack Bar Saint-Jean has good poutine, and it is right near my hotel. The added bonus is that they have mini size servings. If you’re not familiar with it, poutine is fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. This one was fine, if unmemorable.

Can you guess what I needed next? Yep, ice cream. And not just any old ice cream. I needed the local favorite, a soft serve dip, where the cone is dipped in liquid topping that forms a shell over the ice cream when it hardens. Chocolats Favoris seems to be the gold standard for dipped cones in Québec, so that was my next stop. I forwent the baby size and did a mini vanilla cone dipped in salted caramel. And if you’re thinking this sounds just like Dairy Queen, I’m going to stop you right there. This topping was thick, fondant-like salted caramel and I was immediately glad I didn’t get the smallest one. And the ice cream underneath? Super creamy and rich soft serve, which the U.S. just can’t seem to get right. 

After that feast, I could hardly believe I was going to be sitting down to an Italian dinner in just a couple of hours. Time to get walking! I zigged and zagged my way through the streets of the upper town, including a stop at the beautiful Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de Québec, before heading down the steps to lower town, where I continued my food indulgence by tasting nougat, fudge, and cider. Yes, there is a local cidery that has a tasting room in Québec and of course I had to try some. It was fine but kind of a gourmet cider which isn’t really my taste.

I ended up stopping for a strawberry lemonade on the Dufferin Terrace before heading to dinner at Bello Ristorante. Spoiler alert: dinner was kind of a letdown. I ordered a “Raspberry Bello” drink (vodka, cranberry juice, and raspberry) which I will henceforth refer to as my “two sip drink”. Seriously, I could have finished it off in about two sips. For my meal, I ordered a half portion of rigatoni bolognese. It was nowhere near as good at the bolognese I had recently in Chicago. I decided to forgo dessert in favor of some of the Aero bites I had left in my room. I was back in my room at 6PM and spent some time editing pictures and writing this blog post before going for a quick dip in the hotel pool before getting ready for bed.