Quebec - snow!

Dan - 

This morning did not begin so well for Vicki, so she slept in. I left early to find breakfast (God forbid I should pass up an opportunity for a meal) and some food for Vicki. As I sat and ate my crêpes, the snow started coming down. Those who predict weather here are no better than elsewhere, because there was no prediction of snow yesterday. So by the time this snow finished, there was another 5 cm or so to add to the 206 cm since November. Before I even finished breakfast, they were clearing streets with plows and sprinkling salt. I don't think the snow slowed anyone down but me. 

It's kinda hard to take photos when it is snowing - everything gets wet - but I got a few. The first is this flag - the official flag of Quebec. Actually what you see is one quarter of the flag.

It should have four blue panels with white fleur de lys separated by white bars. They don't seem to take any better care of the flag than their neighbors to the south.

So I walked (uphill and in the snow - and I liked it!) to la pharmacie and got Vicki some things to make her better. The pharmacy was about 50 yards away from one of the four gates to Quebec. Quebec is the only walled city in North America. The city has been built right up to and around this wall. 

This is one of the most famous buildings in Quebec, the Chateau Frontenac. It was built in 1893, as one of a series of "chateau" style hotels built for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. (Thank you, Wikipedia, source of all wisdom and knowledge.) I wandered through the lobby, looking for coffee, but nothing was open at that hour of the morning. 

This may be loosely based on someone I dated in elementary school.

This is a shot of part of the wall around the center of Quebec. It also points out how steep the incline was. I came up the road, faithfully seeking those items to make my lovely wife feel better. My heart, however, was asking me if I had lost my mind, and I considered this a stress test on the work done inside my chest almost 2 years ago.

I could have made great time with a sled during the snow. The streets were plenty slushy or snow covered, especially the side streets. I wonder how far I would have sailed over the wall when I couldn't stop?

This is not part of the fortifications of Quebec. It's just a wall. 

Later in the day, when Vicki had napped and the medications had done some good (did I mention that I had scoured the city looking for a pharmacy?), we had another tasty meal at the same place we ate last night. 

This time, I had venison ravioli and Vicki had moules frites:

 

Both were wonderful. I just really like to try new things. I am getting my chance here. The other new item was (maple) sugar pie for dessert - so sweet it hurts your teeth. I loved it.

After lunch, we wandered a bit. This is a panorama of the Saint-Lawrence River. Yes, that is ice and cold stuff floating by. 

Having suffered the elements for more than 15 minutes, it seemed appropriate to return to our condo for a nap, reading, and another nap, not necessarily in that order. And to work on where we would have dinner, which ended up being another restaurant right behind the condo. 

We got to try the restaurant's house Caribou, a local beverage intended to make people think they are warm during the Winter Carnaval. It is supposedly red wine, whiskey or rum, and maple syrup. This one was not, but it was tasty. They are typically served from ice bars set up all over during Carnaval and drunk from ice shot glasses. 

Desperate for some extra calories, I ordered some kind of layered meat and potatoes pie called Le Cipaille. The picture won't load, so just imagine it in your mind.

Vicki got the smoked meat poutine.

And of course, the meal was ended with more sugar pie.

We planned to walk dinner off with the walk back to the condo - maybe 100 yards. Maybe.

Who cares? I'll be asleep soon, and life is good. Now if I could just get Vicki completely well. 

P.S. I just quit writing this and went to read something on Bored Panda - this cartoon was in it and it just says so much:

Travel to Quebec

Today is Sunday and later today we will head to Quebec City. Montreal is fun, but it is, to me, just a big city - even though it is the second largest French speaking city in the world.

We had breakfast at the B&B, prepared by Robert, who, as it turns out, was in the nonprofit community up here for years, even in development work. After breakfast, we got dressed for the cold and headed out to Old Montreal. Cold, it seems, is a relative term. I came prepared for bone-chilling temps - they were negative temperatures, after all - and I had lined pants, multiplie layers, etc.  But the reality is that it isn't so bad. And when businesses, buses, etc. all have the temp in the upper sixties, you cook when you walk in. So now I have trimmed down what I wear and wish I had one less sweater to pack. I had to kneel on my suitcase, not in prayer, but in an effort to get it to compress. And hope that it didn't explode at some point, like a giant silver water balloon. The shrapnel from my suitcase would have maimed hundreds in the train station, it if had blown.

So we wandered down into Old Montreal, checking out the ice skaters, the old clock tower (below), and the frozen marina (also below).

By then, at least 30 minutes had passed since our last meal, so we wandered into a patisserie/coffee shop (patisserie is French for pastry made with more butter than its total weight). We got sufficient sustenance in the form of cookies and a croissant, got two Croque Monsieurs for the train, and headed back to check out. 

The train was as we hoped - on time and comfortable. Around 4 hours later, we pulled into Quebec CIty. My first reaction, not knowing where our condo was, was to call Uber or a cab, but Vicki put an end to that and we headed down the road. Some guy pulled up beside me and asked where some building was, I laughed and told him I was from the states and had no clue. When I caught up with Vicki, I told her about the doofus who had asked the dumb tourist with a suitcase and backpack where something was. How stupid is that? 

Well, about 100 yards later, we find the condo and the same guy is out front - the doofus had the keys to our condo and had been trying to find out if that was where we were headed, and perhaps offer a ride. So he takes us in, all the while explaining how bad his English is, how good his wife's English is, and if we want anything, to give him a call. 

We did a little research and digging and hit Le Cafe St. Malo for dinner. It was like being in France.

Small, intimate - almost like the waiter is staring a secret with you. And it was pretty damned good:

I had a pate made with a hint of orange

And a cassoulet:

VIcki chose the French Onion soup and a warmed goat cheese salad.

It was a wonderful meal. I'd be very surprised if we didn't have at least one other meal here later. 

We have a nice condo for the week. I don't know what this is yet, but this is a shot from the living room window. Regardless of what I said earlier, it is cold if you open the windows to take a photo. 

Vicki here. Let me, in my own defense, say that it seems stupid to take a ride when the destination is only a few meters away. Of course, schlepping luggage in the cinder-infused slush is probably not the brightest choice. 

About our dinner: into this small restaurant, where Eric (the server) prepared a hot spiced wine for me, to help me combat a sinus thing, and where Dan tried some gin that's special to Quebec but looked like pee,  came a crew of 12 - without reservations. Thankfully, we were at the end of the meal, because with only one chef and one server, it was going to be late before that party was done. Eric was amazed that someone would walk into a restaurant with that many people and without reservations. I was, too. 

Here are my photo contributions of the day:

The requisite selfie

A Molson factory with a big boat outside of it. I figure they just pump the beer into it and haul it away. 

The marina at the Old Port in Montreal

Dan doing his photo thing

A frozen river close to Quebec

More frozen river... Those boats are going nowhere. 

Icy ice wine tour

We don't usually take group tours, but since we've opted not to drive on this trip, we signed up for an ice wine and ice cider tour. For anyone who doesn't know what ice wine is, it's made from grapes that are left on the vine until winter and then crushed at no more than -10 degrees centigrade. It's sweet and concentrated and delicious... Like liquid raisins, Dan says. We met our tour guide, Michel, and fellow tourists in the AM and set out on about a 90-minute drive to the Eastern Townships. The tour was in both French and English, but I think that Michel said more in the former than the latter. Dan would laugh at something, and when it came my turn to understand, there was nothing funny.  That's all right; y'all bring your French a few miles south and see what it gets you. 

The first stop involved the making of cocktails using ice wine. I had not planned on doing so much labor (I has to shake my own shaker) but the payoff was worth it. Here are some photos from that stop. 

The remnants of my first cocktail... Ice wine, lemon water, and maple syrup. It was sweet but delicious.

 

Next, we made a concoction of ice wine, blueberry juice, and rosemary.  The third one was not photo-worthy but had pear juice, tea, and... you guessed it... Ice wine!

These are the vineyards. The vines are all cut down for the winter and covered with white tarp - which is now covered with snow. 

You can see the tarps from this angle. 

The second place made Angels's Share, which is what they call the evaporated wine that disappears in the casks. I have no idea what the connection is to this photo. But this is Angel's Share in the making. 

We also learned the secret to sabering a bottle of sparkling wine. Will share for sparkling wine. Reginald and Teresa Dalle, we will show you next time we are at La Giro!

Our final stop was at a place that makes ice cider. The coolest part of this stop was when the guide poured hot ice cider, mixed with some other stuff, on top of snow, and we took Popsicle sticks to roll your own taffy, which the mixture turns into when it hits the snow. We were too busy rolling and eating to photograph. They also served us hot ice cider with whipped cream. That may have been my favorite thing all day.  Here's an apple tree from which the very wine that we drank may have come (analyze that sentence!!!):

Upon returning to the city, we went to Schwartz deli for a smoked corned beef sandwich and poutine. They had poutine with smoked meat on the menu but said that since they were a kosher deli, they could not combine the meat and cheese - but we could. And we did. Thankfully, we split both the sandwich and the poutine. Otherwise, we would have had to take a nap right there. 

Finally, here's a PSA for those who wear a fitness tracker. You don't have to actually walk to get your steps on; just take an ice wine tour on a bus with crappy shocks, and you will hit your goal before the sun goes down.  😎