Showing posts with label chateau fairmont. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chateau fairmont. Show all posts

Friday, October 5, 2012

Quebec City

Part 2

The next morning we sauntered down some ruelles close to our hotel, it was filled with staircases zig-zagging across the street. We wandered back through the same streets as the night before, listening to a fiddle player in Place Royale, whose music sounded so Irish to me it almost made me kick up my heels and do a jig.



Ruelles of Quebec City.



The garden of a restaurant.





Don't think I would fancy this.

Quebec is full of window boxes, reminded me of home.



The fudgerie was pretty impressive with its vast display of fudge in slabs or in the shape of a sausage. The narrow streets in the Quartier Petit Champlain were chockablock with tourists. I spotted this, hmmm I am not sure what to call it, a holy shop. In I went to see a fully decked out nun inside this teeny shop filled with holiness. She allowed me to go into their garden where they had this massive mural and a very small but well taken care of grotto. Inside, she whipped out all these holy medals for me to see and I managed to buy a few for my grandmother, with the added blessing of the medals from the nun.



Fudge in the shape of sausage.



Nuns garden and grotto.


Holy medals.



A funicular ride later and we were back on Terrace Dufferin. It was a fabulous day so the views were just gorgeous. You could see all the sailboats, cruise ships, tug boats chugging along the St Lawrence river. A staircase at the end of Terrace Dufferin led us on a pretty walk through some trees above the river and ended at our next destination, La Citadelle.

The ride up the Funicular.


Views from Terrace Dufferin.



La Citadelle is home to the  Royal 22 Regiment of the Canadian Forces. It has also been an official residence of the Queen and the Governor General of Canada,who by tradition resides there for several weeks out of the year, although his main home is in Ottawa, the capital. There was a lot happening the day we visited as the Gov'nah himself was there, and we saw him for a brief moment. Also on display were the Olympic Medals from Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics. I held all the medals which were not only massive but insanely heavy.


Olympic Medals.

First medal is paraolympic and the second is olympic.

Views from La Citadelle.



Thanks to the person who took this for us.

Autumn is creeping in.

 

After all of this, we trekked back down the hill, to Rue Saint Paul before calling it a day and heading out for dinner.




Rue St Paul.

©Alison Slattery. All Rights Reserved.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Quebec City By Night


Off we went on a spontaneous trip to Quebec City. I had been there once before but it for the winter festival and of course freezing cold. This time I would spend the weekend and get to see more of this beautiful city. It really is like a little Paris. I felt so at home here and felt like I was in a European time warp.

After getting off the bus we headed to Hosaka Ya Ramen which was recommended by a friend. This cute Japanese rec served up some delicious ramen as well as some tapas. We ordered some Sake, Tako Yuzu (which was octopus), Gyoza (Pork Dumplings), Shoyu Ramen (Tokyo style) and Miso Ramen (Sapporo style).

After dinner we headed back to walk around old port and lower town. We took a stroll down Terrace Dufferin and I got some shots of Chateau Fairmont. A trip down the Funicular led us to Basse-Ville  (Lower Town) where even smaller streets and alley ways awaited us, filled with boutique hotels, touristy shops, art galleries, restaurants and bars. After exploring Place Royale and its cobblestone streets, the edge of the St. Lawrence River is steps away and you can see sailboats, ships and the enormous cruise ships.

Gyoza from Hosaka Ya Ramen.

Tako Yuzu.


Shoyu Ramen.

Miso Ramen.



Chateau Fairmont.




St Lawrence river and some docked cruise ships. This is the view from Terrace Dufferin.

A fudgerie in Lower Town.

Cute little restaurant.


Place Royale.


Basse-Ville.


©Alison Slattery. All Rights Reserved.