Quebec - February 12, 2013

Mary & I decided to do something different this winter so instead of taking our usual trip south to Florida, we headed north to experience a little more-than-normal winter in Quebec City. We found a hotel room with a good rate and decided that Monday to Friday would be a nice change of pace from the dull winter routine at home.

After looking at maybe driving or taking the train, we decided that flying was so much easier even if it was a bit pricey. There was a daily non-stop on a smaller 50 seat jet and the flight was less than 2 hours. The train connected through NYC and Montreal and would have been a pretty ride up, but it took the better part of two days to get there.

Our flight north was right on time and the taxi into the city was less than 30 minutes. Quebec still has the old walls around the original parts of the city and our hotel was just a block away from the gate on St Jean Street. We were also close to the Winter Carnival grounds, so we can walk to about everything we wanted to see for the week.

We checked into our hotel and were out wandering by 2:00. The temperatures weren't bad with highs in the 20's most all week. We dressed warm anyway to be safe, the previous week was much colder with 9 AM temperatures below zero (F) on a couple of days. It snowed all day on Monday, steady and gentle with no wind, and by the time we got to the carnival grounds our hats and shoulders were full of snow. Almost right away we were reminded how much we appreciated hats, scarves, dry shoes and traction underfoot

Winter Carnival lasts for 15 days with events all over the city. The main carnival grounds are just outside the city walls with enough outdoor winter activity for a full day. We took plenty of pictures but I had trouble with the camera card, so I won't be able to post our first days pictures until after we get home on the weekend.

On Tuesday after breakfast we went inside the walls and walked the old city. We had a lunch snack and beer at the Frontenac Hotel bar with a picture window overlooking the frozen St Laurence River. We came back to our room for a late afternoon rest and nap, then headed out again and found a really nice dinner at the Boulay Bistro Boreal on St Jean Street just inside the city walls. After taking some night pictures in the city we stopped for desert and were back in our room before 10:00.