It's super rare that I go away for a weekend, and even more rare that I go on a trip without hubby & the kids but did I ever have a GREAT weekend in Quebec City with my dear friend!!
For those of you who don't know, I lived in Quebec as a kid, and loved it! Most of my family is still there, and you could say we have deep roots - both sides of my family were part of the early French immigration to settle New France in the 1600s.
When my friend invited me to come up for Winter Carnival AND to stay a night in the only ice hotel in North America, I was excited (and to be honest, a little bit anxious about sleeping in the cold.)
I've been more times than I can remember, going back to when I was little, but Quebec City never disappoints! We arrived Friday around dinnertime to a winter wonderland as it had been snowing all day. We stayed our first night at the historic and perfectly-located Hotel du Vieux Quebec. Loved our room with the old stone wall, loved the friendly customer service, loved that they were able to set us up with guaranteed parking in the underground parking just across the street, and that when we checked out, they held our luggage in storage for us. The Nespresso & fruit in the lounge were a nice touch too. I will absolutely stay there again and I highly recommend it to all of you!
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| I chose one of the rooms with the old exposed stone walls, which might date to the original building of 1778. I love this kind of character! |
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| Our room included a sitting area, desk, refrigerator, kettle, coffeemaker, and really sweet reusable glass bottles of water with the design of the hotel on them. In an effort to be eco-friendly, the hotel also lends metal reusable water bottles for the day, or you can buy either the glass or metal bottles to take home from reception. |
It was a delightful surprise to find my next door neighbors/good friends were eating dinner in the Irish pub 2 doors down from our hotel when we checked in. We stopped over to see them before heading out for a long walk before coming back for our own dinner to take in the live music there! They had gone up on Wednesday to visit the carnival before the crowds, which was brilliant because they got to do all of the carnival events with no lines, AND they also bought their carnival passes online ahead of time for a great discount!
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| It might look tiny, but it has like 3 floors (incl. underground!) |
One of my favorite parts of Old Quebec City has always been the lower town, or basse-ville. Within that area, the historic Quartier le Petit Champlain is perfectly dreamy. First you walk down the escalier casse-cou (breakneck stairs) to one of the most picture-perfect little streets, which is one of the oldest commercial streets in North America. (With all the snow, the stairs really did feel dangerous to me.)
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| All these great little spots around the city decorated. It's really special! |
Also in this quartier is the Place Royale, which is the site of the first French settlement in North America. I just love this architecture - it's just like being in France. There's a church there that is the oldest stone church in North America, and I'm hoping to see inside sometime. There are some great murals too. If going to France is out of reach for you, but you'd love to experience some French culture, Quebec City is a great option. It's a really special place.
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| There are great murals in the old city too. |
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| That's the oldest stone church in North America! |
Saturday morning, after leisurely coffees from the hotel lounge, we headed out for crêpes but the line was too long, so we opted to get some croissants from Café la Maison Smith on Rue St. Jean just down the street from our hotel. I could not resist the pain au chocolat (in Quebec they are called chocolatines) which was perfection, and Nancy's croissant was the biggest one I've ever seen!
It was a gorgeous sunny day, and we walked to the Chateau Frontenac, strolled the promenade and watched the toboggan slides, and the ice floating along the St. Lawrence River. (In the warmer months you can visit the Saint-Louis Forts & Chateaux Historic Site which is located under Dufferin Terrace to see the site that stood back in 1620.)
We visited the Chateau Frontenac's shops & exhibits in the lower level, which I never knew were open to the public!
We walked up to the Winter Carnival's ice palace, and the center of the carnival festivities. There was ice skating, ice slide tubing, ice climbing, booths, food, music, and lots & lots of happy people getting into the carnival spirit! Throughout the city are ice sculptures to enjoy, and fire pits and adirondack chairs to relax in. Quebec City really embraces Winter and I love how they celebrate it!
Still wanting crêpes, for a late lunch we found Le Petit Chateau, which is known for their fondues and crêpes, and as there is a lot of seating, we didn't have to wait. It was a really nice lunch and I enjoyed my savory mushroom & cheese crêpe. My neighbors ended up at Casse-Crêpe Breton on Rue St. Jean just down the street from our hotel and they loved it. They said it was like being served amazing crêpes by your grandmother! This was the place with a long line, and after looking at their website, I'm really craving crêpes again.
After some shopping for gifts for the family (my fave souvenir shop was Cool As A Moose in the old Bank of Montreal building), it was time to head to the Village Vacances Valcartier to start our experience at the Ice Hotel! It's about a 20-25 minute drive out of the city, and this place to go tubing, has indoor and outdoor waterparks, ice skating, a spa, camping, the hotel, an arcade, and the ice hotel. My husband has been taking his students there as part of their Winter Carnival field trips for over 20 years now and everyone loves this place! They've done a great job of making it fun year round!
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| The walk from the main hotel to the ice hotel area. |
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| This is the main ice hotel that guests can visit, has the bar & DJ. |
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| The ice hotel has both indoor & outdoor areas. |
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| Cocktails in cups made of ice! |
Everything about the ice hotel is cool! After dinner we had to go to a meeting to learn how to use the sleeping bags, and the best practices to prepare for and then keep warm for the night. The trainer went over everything in both French & English. That's another nice thing about Quebec City. Everyone speaks both languages.
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| If you're staying in the ice hotel you get your choice of cocktail in their ice glasses. |
First we visited the ice hotel area with all of the carved rooms and the bar with the DJ. We had fun exploring the building and the areas around it, plus there's an ice chapel - probably where the wedding was happening the next day as guests had started to arrive. After 9pm we were allowed to start the preparation for our night by hitting the hot tubs and saunas. It was after 10 by the time we left our regular hotel room in the main building to head to the outdoor spa area, and unfortunately for us we picked a hot tub that was not hot enough! We found an open sauna though and that was much better. Thoroughly warmed up we went inside to dry off completely, and get dressed for the night. That meant a non-cotton base layer (I used silk thermals) with my pajamas on top, plus a hat and we bundled up to get back out to the ice hotel rooms.
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| This is a private spa area for ice hotel guests to warm up in the hot tubs & cute little saunas! |
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| Nervous giggles as I did the steps to set up my sleeping bag. |
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| Even though our doors were just curtains, it was eerily quiet inside. |
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| We didn't feel claustrophobic thanks to the huge ceilings. |
By this time it was close to midnight and we had to quietly set up our mummy winter sleeping bags (rated to -22F) and follow the instructions we'd been given earlier on stowing our jackets in our sleeping bags at the foot, and changing our socks, what to do with our boots & mittens, and using or not using the sleeping bag liner (I used it.) I added 2 of the extra large hot hands warmers and thew them into my sleeping bag for extra coziness. It was surprisingly warm and not uncomfortable, and very quiet! The only things that were cold were my eyes and nose. I noticed the outside of my sleeping bag felt wet near my face maybe from breathing, but I never noticed it inside. I did wake up at 4am to use the bathroom in the hotel (there was a port-a-potty somewhere in the ice hotel but I'm not a fan), and instead of coming back to the sleeping bag, I went back to our indoor hotel room to sleep the last few hours in our king-sized bed. Somehow I remembered to stop at the front desk to inform them I'd left the room - they need to know in case of emergency. Peeking at the security guard's list, it was just me and maybe 1 or 2 others who had come back in. My friend lasted until 7:15am - she is so awesome!!
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| Early morning snow falling on our ice hotel...beautiful! |
If you're planning a trip to Quebec City in the Winter, or for carnival, I have a few quick tips for you. Wear your snowpants all the time, with waterproof boots. My boots are insulated, and with just a normal pair of socks I was perfectly warm & dry. There is so much snow and slush on the streets and sidewalks that your feet & pant legs will get wet and that's not fun. Wear a hat. You'll need it. Driving in might be tricky if the roads are slushy and you don't have snow tires or a vehicle with high enough clearance. I was stepping out of my friend's SUV into slush and snow half-way up my calves pulling up to the hotel before they cleared it. My car would not have made it, despite my new snow tires just because the car sits so low. Once you're there you can walk everywhere if your accommodation is nearby. You can park the car in one of the underground garages and not worry about having to dig it out of the snow.
I can't believe it was just yesterday. Today I got home to 51F temps in Connecticut and didn't even need to wear a coat. That feels really wrong for February.
HUGE thank you to my dear friend Nancy for inviting me to come up, for driving through the snowstorm, for getting me to do something outside of my comfort zone (the ice hotel) and most of all, for 45 years of friendship and adventures.
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