tc's disney mom
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2004
- Messages
- 31
Bonjour everyone! We had a lovely visit to Quebec City on July 19th, 20th and 21st. (We really should have allowed for a longer visit, but it was our first visit, and money was a bit tight, etc. We will now have to go back to visit again!) I am trying my best to remember place names properly for my report. I'm sorry to have let so much time go by, but with getting my daughter off to University in late August, there was always so much to do, and no time to write a report! It was just the three of us on the trip, me, my husband and our daughter.
We drove from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, and had no trouble with roads, directions or border crossing on our drive to Quebec. We got a little lost trying to find our hotel, The Courtyard by Marriott just outside the gates of Old City. The hotel staff was so nice, they stayed with us on the cell phone until we arrived at the hotel. (We used our T-Mobile US cell phone, but had the international roaming feature enabled before the trip. It's expensive, but it worked out fine for a short trip.) The Courtyard by Marriott was a wonderful hotel, and I would return there again in a minute, and I would recommend it to everyone. The staff at the hotel were very special, in that they really seemed to care about their guests. My daughter had several nice conversations (in French) with the employees at the hotel. It was raining on the day we arrived, and we mainly just had dinner and got settled in to the hotel on day 1. We were hoping for better weather on day 2. One other comment, the hotel offered a breakfast buffet for a fee, and the food was excellent.
On day 2, our first full day for touring Quebec City, the heavens opened up, and we saw more rain than we could ever have imagined! (Only day 3 of our trip was nice and sunny.) Still, we just took our umbrellas, bought some rain ponchos, and explored. We went to the Civilization Museum, and I thought this was an extremely well done museum. We learned so much about the history of Quebec! My husband and I listened to the narrations in English, but I believe my daughter was listening in French. On such a rainy day, this was the place to go. After the museum, we walked over to Cafe du Monde for lunch. We all had different lunch specials that came with soup and dessert, and everything was very good. Our daughter took care of all food ordering, ticket purchasing, etc., in French, and she really enjoyed this. We went back to the museum to see the film exhibit, then back out into the rain to do some souvenir shopping, and to stop at a bookstore and CD store. DD purchased a French edition of a book that she has already read in English, and 2 music CDs of Quebec music artists. Everyone we encoutered was so nice and friendly, and DD really got to speak French with eveyone. We went to a creperie for dinner (with wine, my daughter was happy to know she was of legal drinking age in Quebec, and enjoyed a small glass of wine!). When we left the restaurant, the rain was still pouring as hard as it had been in the morning. We decided to return to the hotel, dry off, and get an early start the next morning.
Day 3 was beautiful, warm, sunny! What a beautiful city! We walked to La Citadelle for the changing of the guard, then to the Chateau (which I believe was being refurbed for next year's celebrations) and we just walked around and explored in general. At around lunch time, we drove out of the old city area to the Art Museum (I'm not remembering the museum's exact name, but it is on the main thoroughfare leading into Old Quebec City.) This was another outstanding museum. We spent several hours here, and had lunch at their counter service, and the lunch was outstanding as well! There is a beautiful park next to the museum, and so many people were out enjoying the weather. It was a glorious day. After the museum, we drove a few miles further away from the Old City, and stopped at a shopping mall, where we had pre-ordered the new Harry Potter book. (Just a note, DD read the entire book on our drive back to the Philadelphia area.) We just made a quick stop to retrieve the book, and then headed back to our hotel and Old City.
For our last dinner in Quebec City, we did not choose well, unfortunately. My husband got into his head that he would like Italian food, and we went to Mike's in the Old City. We really did not like any of the food there, but maybe it's just that it was so different from what we were expecting. We did make our way later to the beaver tails stand, and they were very good! The whole Old City area is so pretty in the evening.
I know we could have visited more landmarks, but the rain really interfered with our plans. Still, we managed to see a lot, and everything was great! We would really love to go back!
On our drive home, we got to stop at Tim Hortons! Wow, did everyone enjoy the donuts! I wish we had Tim Hortons in the States! Our only problem on the drive home, it took 4 solid hours to cross the border back into the US. We were stopped 1km away from the border agent's booths, and it still took four solid hours to make it though!
My daughter is now at her University here in the US, and she is double majoring in English and French. She really enjoyed this trip. Thanks to all of you for helping with our planning!
(If anyone has any specific quesions that I could help with, I will do my best!)
We drove from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, and had no trouble with roads, directions or border crossing on our drive to Quebec. We got a little lost trying to find our hotel, The Courtyard by Marriott just outside the gates of Old City. The hotel staff was so nice, they stayed with us on the cell phone until we arrived at the hotel. (We used our T-Mobile US cell phone, but had the international roaming feature enabled before the trip. It's expensive, but it worked out fine for a short trip.) The Courtyard by Marriott was a wonderful hotel, and I would return there again in a minute, and I would recommend it to everyone. The staff at the hotel were very special, in that they really seemed to care about their guests. My daughter had several nice conversations (in French) with the employees at the hotel. It was raining on the day we arrived, and we mainly just had dinner and got settled in to the hotel on day 1. We were hoping for better weather on day 2. One other comment, the hotel offered a breakfast buffet for a fee, and the food was excellent.
On day 2, our first full day for touring Quebec City, the heavens opened up, and we saw more rain than we could ever have imagined! (Only day 3 of our trip was nice and sunny.) Still, we just took our umbrellas, bought some rain ponchos, and explored. We went to the Civilization Museum, and I thought this was an extremely well done museum. We learned so much about the history of Quebec! My husband and I listened to the narrations in English, but I believe my daughter was listening in French. On such a rainy day, this was the place to go. After the museum, we walked over to Cafe du Monde for lunch. We all had different lunch specials that came with soup and dessert, and everything was very good. Our daughter took care of all food ordering, ticket purchasing, etc., in French, and she really enjoyed this. We went back to the museum to see the film exhibit, then back out into the rain to do some souvenir shopping, and to stop at a bookstore and CD store. DD purchased a French edition of a book that she has already read in English, and 2 music CDs of Quebec music artists. Everyone we encoutered was so nice and friendly, and DD really got to speak French with eveyone. We went to a creperie for dinner (with wine, my daughter was happy to know she was of legal drinking age in Quebec, and enjoyed a small glass of wine!). When we left the restaurant, the rain was still pouring as hard as it had been in the morning. We decided to return to the hotel, dry off, and get an early start the next morning.
Day 3 was beautiful, warm, sunny! What a beautiful city! We walked to La Citadelle for the changing of the guard, then to the Chateau (which I believe was being refurbed for next year's celebrations) and we just walked around and explored in general. At around lunch time, we drove out of the old city area to the Art Museum (I'm not remembering the museum's exact name, but it is on the main thoroughfare leading into Old Quebec City.) This was another outstanding museum. We spent several hours here, and had lunch at their counter service, and the lunch was outstanding as well! There is a beautiful park next to the museum, and so many people were out enjoying the weather. It was a glorious day. After the museum, we drove a few miles further away from the Old City, and stopped at a shopping mall, where we had pre-ordered the new Harry Potter book. (Just a note, DD read the entire book on our drive back to the Philadelphia area.) We just made a quick stop to retrieve the book, and then headed back to our hotel and Old City.
For our last dinner in Quebec City, we did not choose well, unfortunately. My husband got into his head that he would like Italian food, and we went to Mike's in the Old City. We really did not like any of the food there, but maybe it's just that it was so different from what we were expecting. We did make our way later to the beaver tails stand, and they were very good! The whole Old City area is so pretty in the evening.
I know we could have visited more landmarks, but the rain really interfered with our plans. Still, we managed to see a lot, and everything was great! We would really love to go back!
On our drive home, we got to stop at Tim Hortons! Wow, did everyone enjoy the donuts! I wish we had Tim Hortons in the States! Our only problem on the drive home, it took 4 solid hours to cross the border back into the US. We were stopped 1km away from the border agent's booths, and it still took four solid hours to make it though!
My daughter is now at her University here in the US, and she is double majoring in English and French. She really enjoyed this trip. Thanks to all of you for helping with our planning!
(If anyone has any specific quesions that I could help with, I will do my best!)
