Quebec City Accomodations: Auberge du Littoral (Trip Advisor Reviews)
Monday April 4:
A good portion of Monday was packing up and driving up to Quebec City. We also stopped for a lunch of cheese and pepperoni and toast, which we had bought in Montreal. After settling in at Auberge du Littoral, we drove into Quebec (we stayed just outside the city) and stumbled upon a row of restaurants on Grande Allee, where a Hostess (who had to be freezing cold outside) ushered us into Restaurant Louis-Hebert for some excellent French dining despite our small children in tow. We adults each had a three-course meal (I had trout buerre blanc and Lance had Lamb) while RJ and Logan shared very fancy chicken strips!
We also discovered that Logan enjoys Duck Liver Pate. I let him taste it and he clearly wanted more. I'd say the kid has expensive taste, but he seriously eats EVERYTHING, so that's not the case here. It was a little stressful having two small children in a fancy restaurant, but it was relatively empty (completely empty at first) being around 6 on a Monday and they were reasonably well behaved. RJ even got to take a peek into the kitchen when he asked who made the food! The staff was definitely accommodating to children, which is more than I expected for a fine French restaurant!
Tuesday April 5:
This was (unfortunately) our only full day in Quebec, so of course, it was pouring down rain. We stopped by Montmorency Falls to see if we could still see the falls even in the rain, which we could, but it was too miserable out to get any closer.
Then we drove out to the suburbs, in pursuit of Mega Parc (which is the second largest indoor amusement park). However, we got hungry before getting there and stopped at Eggsquis for some lunch. By then the rain subsided a little, so we headed to Vieux Quebec, which is where we really wanted to go for the day. 
Since we knew that taking the stroller was going to be a hassle with the stairs and going into and out of shops, many of which have a stair or two to go into, we strapped Logan into the Ergo and hoped that RJ would walk without too much trouble. 
He did okay, but claimed to be tired a lot, but he was also out of sorts because we wouldn't let him get an overpriced souvenir airplane at the first store we stopped at and the crying fit that followed pretty much set the tone for much of the day. This led to him also not getting the really cool elasmosaurus (it's a dinosaur that looks like an apatosaurus, but with fins for swimming instead) that we saw at a nature store later on. I thought about buying it without him knowing to give to him later, but in retrospect, I'm glad I didn't since the message was more powerful this way. You can't get toys when you act greedy and throw fits when mommy and daddy say no. He STILL talks about that elasmosaurus. We went in and out of many shops selling wares from fur to well, dinosaurs. We rode the funiculaire down into Lower Quebec 
and there we visited Place Royale where we got to play dress up in La Maison, which is a replica of a home circa 1800. 
I wish we had gotten there earlier so we would've had more time to play before they closed (we got there about 20 minutes before closing - DOH!). Then we walked around some more, seeing the canons and the waterfront 
before heading back up to Upper Town to eat at Aux Anciens Canadiens. We had pea soup and French Onion soup, Pheasant and Meat Pie, and the all-important Maple Pie. Excellent food again. 
By this point, I felt like I gained at least 10 lbs on this trip! After dinner we tried to swing by the Dinosaur Store since RJ had redeemed himself during dinner, but alas, it was closed, which led to some tears, but also another important lesson about listening all the time, so that he doesn't miss out.
Wednesday April 6:
We unfortunately had to pack up again, saw Montmorency Falls in the sunshine,
and stopped at a sugar shack on our way to Burlington, VT. The sugar shack (we went to L'Erable Rouge) was quite the experience. The food was fantastic, authentic sugar shack fare: pea soup (Logan LOVES pea soup by the way - he was screeching for it repeatedly every time I got distracted and tried to feed myself!), baked beans, maple doused ham, homemade pickles, crispy pancake fritter things for dipping in syrup, maple pie (again!), and maple taffy! We needed the folk dancing that RJ got us to do just to fit out the door! 
For added amusement, it appeared to be Senior Day at the sugar shack, so it was us, and a full house of Seniors! This was by far the most francophone experience we had in Quebec, where our French Language skills were CLEARLY not up to snuff. We (obviously) managed to get through the experience unscathed, but we didn't understand most of what people were saying, even with context. Thankfully, one of the waitresses helped by speaking a little English when she saw that we were trying, but struggling with the French!
After the sugar shack, we were back to the car, where Logan serenaded us with screams for what seemed like the whole ride to Burlington. That part sucked.
We are bummed we didn't get to do more in Quebec City as we absolutely loved our time there. I would've loved to see more of Place Royale and the Citadel and of course eat more. Maybe if we get up there again, we will do it in the summer so we can also see Canyon Ste. Anne or in the winter so we can see the Hotel de Glace. Someday...
A good portion of Monday was packing up and driving up to Quebec City. We also stopped for a lunch of cheese and pepperoni and toast, which we had bought in Montreal. After settling in at Auberge du Littoral, we drove into Quebec (we stayed just outside the city) and stumbled upon a row of restaurants on Grande Allee, where a Hostess (who had to be freezing cold outside) ushered us into Restaurant Louis-Hebert for some excellent French dining despite our small children in tow. We adults each had a three-course meal (I had trout buerre blanc and Lance had Lamb) while RJ and Logan shared very fancy chicken strips!
We also discovered that Logan enjoys Duck Liver Pate. I let him taste it and he clearly wanted more. I'd say the kid has expensive taste, but he seriously eats EVERYTHING, so that's not the case here. It was a little stressful having two small children in a fancy restaurant, but it was relatively empty (completely empty at first) being around 6 on a Monday and they were reasonably well behaved. RJ even got to take a peek into the kitchen when he asked who made the food! The staff was definitely accommodating to children, which is more than I expected for a fine French restaurant!Tuesday April 5:
This was (unfortunately) our only full day in Quebec, so of course, it was pouring down rain. We stopped by Montmorency Falls to see if we could still see the falls even in the rain, which we could, but it was too miserable out to get any closer.
Then we drove out to the suburbs, in pursuit of Mega Parc (which is the second largest indoor amusement park). However, we got hungry before getting there and stopped at Eggsquis for some lunch. By then the rain subsided a little, so we headed to Vieux Quebec, which is where we really wanted to go for the day. Since we knew that taking the stroller was going to be a hassle with the stairs and going into and out of shops, many of which have a stair or two to go into, we strapped Logan into the Ergo and hoped that RJ would walk without too much trouble. He did okay, but claimed to be tired a lot, but he was also out of sorts because we wouldn't let him get an overpriced souvenir airplane at the first store we stopped at and the crying fit that followed pretty much set the tone for much of the day. This led to him also not getting the really cool elasmosaurus (it's a dinosaur that looks like an apatosaurus, but with fins for swimming instead) that we saw at a nature store later on. I thought about buying it without him knowing to give to him later, but in retrospect, I'm glad I didn't since the message was more powerful this way. You can't get toys when you act greedy and throw fits when mommy and daddy say no. He STILL talks about that elasmosaurus. We went in and out of many shops selling wares from fur to well, dinosaurs. We rode the funiculaire down into Lower Quebec and there we visited Place Royale where we got to play dress up in La Maison, which is a replica of a home circa 1800. I wish we had gotten there earlier so we would've had more time to play before they closed (we got there about 20 minutes before closing - DOH!). Then we walked around some more, seeing the canons and the waterfront before heading back up to Upper Town to eat at Aux Anciens Canadiens. We had pea soup and French Onion soup, Pheasant and Meat Pie, and the all-important Maple Pie. Excellent food again. By this point, I felt like I gained at least 10 lbs on this trip! After dinner we tried to swing by the Dinosaur Store since RJ had redeemed himself during dinner, but alas, it was closed, which led to some tears, but also another important lesson about listening all the time, so that he doesn't miss out.Wednesday April 6:
We unfortunately had to pack up again, saw Montmorency Falls in the sunshine,
and stopped at a sugar shack on our way to Burlington, VT. The sugar shack (we went to L'Erable Rouge) was quite the experience. The food was fantastic, authentic sugar shack fare: pea soup (Logan LOVES pea soup by the way - he was screeching for it repeatedly every time I got distracted and tried to feed myself!), baked beans, maple doused ham, homemade pickles, crispy pancake fritter things for dipping in syrup, maple pie (again!), and maple taffy! We needed the folk dancing that RJ got us to do just to fit out the door! For added amusement, it appeared to be Senior Day at the sugar shack, so it was us, and a full house of Seniors! This was by far the most francophone experience we had in Quebec, where our French Language skills were CLEARLY not up to snuff. We (obviously) managed to get through the experience unscathed, but we didn't understand most of what people were saying, even with context. Thankfully, one of the waitresses helped by speaking a little English when she saw that we were trying, but struggling with the French!After the sugar shack, we were back to the car, where Logan serenaded us with screams for what seemed like the whole ride to Burlington. That part sucked.
We are bummed we didn't get to do more in Quebec City as we absolutely loved our time there. I would've loved to see more of Place Royale and the Citadel and of course eat more. Maybe if we get up there again, we will do it in the summer so we can also see Canyon Ste. Anne or in the winter so we can see the Hotel de Glace. Someday...
1 comment:
OMG, I'm so hungry now!
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