Today is a new day! The weather,while not blue skies and sunshine, was quite a bit better. Well, at least it wasn’t icy rain, blasting sideways. It’s the little victories! We started the day by having breakfast in the concierge lounge. Ooh la la! This was a part of our room upgrade. We’ll assess the overall value of this move at the end of the trip. I bet you can’t wait!
The view from the lounge.
The space was elegant and cozy.
My choices.
They had a coffee machine that looked as if it were from NASA. We stood stupefied until a hostess came by and asked if we needed help. We just nodded slowly. She said, in a French accent of course, that it was quite simple and then proceeded to explain an impossibly complicated series of steps to make our java.
Easy peasy.
We enjoyed our cafe and croissant and headed up to our room to prepare for the day. First, I nosed around the hotel a bit more.
The place is truly stunning.
All these upper areas were roped off. Drats!
Off to explore! We will be making our way to Le Petit Champlain.
Samuel Champlain, the founder of Quebec, so I’m told.
First, another angle of the Castle, er hotel.
The street we’re headed for is close, yet oh so far below. One can walk down a gazillion stairs or you can lay down three bucks Canadian to ride the Funiculaire.
What is a Funiculaire, you ask?
It’s a frightening combo of escalator and elevator.
Here we go!
If you’d like to ride along…
Horrifying, right? Just me?
The rickety ride behind us, we were transported to what seems to be Old Europe. This place was truly stunning!
Shops upon adorable shops.
Jewels
Stairs. There will be so many stairs.
No excuse for not finding a gift here.
Aren’t these yellow shutters just yummy?
This guy beckoned me in.
This shop was filled with hand cared goods. Very cute
Once inside, we were invited upstairs to the workshop where we were given a tour. Quite nice of them! We still didn’t buy anything.
I just loved this flower pot decor. I read more about this place later. We really should have eaten here. Next time.
Actual photo of me sizing up our options for lunch.
I will be buying some mapley treats here later.
There are several of these hyper-realistic murals around the city that display historical events.
Back up the Break Neck stairs. More foreshadowing…we will get swacked at this little bar.
Even the mannequins were prepared for rain.
This is the Place Royale. The acoustics here were amazing.
Notre Dame des Victories.
It was closed.
I thought these cement barriers were cool. How old might they be? Who knows.
I told you there’s a bunch of these.
A view of the Church in the plaza.
Can you believe this architecture?
These were some foundations preserved post-war. Not sure which one. My note taking was lax.
This brave musician added a lovely atmosphere.
The residence of floors 1, 2 & 4 are all in on the plants theme. Third floor, not so much.
This guy…always messing up my photography.
The charm just goes on and on.
Is Juliet up there?
We’re at the edge of the fortress here.
Watch your step!
Time to loop back.
We could have taken the Funiculaire back up.
We took the stairs instead.
My quads!
On to lunch!!!
They let me keep this menu. I didn’t steal it…this time.
This place was so cute. Canadian hunter/trapper themes with a bit of hipster.
Graffiti was part of the art here. Wait until you see the restroom.
Some local beer.
The menu boasted of the local appertif called Kariboo. I looked up its origins. according to Wikipedia: “Kariboo is supposed to have derived its name from a drink consisting of a mixture of caribou blood and whisky which was consumed by hunters and loggers in colonial times to stave off the cold when working.” This is just wine and whiskey. Not nearly as bad ass.
We started with some Rabbit Wings. Yup. I told you it was hunting themed. They were Sweet, sticky yumminess.
Meat Pie Croquettes. The star of the plate was the tomato fruit ketchup. Yum!
Flambeed Vegetables with Almonds. Crazy as it seems, this dish was my favorite! All the veg was perfectly cooked and tossed in a maple dressing. The unique flambe smokiness was delightful.
The graffiti theme continued into the downstairs unisex restroom. The hand washing taps are the pipes above the tub. Very hipster.
I couldn’t find anything about this mural, but it’s preserved behind Plexiglas. The graffiti is on the glass.
Our server was a sweetie by the way. She called us out on our really bad attempt at speaking French . She said we just shouldn’t even try. She brought us a free taste of a Bailey’s-like liquor in case we were offended.
Au revior, La Buche!
We strolled past this art corridor which has it’s wares stored along the alley in lockable steal boxes when not in use. Clever. As I took this photo I was scolded by the artist for doing so. Guess I’m not buying anything.
Can’t make a turn without seeing a historic church.
We’re nearing our next destination.
.
After reading this, I realized how insufficient my public school history education was. I had no idea.
We enter the fortress.
Here we waited for our English speaking tour guide. We were last tour of the day and we were the only guests.
He told us something about this tank. It’s from the Korean war maybe?
I should have taken notes.
I did feel safe.
Inside a bunker.
This austere looking building hosts royalty such as the Queen and Celine Dion.
We reached the highest point of the fortress. Here is where the guide informs us how far we COULD see if it wasn’t so crappy out.
The view of the city was utterly charming, though.
The tour was really great. Our “English speaking” guide was a bit hard to understand, but he was utterly charming even as he cheekily called us “Evil Americans”. It seemed that his disdain for the US was only bested by his loathing for Montreal.
We made an uniformed decision on dinner. This was a mistake.
The place was teeming with old world charm.
Lovely watercolor likeness of the restaurant.
Some of the friends on the menu.
Place setting were adorable, as well as the servers’ uniforms of which I have no pictures. Picture St. Pauli Girl with less bosom.
The atmosphere did not let us down, it was the food. First up was Escargot. It was puzzlingly smothered with cheese. Not necessary.
Jeff ordered a dish that seemed to be composed of several different game meats. Technically true but it turned out to be more of a sampler. Some elements were good but it was sloppy and just too much.
I ordered Beef Wellington, one of my favorite dishes. It was just bland. I’ve made better, sorry to say. Oh well, I should have looked it up first. Don’t be deceived by cuteness!
We wandered out to the more modern business district for a night cap.
It still had some interesting architecture.
We always manage to find an Irish pub.
We had one beer here, but it wasn’t the warm and friendly pub we hoped for. No worries, we were cooked!
UP NEXT: We’ve done the food, the history, tomorrow we’ll tackle nature!