L'Oiseau Tôt

We were up at 6.30am this morning for the 5-hour drive to Quebec City. We didn’t have a map of the route but we weren’t worried as the directions seemed easy enough: stay on the 417 for 2 hours then turn left at Montreal. We stopped at Tim Horton’s for a coffee and a doughnut on the way. Tim Horton’s is a Canadian institution. There are Starbucks and other coffee houses here, but I don’t know how they get customers because Tim Horton’s tastes just as good and is a third of the price.

When we got to Quebec City we had no idea where to head for so when we saw a quaint street all done up for Christmas (we think they just leave the decorations for as long as the snow is around) we parked up. The street turned out to be in lower Quebec City, the first area of the city to be settled. There were lots of antique shops and restaurants. We decided on having a big meal now as we didn’t want to pay hotel prices in the evening. I like to try new foods and I’ve never had snails before. My stomach was feeling robust so I ordered the garlic snail starter. They weren’t as slimy as I’d expected and with a lot of garlic and olive on the taste was disguised.

After lunch we walked to the quayside of the St. Lawrence River and watched the (small) icebergs floating along. Back in the lower town we found a mural of the founders of Quebec City. We then got the funicular to upper Quebec City and looked around Parliament Hill (being French they have to have their own government) and the Chateau Fontenac, which is the green roofed building you’ll have seen if you’ve ever seen a picture of Quebec City.

Oh, the name Quebec comes from the Indian (I don’t know which tribe) word Kebec meaning where the river narrows. Don’t say we’re not informative on this blog!