February 15, 2016 Quebec City is easily one of my most favorite places in Canada. Why? Well let me tell you why! Firstly, Old Quebec is beautiful, and I mean beautiful. The buildings remind me of Europe - it is so quaint and cozy. It is easy to forget that you are in Canada. Also I find that the Quebecois in Quebec are very friendly. I would try my best to say anything in French and they were patient and accommodating. They even corrected the only French phrase that I really knew off by heart - Je suis une pomme de terre. I was told that it's actually Je suis un potat. I'm not sure about spelling so don't quote me on this! Lastly, there is always so much to do in Quebec - it's hard to get tired of the city.
We had planned on visiting Quebec during Carnival so we could celebrate winter with Bonhomme. There were a few restaurants that I wanted to check out while back in the city but mostly I wanted to celebrate all that is winter. When we got to the city it wasn't too cold, -5C. The warmest day warmed up to around 1C. The temperature was pretty tolerable. It was defiantly warmer than the previous year (-25C). Just walking along the streets can be pretty entertaining and romantic. Our first night there we visited a restaurant called Le Projet. This place is my favorite place in Quebec. Not only do they have good food (get the "ribs" on anything where it is an option - it's more like pulled pork), they have a lot of different types of beers from around the Quebec area. Who doesn't love trying out a bunch of local breweries?! It's a little walk away from Old Town (10 - 15 minutes) but it is so worth the walk.
The next day we decided to head out and see what Quebec had to offer. Once we were all bundled up we went to go see the fair grounds where all the magic happens. There was a really neat snow sculpting competition going on. There were groups of students and older artists who were carving out the snow to look like some pretty neat things. I can barely build a snow man so I was really impressed by these sculptures. We also traveled through Bonhomme's Ice Castle. It was pretty busy but it was neat none-the-less. There was an exhibit inside which described the sash that is commonly worn around the Carnival time.
As the day progressed on I knew exactly where I wanted to go - the ice slides near the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. They are super fun! The slides in the fairgrounds are fun but they are not nearly as tall as the one by the Chateau. There is a small fee to ride them but it is worth it. Depending on the day the slides may run faster or slower, either way it's fast enough for me! Plus, the view from the top of the slides is beautiful.
Lastly, before we left Quebec, we went to the Montmorency Falls just outside of the city (around a 10 minute drive). The falls are 84m high (276ft); this makes them taller than Niagara Falls in Ontario/New York. They are quite possibly my favorite falls to go look at. Well we decided that we would take a class with AventureX to climb these bad boys! Yes, that's right, we went ice climbing. I can't stop raving about how much fun ice climbing is. Before I go any further, yes, you are roped into the wall so if you fall, you aren't falling far. It is totally safe as long as you aren't horsing around (you are holding ice axes after all). The school that we went with taught us everything we needed to know and gave us plenty of time to climb. We were out there for around 4-5 hours or something like that (I can't remember exactly).
Ice climbing can be a little bit difficult. It's easier and harder than it looks all at the same time. It's easy because you don't have to find holds so much - you can pretty much make them where you feel safe to plant your axe, unlike rock climbing. It is difficult because it is physically demanding work! You climb a lot with your legs and just to get us used to climbing with leg strength our instructors challenged us to climb with one ice axe and then when none at all! It is totally possible and it makes you realise that you really need to use your legs when you are climbing. All-in-all I would recommend this school/class to anyone. It was a great day outdoors and the instructors are super nice and super helpful.
I would recommend Quebec City to anyone. There is so much to do here that you'll never find yourself bored. The food is amazing, the people are friendly and the activities are phenomenal. I find myself booking a trip back to Quebec City yearly so that I can enjoy what the city has to offer.