Shine And Rain

Ah, it started out to be another lovely sunny day here in Quebec City. We got up early and had our little picnic breakfast then headed out for a morning walk. We were greeted by the sight of the sidewalk cleaner tidying up.

What A Great Idea


Not that there was much to clean up. Bar Man is always impressed by how clean most cities are or, conversely, how dirty New York City is. I don't think anyone in Quebec City would even consider throwing anything on the sidewalk or in the street. What is it about people in New York who consider this to be perfectly acceptable behavior (can't find the question mark on this keyboard). Same with the buses here. They are immaculate. I would imagine that if they had a subway it would be immaculate as well. I can only wonder how people coming to New York from someplace like Quebec City must react to all of the garbage that they see, or to the people casually strewing it about.

Ah, one more bit of editorializing. The people here are laughing about the ad in the United States, the one about the Candian who goes to the United States and spends $100,000 for surgery that she would have to wait to get in Canada. They find it amusing that nothing is said about the thousands of Americans who come to Canada to get medical care that they can't afford to get in the United States. They also smugly point out that Canadians have a lower infant mortality rate and a longer life expectancy than the people in the United States.

I don't blame them. Who wants to turn on the television set and see an ad that basically uses your country as an example of something bad.

But on to sweeter thoughts. Not far from our hotel is this sweet-shop. I haven't bought anything there yet, but the Mysterious Chinese Woman salivates every time she passes by.

Even The Tricycle Is Candy


We climbed the steps to the wall that surrounds the older part of Quebec City and this is a shot of Rue Saint Jean from that vantage point.

Rue Saint Jean


You can see St. Patrick Pub at the end where the street branches off in two directions.

St. Patrick Pub


You can get a lot of nice views of the city and the surrounding area from the wall.

Scenic View


Another Scenic View


In one respect Quebec City is a lot like Puerto Vallarta: hills, steep hills. The older part of the city, where we are staying and inside the wall, is built on high ground. For defensive purposes, one would suppose. As a result you end up walking up and down a lot, both within the walled city and to get out of it.

A Cab Stand For Horses


All of Quebec City seems to be a bit like Central Park in Manhattan in terms of the horse drawn carriages. They offer tours of the city and these seem to be quite popular. At least with the tourists, if not with the horses. I suspect I will pass on this.

And To My Left...


This is a view from one part of the boardwalk that you can take around the walled city. It hooks up to the parts of the wall that you can actually walk along. As I mentioned, we did about two-thirds of the circuit this day, which was actually two days ago. We are planning on finishing it later today but it is sprinkling a bit right now.

A View From The Boardwalk


From the boardwalk you can get a nice view of the river.

A Ferry Going Somewhere


This is the one touristy thing we will be doing:

A River Cruise


There are some interesting "ruins" of some of the old buildings that were just outside the walls. This is what remains of an old chateau. They are excavating it now and I don't know if they are planning on reconstructing it, or just showcasing the ruins.

An Old Chateau


I was developing a bit of a thirst so figured stopping in here would be a good idea. I think the name means "Liver Nose" in English.

The Livernois


Bar Man Working On His Liver And Nose


After trucking around a bit we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest, but first, one last beer.

Home Again, Home Again


Checking The Offerings


I Had The One With The Yellow Handle


We decided to take a bit of a walk before dinner and popped into this old pub just a couple of blocks up Rue Saint Jean. I have to admit, I took these pictures today. As you will see, while we were here it started to rain and I wasn't able to get any pictures as we left.

Le Bistro




The Mysterious Chinese Woman Fruited Her Beer


Bar Man And His Beer And Pernod


It really started to come down while we were enjoying our drinks.

By The Bucket


Luckily, Just A Short Run Home


We made it to the restaurant adjacent to our hotel, the one where I had the drink earlier, a bit soggy, but not too badly soaked.

Like Two Drowned Rats


We had a very nice meal here, starting off with smoked duck in a wine reduction for an appetizer.

Very Tasty


They had duck confit on the menu so my choice was an easy one. I order this so often that one day I might be able to pronounce it correctly. But, then again, probably not.

My Duck Confit


The Mysterious Chinese Woman had some kind of a lamb dish and it was quite delicious as well. Although I only got one duck leg, pretty standard, the lamb dish was a very generous portion.

Let Them Eat Lamb


A very nice meal with a friendly and attentive staff. With a nice bottle of wine it was the perfect end to a bit of a damp day. There is a very good chance that we will be eating here again before our stay is over. They have a cheese plate that I really want to try.

Yesterday we did more exploring and found another neat neighborhood down by the river. We also stumbled upon a great marketplace. I will post about that either later today or, more probably tomorrow moring. We haven't really done anything yet today, so no sneak previews.

Snails On Your Pizza

Just a couple of offerings from the restaurant next door to our hotel: Bavette Cheval, Echalotes, Vin Rouge et Ali and Pizza with Sauce Tomate, Escargots, Champignons, Fromage et Olives. Yep, you guessed it, that is Flank Steak of Horse, Shallots, Red Wine and Garlic and a Pizza with Tomato Sauce, Snails, Mushrooms, Cheese and Olives. Hey, I had horse tartare when I was in Italy, and it wasn't too bad.

This is the charming hotel where we are staying. Right in the heart of things and with a most accomodating staff.

L'Hotel du Vieux Quebec


You will notice that on this keyboard I can find the apostrophe but I can't do those cute little 'e' things.

Right across the street from the hotel is the St. Patrick Pub. I saw this on the way to the hotel. We were dropped off about four blocks away because the street is closed to automobile traffic. It looked promising even from afar. When Pierrot at the front desk recommended it I had to make it my first stop.

St. Patrick Pub


My First Cold One In Quebec City


Her's Too


This window, of the St. Patrick Pub, caught my eye. For obvious reasons.

Ninety-Nine Bottles Of Beer In The Window, If One...


There are all kinds of interesting little side streets in Quecbec City, and right around the corner from all of the outdoor seating for the St. Patrick Pub is a back entrance to a more traditional Irish pub. Actually, a more traditional Irish pub part of the St. Patrick Pub.

Just Around The Corner


And Through This Door


I had a more traditional Guinness in here, something with a bit of a chew to it.

Chewing My Guinness


We wandered down the street a bit and was amazed that there were lines to get into almost everywhere. I guess because it was a Saturday night, lovely weather, and the height of tourist season that this wasn't unexpected. The only reason we got in here was because we were just having a drink, and there were a couple of seats open at the little bar in the back.

La Pointe


A Pint


It was getting about that time to head to the fireworks. We took a shuttle bus to where they were going to be held, a beautiful setting with a very nice waterfalls. I will have to look up the name later.

La Chute Something Or Another


And, of course, a spectacular fireworks display. Just the first of the four we will be seeing.

Oooh!!!


Aaah!!!


And then we took the bus home and called it a night.

One of the nice things about this hotel is that every morning they hang a little basket on a hook on your door and you get to have a little picnic when you wake up. Combine that with the coffee you can make in your room and it is a great way to start the day.

Our Morning Picnic


We walked abut two-thirds of the way around the walled city yesterday. Nice little paths and boardwalks. Today we will finish it off and maybe I will post a few pictures. Quite a nice little walk and it was a good thing we got it in early. It rained cats and dogs in the afternoon. More pictures of that coming as well. I don't want to tie up the PC here for too long. I was happy to see that I can upload my pictures, but I have to post them as I took them, no Photoshop to make me look better.

At Last, Quebec

Headed out to the Newark Airport early yesterday to check in with Air Canada. What a mess. At least three flights departing at about the same time and half the check-in counters were closed. And, of course, all of the kiosks were down.

After much confusion as to just what line I should be in (they were forming two to expedite the check-in for those leaving on the next departing flights) I finally presented myself. For some reason, and I was not even overly surprised by this, I was told Air Canada had no record of my being booked on their flight and the one that Continental said I was booked on was full. Luckily, it was not terribly over-booked so the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I were put on high priority standby.

We did get on the flight, although it was delayed so we missed our connection in Montreal. Luckily, again, they run flights from Montreal to Quebec all the time so within an hour we were on our way.

Now for the good news, I love Quebec already. We are staying in a lovely little hotel, L Hotel du Vieux Québec (note, I do not know how to put in an apostrophe with this keyboard but I got that neat little é figured out). It is right on Rue Saint Jean. This is a great location. Rue Saint Jean is lined with quaint old pubs and restaurants and is largely closed off to cars. A lot of sidewalk dining, live music in the pubs at night, and the requisite smattering of tourists traps where you can buy those tacky souveniers everyone just loves to get. Just perfect for the likes of Bar Man.

I have often said that my favorite neigborhood in Paris is Montmarte, and Rue Saint Jean captures that same ambience. I think I shall be very happy here.

We went to the first fireworks competition last night, Italy. Really nice and a huge crowd. The backdrop is a spectacular waterfalls. Despite the large crowd it was very well organized, and even getting back home afterwards was relatively easy. A bit of a wait for a bus, but not nearly what I would have expected.

Today the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I are off to do a bit of exploring. I did not bring my laptop but the hotel has a couple of PCs available for free. Tonight I am going to see if I can hook up my card-reader to upload pictures. If I can I will start posting them.

Oh, and despite the fact that the official language here is French, most people also speak English, so communication is no problem at all. And the people here are very friendly and helpful. Can you tell, I really like this place.

As Promised

We did go to Pete's Waterfront Ale House for a few beers and a nice rack of ribs. Gaid, demonstrating his skills, was changing the prices of the beers based upon how many people were drinking which kind. A bit like mutual betting at your local bookie joint. Actually, I think that is where Gaid developed his chalk skills.

A Man Of Many Talents


We decided to order the ribs, just so we could have some left over for the evening. Some of the best ribs in town. And I love their coleslaw and sweet potato fries.

Can't Be Beat


I, of course, couldn't help but gnaw into mine.

Gnaw't Any Better Anywhere

A Trip Delayed

Well, I thought I would be going to Quebec City today, but such was not to be. I checked my flight information online before leaving home and saw that it was supposed to an on time departure. But when I went to the kiosk to try to check in I got a message that my itinerary had been changed and instead of leaving at 11:30 AM as scheduled I was now slated to leave at 9:10 PM. Hmm, I didn't change my itinerary. Oh well, I got a receipt for the later flight with my seat assignments and a message that I would have to come back later for my boarding passes. Boarding passes couldn't be issued until 12 hours before departure and I was a bit early

I called Expedia, through whom I had made my reservations, and they had no record of an itinerary change. Well, I had a receipt and seat assignments for the 9:10 PM flight and decided to wait in line to talk to a check-in person to see what was going on. I figured something was up because the line took forever to move and everyone seemed to be involved in a prolonged discussion.

When I finally got to a check-in person I was told that my flight had been cancelled due to weather conditions. Well, what can you do. So then how about the 9:10 PM flight that I was now confirmed on. She said that was cancelled as well. In fact all of their flights flying anywhere that put you into Canada had been cancelled. The best they could do would be to put me on an Air Canada flight connecting through Montreal that leaves at 8:50 AM tomorrow.

So back home I went, having now spent over $150 in car service and cab fees to end up back where I started. It isn't cheap getting to Newark Airport from where I live in Brooklyn and just as expensive getting back home. You can do it cheaper using the train, but even that is $15 per person and another $2.25 each for the subway. I guess I could have saved about $50 if we took the train home, but at that point I just didn't want to put go through the hassle. And I kind of broke even because I get a $165 refund for tonight's hotel room in Quebec.

Ironically, if I check online it still shows the 9:10 PM flight as departing on time. And the weather here is still nice and it is overcast but not rainy in Quebec.

I did learn one valuable lesson from all of this, and that is to check the size of your aircraft before booking reservations. All the larger aircraft were taking off as scheduled, but the smaller aircraft such as the ones Continental was flying were not. Next time I will book only on a larger aircraft.

Luckily, the first firework competition for which I have tickets isn't scheduled to start until tomorrow night so I hope that I won't miss anything.

I went to Pete's Waterfront Ale House last night for what I thought would be my last meal here for awhile. I had a delicious smoked brisket sandwich with their most excellent coleslaw and the Mysterious Chinese Woman had one of their great cheeseburgers with mozzarella cheese. I don't know where they get their bread and buns, but they are excellent. We are going to go back there for a big lunch today and then skip supper. Maybe we will get ribs and have the leftovers later for supper. I didn't take any pictures last night but if I take any today I will post them before I leave tomorrow.

Oh, Sam was their so I finally got to tell him how great the pork butts turned out when I cooked them the way he recommended. Low and slow, 185 F for 14 hours. This works either in a smoker or, as I did them, in a large cast iron dutch oven in the oven.

The Floating Birthday

The Mysterious Chinese Woman has two birthdays every year. Here official United States birthday which is February 1st, and her real Chinese birthday, because she was born in China. Of course that one is based on the lunar calendar and, much like Passover and Easter, is never the same date two years in a row. I rely on the Mysterious Chinese Mother-In-Law to keep me posted on this one.

This year the Mysterious Mother-In-Law decided not to rely on me taking the Mysterious Chinese Woman out for a birthday lunch, she decided to treat. However the Mysterious Chinese Woman got to pick the restaurant.

I am not sure this was the one she really had in mind. I think this was one side of the restaurant next door but has now been partitioned off and opened as a separate entity. It is right on Pell Street where it ends at a candy store, kind of.

ABC Restaurant


I am not sure what the name would be in Chinese, but I sincerely doubt it would be ABC.

The Mysterious Chinese Mother-In-Law did the ordering, so we had plenty to eat. She wanted to get an appetizer too, but the waiter told her we already had more than we could eat. And, we did.

We started out with a chopped up duck with a very nicely crisped skin and quite flavorful. They served a little bowl of flavored salt on the side to sprinkle on it, but that wasn't really necessary.

Crispy Duck


We then had a nicely flavored chicken with vegetables.

Chicken And Greens


Noodles are always a must because they are indicative of a long life. You aren't supposed to cut them before eating them, but it is okay to bite of whatever dangles out of your mouth.

Long Live The Noodle


And lobster is always a must. We got two and the waiter stopped by our table on the way to the kitchen to show us our two. The Mysterious Chinese Mother-In-Law was quite distressed when I gave them names.

Fluffy And Mitten


Fluffy and Mitten came from Canada. The waiter went to some great length to tell us how the lobsters from Canada are much sweeter and tenderer than those you now get from Maine. He may be right, these were very good indeed, and at $28 for two the price was right as well.

I was hoping to get a better picture of the restaurant, but this UPS truck was rudely parked on the sidewalk and blocking the view, and pedestrian traffic as well.

Sorry About The Picture


As I was walking away I was pleased to see that the driver's crime did not go unpunished. The policeman did, indeed, ticket the miscreant.


That Will Teach You


Our lunch was very good. Old-fashioned home-style Chinese cooking. The waiter was very pleasant as well and chatted with both the birthday girl and her mother. He grunted pleasantly in my direction as well. I would certainly be inclined to go here again, and it is an interesting alternative to some of the other, better known, restaurants in Chinatown. Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised.

I am heading to Quebec on Friday for a couple of weeks to take in an International Fireworks Competition. I will probably take my laptop with me to post while I am there, but it is unlikely that you will see anything new here until Saturday or Sunday.