part Ii - Quebec City driving around - 24 hours
And so begins the remaining 24 hours of our Quebec City Trip. If you missed the first 36 hours, here they are.
Today J was in charge...yes it is so so difficult for me to let go of planning but I just breathed it in and let him decide. I knew we were headed out of the city...Where was unknown to me.
First stop. 12 minute drive from the hotel to Montmerecy Falls. We parked at the bottom of the falls and explored the climb to the viewing point. So glad we did not buy the cable car. The ride for obvious reasons is much further from the falls and you do not get to experience the falls as you would by a easy walk to the bottom of the falls or a climb up the stairs to viewing decks. You can even see the rock climbers and zip liners from below. The same parking ticket was valid at the top of the hill. Instead of parking at the Le Menoir, we continued past the river over the falls and on to the other side. Parking here you can explore the top of the falls and even go to the Menoir for a drink. It was a Saturday and it was extremely crowded so we just skimmed our visit to the top.
View of the falls from the bottom
At the top of the alls and the climb up to the viewing platforms
check out how smooth the rock is
I loved the rock formations around the falls
I am so glad I turned around while waking away from the falls...it was lovely to see the giant falls in context of tiny flowers
Then it was off to the next destination; around the corner is the bridge leading to Ile de Orleans. The tiny island with a belly full of Cassis and dairy farms and chocolates and farm to table food and wineries. As soon as we entered the island, we made the first left on Chemin Royal and the on the left was Cassis Mona and Filles, a beautiful open air restaurant and winery and creamery. We had a fabulous lunch of their cumin/ginger nuts washed with a home made Sangria, a haloumi like local grilled cheese and a warm goat cheese Salad and were back on the road.
We circled the whole island stopping at the north end to climb up the tower for views and to the east end for a short break to enjoy the beach and overlook and on our return back, stopped by at Cassis Mona for our fill of Cassis Gelato for J and Cassis and cream wine ice-cream for me...yum. And then it was back to the hotel to nap off the eating
Do what you LOVE what you do.....my motto...always. Shirt from Life is Good designed for
And our last agenda on this city was to walk back to Quartier Petit Champlain to check out the lower old Quebec. While most of the shops were closed we enjoyed simply walking the streets and catch the wall art and beautiful Unesco buildings, walking to the water front for the view of the Frontenac from the bottom and grabbing a fancy schmancy meal at L'Organiq. My veggie meal was so so, J's Halibut was great but the dessert more than made up for it. And then it was to walk (hmmm funicular ----) back to the top and to the hotel....it was definitely a great weekend getaway.
walking past the cannons at Cote de la Canoteire
exploring alleys on our walk down
University view
Giant mural framed by my favorite clematis
The church was closed but you can see the fresco from an open window image above
Fabulous finish to the day....a little beach of hazelnut on my plate, hazelnut ice-cream, sugar foam, sugar sea weed, hazelnut sand and hazelnut amaretto caramel with hazelnut rocks....yum