Je me souviens...

Bonjour, tous le monde! I'm sorry that I haven't written in a couple days. We've been too busy having FUN! To get you all caught up... ice skating in Montreal turned out to be a dud. The indoor rink was so warm that it felt like we were skating in Florida, we could barely hear the music, and my legs were so sore from our 500 mile hike the day before that I was having trouble skating. Boo. Considering I'd been looking forward to ice skating in Canada for weeks, I was not pleased with the experience. But, you will learn later that it all ended up being okay. :) To add to the disappointment, the chocolate shop we wanted to go to 'Chocolat de Chole' has apparently been closed for 4 months. Luckily for us, we found another chocolaterie down the street and got some yummy pralines. As promised, we also tried some poutine, which was good but definitely not something either one of us would eat often.

Poutine

Tuesday morning, we woke early to take on the 4 hour drive to Quebec City. When we got there we were completely blown away. What a beautiful and enchanting place! I felt like we were walking around a fairytale land. We headed to our hotel first, a cute little place called Hotel Chateau Bellevue, which was right across the street from the famous Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. After checking in, we got a quick lunch and walked through the city to the Musee de la Civilisation, which lucky for us is free on Tuesdays. We weren't really sure what to expect, but were excited to see that the main exhibition was all about mummies! We got to see several mummies that were over 2500 years old, including one that was unwrapped! Creepy! We also learned all about the mummification process, which was really interesting. Another nice exhibit was one all about the development of human thought. More of a conceptual display, but we got to see some cool brain slices! After the museum, we continued to explore Vieux-Quebec Haute-Ville, or upper level which is within the city walls, and Vieux-Quebec Basse-Ville, or lower level which is near the Saint Lawrence River and down the cliff from Haute-Ville. It was particularly beautiful because the city was covered in snow. Once it started to get dark and cold, we headed back to Chateau Bellevue to get ready for dinner. We decided this would be the perfect evening to get dressed up and eat in style. Dinner was at Cafe Sirocco,a southern European cafe, where we started with an appetizer of calamari, I had Poisson et Fruits de Mer and Ryan had Osso Buco. After dinner, we went to the Hotel L'Astral's revolving rooftop restaurant for some "bowls" of coffee and some black forest cake. The view was amazing! It was strange to see the amount of neon lights the city used at night. It was an interesting contrast to the historic and ancient feel of the city during the day.

The next day we enjoyed a nice breakfast at Chateau Bellevue and then headed out to explore the rest of the city and check out some of the boutiques. But the VERY BEST part was outdoor ice skating in the middle of Quebec City! So romantic! That and the hockey game made the trip about as perfect as it could be! We had a quick lunch at a Creperie and then had to start back for the resort. We stopped at the IGA to grab some supplies for dinner, and were delighted to find that we finally made it back in time to enjoy the jacuzzi before it closed. After dinner, I pretty much passed out on the couch - explaining the further delay in receiving your daily updates.

Today we had planned to head up to Mont-Tremblant, an local ski resort and village, but found online that most of it is closed right now. Plus, it's been raining all morning. So we've decided to make a leisurely trip back home.

This trip has been so great, and Ryan and I particularly enjoyed spending it together. :)

C'est tous!

Le Frontenac

Le Fin.

And I Would Walk 500 Miles...

Bonjour! Yesterday we allowed ourselves to sleep in after being up so late the night before, and headed straight into the city for smoked meat sandwiches at Schwartz's - which is apparently the 'hot spot' for such cuisine in all of Montreal and possibly the world! It lived up to its reputation. After waiting in line outside for about 20 minutes, we were shuffled in through the crowd to share a table with two other hungry and eager couples. It was so authentic, it felt like we'd stumbled upon some secret joint where you needed a password to get in. We got two viande-fume (smoked meat) sandwiches, shared a plate of french fries and a pickle, and two of the traditional black cherry sodas. Mmmmm.... good.












After lunch we walked around Plateau Mont Royal, which is an artsy area of the city that seemed like a fusion between Adams Morgan and Brooklyn. Super cute! We then walked to the top of Mont Royal for some gorgeous views of the city, and finally headed back to the centreville (downtown). It was hours and miles of walking, and we were both thrilled to sit in a cafe with our lattes and relax.








We finished the day with a romantic fondue birthday dinner at Alpenhaus. It was nice to take our time enjoying the fondue and talking in the dimly lit restaurant. Three hours later, we headed back to the resort ... tired and full.

This morning we woke up to an amazing winter wonderland! We walked through the snow down to the resort restaurant for a delicious breakfast of french toast, eggs, and fresh fruit. We then took a short hike through the snow up the hill to a lookout over the town and lake. It's so, so beautiful here!










We are now headed back to Montreal to go ice skating, visit a homemade chocolate shop, and indulge in some Poutine - the traditional Canadian comfort food of french fries covered in gravy. Apparently it's a must have. We'll let you know!

Till next time... c'est tous!

Bon Anniversaire, Baby!!!

Go Caps, Go Caps, Go Caps, GO! Man, last night's game was SO MUCH FUN! Being at the Centre Belle with all the Canadian fans and feeling the energy serge through the area was amazing! I was worried that being 2 of possibly 10 Caps fans was going to be intimidating, but it actually was really great. The Canadians were super hospitable and seemed to enjoy having us there, and Ryan got several props for wearing his old school Dale Hunter jersey. :) I wanted a close game, and that's exactly what we got. The Caps tied it up with 15 seconds to spare in the last period, and then took the win in the OT shoot-out! What an awesome birthday present, baby! I wish we could go to another game tonight!

Before the game, we walked around Montreal-Vieux (Old Montreal), visited the Notre Dame Basilica, had PB&J's at a little park, stopped for some Cafe Lattes, strolled down Rue Saint Catherine, and then stopped at Brutopia for a couple pre-game brewskies, where we met "Keith-the-helpful-Bartender." Keith gave us lots of tips for our Montreal visit and we can't wait to go out and try some of them. So, c'est tous for now!

Cheers!

P.S. more pictures to come... the connection is wacked.

Keith-the-helpful-bartender

We Made It!

Bonjour!

After 13 long hours in the car, we finally made it to Lac Morency in Saint Hippolyte, Quebec, CANADA!!! The drive was pretty much straight forward and adventureless, until we got to experience rush hour traffic in Montreal - coupled with a few wrong turns and rain! But it was a fun way to see a little bit of the city and to learn the Canadian traffic rules through trial and error. :) We grabbed some food at the local IGA, got to the resort and FINALLY ate some dinner. It's amazing how hungry you can get by just sitting in a vehicle for hours. The rest of the evening will be spent relaxing as we gear up for our "Week-O-Fun!" Tomorrow we're heading into Montreal for some site seeing and an awesome, awesome hockey game! GO CAPS!!! For those of you who have time, be sure to watch the Washington/Montreal game tomorrow night. You just might see us on TV! Until then... have a great one!

C'est tous!