Bargain Hunters Quebec

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Yes we once came to Quebec with Alex and stayed at the Chateaux Frontenac and here we are with Brandon at the Super 8. Blame the American economy. The dollar is almost even with the Canadian Looney and we can no longer afford the luxury that the strong dollar afforded us. However, I want to say right up front that except for location I don’t feel like we settle, this hotel is anything but a budget location.

I was impressed as soon as I walked into the lobby. There are two small sofas and a fireplace that are very warm and welcoming. The breakfast room, where the free breakfast is servied from 6-10 is located right off of it and we could see several people in there using their laptops (there is free wireless in the public areas) and others watching the two large flat screen TV’s.

What the kids will love is the indoor swimming pool and the 80foot long slide. There is also a hot tub so the adults won’t feel left out. Also off the lobby are the ice machine and a couple of well stocked vending machines.

Our room, 417 was on the fourth floor and had two queen sized beds. 3/4 of the rooms are non smoking at this hotel. The bathroom was basic with french milled soap, shampoo towels and little extra room, the vanity was good sized however and it has a nightlight and hair-dryer. Right outside the bathroom there is an open closet with hangers and also an iron and ironing board. On the opposite wall is the coffee maker.

There is a TV with over 40 channels and several at least were English as well as pay for view movies. What we really loved was the microwave and small fridge. There is also a small table and two chairs. There is high speed internet access in the room but you need to bring your cord.

The rooms has plenty of local information and the ever useful Voila Quebec.

The beds are very firm and the pillows large and comfortable. The room was very clean and everything was in good repair. There are two lights on the wall between the beds and there is a pole lamp which you can move around to use as you need.

Entrance is through interior corridors and there is an elevator. The price for the room with breakfast for the three of us was $98 before tax, parking was free. I originally was going to stay at the Courtyard downtown and it was $179 without breakfast and an additional $19 for parking, before tax. I basically spent half of what I would have. What I sacrificed was location. This is more than 7 miles from the old city and I will have to find parking when we drive in but I think it is a fair trade.

Tucked along the St Lawrence River at the very end of Rue Dalhousie the Café Du Monde may be a little hard to find if you don’t know the area. Go looking for it anyway, you won’t be disappointed. They are quite famous for their Sunday Brunch and we were very brave to attempt a walk in with 8 people on a Sunday at 1pm. We did however walk in and after a minimal wait of 10 minutes or so we were given a great table in a Sun filled alcove surrounded by windows. The ideal seat would have the St Lawrence right outside the window, we had the opposite side and yet we still had great views of the river and the street. The kitchen here is open and the chef’s are a real bunch of hams and will mug for you of you want to take pictures,

the hostess encourages it and they all get in the act.

We had the best time here. Our waiter was a little stiff when we first sat down but dealing with three teenaged girls and a smiling nine year old could have broken some men but he was up to the task and was joking with us by the end of the meal.

We tried a wide variety of menu items. We had all had breakfast so we went more with the lunch items. Al and Jason had a steak and with a little encouragement so did our granddaughter Amie.

Brandon had the children’s pasta dish and Jeanna and Julia had French fries. Jen and I order the ham and cheese sandwich.

The brunch menu was really quite extensive and many of the items were named for places in France. Where else can you find poached eggs done nine different ways? The Lyonnaise pairs poached eggs with duck confit, leeks, shallots, onions and white wine; The Provencal pairs poached eggs with red and green peppers, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, onions, garlic and basil.

For a healthy choice they offer yogurt, cranberry bread, muesli and a bowl of fresh berries. Pancakes are also offered as well as omelets and scrambled eggs.

While we were waiting for our meals we were provided with a basket of very good crispy rolls and butter. We made short work of it and our waiter made sure we had another basket.

The Angus steaks undercut with shallots came perfectly cooked with a heaping pile of fantastic French fries, baked tomato and fresh greens. It was the perfect size, even Amie who is less than 80 pounds was able to finish hers, not however all the fries.

The ham sandwich was more like a hero on a crispy roll with the cheese oozing all over, excellent.

I am never quite sure why a ham sandwich in France or Canada is so much better than at home but this one was no exception.

Usually I would not write up a Chinese buffet restaurant but this journal is all about low cost options and since the Jardine de Tang is located right next door to the Super 8 it was a natural choice for us to try. We had seen the lines snaking out the door on Sunday evening and the overflowing parking lot all evening and admittedly it tweaked our curiosity.

Monday evening we arrived at about 6pm and if the parking lot was not as overflowing as Sunday night, when by the way they offer a more expensive option with a cocktail included, it was still amazingly busy. Keep in mind that there are abundant dining choices in this area so there has to be a good reason why this place is so busy.

There is, this is a very high class Chinese buffet in a very attractive restaurant. If salad is your choice there is an entire salad bar with greens, fruit salad, potato salad, olives and pickles, cold shrimp, sliced melon, and lots more.

The soup bar had 4 choices including cream of chicken and wonton soup. There are two double sided bars that offer a variety of Chinese and American dining options. Since the three of us have very different tastes our plates looked quite different. I chose green beans, General Taos chicken, fried shrimp, mussels, vegetable lo mein and Parmesan squares (these were addictive and were like a mozzarella stick but Parmesan).

Brandon had French fries, sweet and sour chicken and pizza. Al had cold shrimp, beef and mushrooms, chicken legs, roasted pork, teriyaki chicken and onion rings. The dessert bar was the largest I have ever seen. It had bread pudding, jello, four flavors of ice cream, at least 6 kinds of cake, little pies, cookies and fruit. I tried banana cake, carrot cake and maple cake and strawberry ice cream. Relax, the pieces were tiny and it was more of a sampler than a pig out. Al went for the bread pudding and the cookies.

Service was excellent. Our meals also included for Al & I either coffee or tea and for Brandon a soda. Our water glasses were kept full and we both got a refill on our coffee. Our dirty plates were also removed immediately.

Not only was the selection quite excellent, some things we didn’t try were the fried pate, salmon, fried rice and other fish dishes, but the quality of everything we did try was very high. I was impressed with how fresh everything was and how every clean it was. Now as far as bargain it was $37 for the three of us to eat our fill. Not fast food price but certainly given the quality and quantity of food a fair deal.

If you don’t want the buffet they also have a menu that you can order from.

In keeping with the theme of this journal we ate at a typical Canadian chain restaurant called Normandin that caters to families and is what I would called Denny’s like. Traveling with Brandon in particular is a challenge because he is one of those kids who is not at all adventurous when it comes to eating. He absolutely will not try anything new and he mostly likes steak and pasta, hummm. What grandfather does that sound like???

I have never eaten here before but the parking lot was full which is always a good sign. We walked in and were escorted to a booth almost immediately. The waitress spoke to us in French but when Al looked at her blankly she went right into English. Be warned however the menu is only in French. The good news for Anglophiles is that there are a lot of pictures in the menu so even without French you should be able to get a general idea of what they are offering. More good news they are open 24 hours and serve wine and beer.

The menu offers a wide variety of items. There was a full page of pizza choices both with the thin European crust and the thicker traditional. There were also several pasta items with either meat sauce or your own combination.

The children’s menu had numerous choices one of which was pasta. For $4.75 your child gets a drink, dessert and an entree. Brandon chose the pasta with meat sauce, a 7 up and Jell-O for dessert which was covered with whipped topping and gummy bears. When we asked for cheese they said parmesan? Brandon was one happy kid. They even brought him some carrots and celery with dip as a starter.

Al ordered a chopped steak dinner with gravy and fried onions. It was served with Fries and vegetables, carrots, green beans and broccoli. Needless to say he didn’t clean his plate but there were only vegetables on it.

I order a grilled cheese sandwich and frites with sauce. This is French fries with gravy on them, a very Canadian thing that I happen to love. The food was good; not gourmet but then neither were the prices. Al of us ate for $25 which I think is a fair price. Brandon asked me to rate the restaurant and I gave it a three, he was indignant and said it was a 5 he loved the Jell-O and says it was the best he has ever had. Hay if the kid is happy I guess it is a 5. Service certainly was a five not only was it quick it was friendly and every waitress that walked by asked us if we were enjoying our meal. Yes we did enjoy it and it is certainly a kid friendly place and the bathrooms are nice and clean.

When it comes to things that you can visit free of charge Quebec City has them on abundance. One that we had never done before was to tour the Parliament Building. Check with them to see what time the tours are offered depending on which language you prefer. You need to enter the building through door Number 3; it is on the side of the building facing the old city. Our tour in English began at 10:30am. Arrive at least ten minutes in advance of the time you plan to tour. You need to go through security, this is very much like boarding a plane, you need to empty your pockets and send your purse and wallet through the ex-ray machine. After you are checked one member of your party needs to provide ID. You then proceed to the room where a short video is offered. There are two separate rooms one for French speakers and one for English speakers. I leave it to your imagination to decide which the larger room was.

Our group was quite large; there may have been 40 people. Our tour guide came to meet us in room 181 and escorted us into the main lobby where you proceeded to point out all the things we should be noticing. You need to be able to walk up stairs; we went up to the second and then the third floor. You spend a good part of the tour walking and standing. The staircase is grand as you would expect from a very important building. There is a magnificent canopy of stained glass from the workshop of Gauthier and brothers who are Quebec artists.

The National Assembly Chamber is where history is made in the province of Quebec. The walls are decorated with a theme that echoes the façade of the building with fleurs-de-lis, maples leaves and roses. The walls are a beautiful blue, what I found interesting is that green is the traditional color but blue is better for TV so blue it is. What I found really amazing was that above the seat at the head of the room is a crucifix.

Religion is not kept out of public buildings in Quebec. The members of the majority and minority face each other across the room in the British style.

We also visited the legislative Council Chamber. It is done all in red, the color of the British monarchy. In this room 8 governor generals were sworn into office between 1886 and 1935. It is identical in size to the National Assembly Chamber and the decoration is inspired by the motto ‘je me souviens". I will remember.

After your tour take the time to walk through the exhibit entitled Le Quebec, ses deputes, ses region. Being of French Canadian ancestry I enjoyed looking at the photos of people of note and the different regions of the Province of Quebec. I know the region where my mother is from quite well but I have ancestors from Gaspe and other regions that I have never seen. I enjoyed seeing the people who share family names with me as well.

Eugene Etienne Tache is the architect who designed the National Assembly Building. It was completed in 1886 and is in the second empire style. The building is decorated with 22 bronze statues of persons who have had an impact on the history of Quebec.

There are also two sculptures of Native Americans on the grounds. The building has three levels on the façade that represent the three periods of Quebec History, the French, the English and the Federation.

Calling this a museum is a little bit misleading. What you do is go to the convent of the Augustines and you are then taken on a tour of the oldest parts of the building. The Augustines were the nuns who ran the Hotel Dieu, the hospital. Parts of the building date back to the XVII century.

We rang the door bell and were buzzed in. We didn’t know exactly where to go but we questioned one of the Sisters. She told us to go to the large room at the end of the hall and wait for our tour guide. We waited about 10 minutes. Out guide was a young man who spoke very broken English. He also gave a lot less information in English, now for me it made no difference, I followed close behind the French speaking members of the tour and listened to what he told them, when he left things out I could fill our group in. I am not sure if he is the only guide but he was less than inspiring. In spite of him I am going to recommend visiting here because it is such a historic building.

You need to be able to climb stairs to visit here as we not only went upstairs but went down into the basement. On the first floor there are maps, paintings and cases of small items relating to these nursing sisters. There is a portrait of the founding sister and also an etching that shows the first three sisters arriving from France.

One the second floor there is a very interesting museum of medical instruments. Some of them look more like instruments of torture than instruments of comfort and help. There are also items that would have been used in a hospital. There are apothecary jars since the sisters were not only nurses but were druggists as well.

We got to stick our head into what would have been the sister’s kitchen and there is a nice collection of copper pots hung on the wall. The stairway that we went up is original and very beautiful.

The most interesting part of the tour was our trip to the basement. Here there are some very old pieces of furniture but what fascinated Brandon was the pile of canon balls. These are from the bombardment that Quebec took from the English during the war in 1759.

Our last stop was the chapel. We were the area of the chapel were the nuns would have sat to watch the Mass. It is not really in the chapel but looks into the chapel.

There is no charge to visit here but in the basement there is a box for donations. The tour ended with us being dumped into the hospital and we basically just walked out the door where visitors would enter to visit. A little strange but very much worth visiting.

75 Rue des Remparts