The weekend in review - Québec Winter Carnaval 2008 (Friday)

Friday Feb 15th.

We took our time to get there, after all Thursday night was LOST and Valentines Day. ;-) We left Montréal at noon and arrived in Québec City around 3:00 pm

We checked our luggage at the bus terminal and took a walk toward le petit Champlain and the lower part of the old city. We took our first tourista photos in front of the Marché du Vieux-Port. They always have a horse and buggy, but this year only a horse... nonetheless it was well done as always... (It's one of the things we love most about the Carnaval; all the ice and snow sculptures.)

Didier 'twixt the horse's legs...

Shawn twixt the horses legs...

In front of one of the multitude of small restos in the old part of the city...

Yet in front of another petit resto...

And talk about your Postcard, Perfect Photos... this was just near Place Royal...

Le petit Champlain...

And the Château Frontenac. (I just can't get tired of taking pics of this place...)

There's no shortage of Snow in Qhkeep up with it, and to alleviate it's great weight on buildings it's not uncommon to see people shovelling the snow from the roof. Here there are three people at work removing the snow from the Main Tourist Information building in the old city...

And now back to Place Royal. This one was a total cutie, of course me and the man are a sucker for anything with a bear motif...

...and so could not escape the opportunity for a few more pics...

We walked around and around, up and down the Old City. Just taking it easy, enjoying the beauty of the architecture, the snow and the people. At 5 PM we headed on over to our friends Jeff and Stef's condo. We took a few minutes to warm up, catch up and then we were off to Pick up our luggage at the bus station then returning to their condo for a little apero before heading out for the evening...


It's extremely difficult for me to visit Québec City without going to le Cochon Dingue... I have on occasion NOT gone there while in the city, but I can assure you ALWAYS against my will. This trip was to be a success however, as the boys made reservations at 6:30 pm. (can't be too safe when it's carnaval... places in the old city fill up before you know it!. Within 45 mins of our arriving the place was full and people were lined up to get it)


Group Shot (l-r): Jeff (Jean-Francois), Me, Didier, and Stef...

A delicious meal was had by all, and oh too soon we were back out in the cold of the night, walking around, taking in more views. Honestly I could so live there in the winter... even when it's not Christmas, there are trees and buildings lit up so wonderfully, as this pic will testify... Restaurant aux Anciens Canadiens.

Within time we reached the epicentre of Carnaval Life and the Ice Palace of Bonhomme Carnaval. This year modelled after the palace of Henri II...

Inside the Palace were many sculptures, (but the camera was acting funny in the -25' weather - go figure, so I didn't got many)...

Here's a quick vid of how trippy it looked inside the Palace with all the lighting at night...



Les Francais... Samuel de Champlain et Didier Buisine...

And La Crémière... closed down for the winter due to avalanche! heh This was on the Grande Allée... and we thought the image of an Ice Cream shop practically obliterated from view by an astounding amount of snow was too good to pass up! ...

We walked around the Upper city for about an hour, popping in to this ice bar and that, and of course having some hot Caribou... YUM! and by the time we got back to the boy's condo we were sufficiently chilled to the bone...

Proof of the truly bone chilling weather of the evening I present you this pic... Please ignore the 'glazed look' as I had not yet thawed out... Please DO notice the ICE in my beard! (that was covered by a scarf nonetheless while outside) ...

After re-heating with a hot cocoa and Bailys we called it a night... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz