Quebec City Winter Carnival Weekend

On Friday Feb 6th, we got ourselves out of bed very early (try 2am!) to board the bus for the CLEE Weekend in Quebec City. We had hosted Anne & Rod Casey, some Australians from Victoria living in Verona for dinner and they accompanied us to the bus. After driving all night, our first stop was breakfast at a very old and quaint restaurant. Here we had our first taste of maple butter. Its surprising how well it goes with bacon and eggs. Our next stop was the stunning Sainte-Anne-De-Beaupre Basilica. The site of the Church dates back to the 1600's and Sainte Anne as the mother of Jesus is venerated here. There have been reported miracles as evidenced by crutches and other parapernalia discarded by those who have claimed to have been healed by her. We spent some time admiring the beautiful mosiacs, altars and statues found inside this church. We attempted to take a few photos outside but the windchill factor was extraordinary. My big mistake was not wearing a beanie and my nose and ears were almost frozen by the time we got back on the bus.

After this, we located the well known Montmorency falls, the site of our next stop. These falls are quite spectacular; even more so because it is currently winter. The water at the bottom of the falls freezes as it hits the waters of the St Lawrence River creating a spectacular mound of snow and ice. Braving the cold, (ONLY -30 give or take a few degrees) we took a walk over the suspension bridge above the falls. From here we could see all the way across the river into the City of Quebec itself. After a brief stop for souvineers and purchasing carnivale effigies we were once again back on the bus and headed for our accommodation at the Hilton Hotel in the centre of Quebec City.