Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Quebec City - December 2014 - Arrival at the Chateau Frontenac

Quebec City - December 2014 - Arrival at the Chateau Frontenac

I had been wanting to visit this beautiful city for many years. I had heard so many wonderful things about it, that it was like visiting Europe in North America, the food was great and the shopping fantastic. 

It fell into place that I was able to visit at the beginning of December with my mother. We drove up on a Saturday and spent the next three days enjoying the city and the surrounding sites.

We had been really hoping for snow during our visit. Quebec City is well known for its Christmas decorations and having snow would make it even more beautiful and magical. We were lucky and it snowed in Quebec the day before our visit so there was a beautiful fresh layer of glistening white snow blanketing the city when we arrived. 

We arrived at the Chateau Frontenac around 2pm. We pulled up to the entrance and we were welcomed by the friendly staff that helped us with our luggage and valet parked our car. Valet parking is the same price as self-parking and is much more convenient than driving around the Old City.

Luckily our room was ready for us when we arrived. We were booked in a River View room. Our room was on the second floor. I really liked the character of the building. All the doorways to the rooms were different, you had to go up some stairs to get to some rooms.  Here is the entrance to our room.




The room was spacious with two queen sized beds.





Behind the doors was the bathroom. The bathroom was rather small, the downfall of staying in an old hotel.


The view from our room.


There was a stocked mini-fridge and Keurig in the tv stand as well as drawers for storage. 



After checking out our room and refreshing ourselves from our drive we decided to explore the hotel a bit.

We found several common areas with pianos and seating. Hotel staff were seen busily setting up their many conference rooms for a large party that was going to occur that evening, more on that later. 



There are several shops located on the main level to the left of the lobby and check-in. This area was beautifully decorated for Christmas. 
 



 After checking out the shops it was time to make our way outside to start exploring the city. Directly outside of the hotel is the Terrace Dufferin with the entrance to the funicular that takes you down to the Lower Town. Lower Town was being saved for the following days. This day we were off to the German Christmas Market.
 



Up Next: German Christmas Market