Wanderlust: Quebec City - December 2014 - Marché du Vieux-Port de Québec

Quebec City - December 2014 - Marché du Vieux-Port de Québec

We woke up early on our first full day in Quebec City. We started the day off by exploring the hotel before it became busy with tourists and people checking in and out.

Even though it was December and we hadn't packed any bathing suits I was curious what the pool area looked like. It was a decent sized for being indoors and for being in such an old hotel. Not too busy at 7am. ;)

View of the river from our room that morning.

We took the elevator up to the higher floors of the tower and got some nice views of the river and the turrets of the roof.

After our little exploration we made our way to the Starbucks located in the hotel. I picked up a yummy Gingerbread latte and the Quebec City "You are here" mug.

Next up was breakfast at Paillard. They advertise that they have the best croissants in Quebec City and I was eager to put them to the test.

It was a very chilly but beautiful walk to Paillard that morning. It was nice being out and about without the crowds of the previous evening and the buildings were beautifully lit with the early morning sun.

Paillard was bigger than I thought it would be and we were among the first customers of the day. I made my selection rather easily - croissant, chocolate croissant and an orange juice. Mom took a little longer. She was interested in some of the bread they were selling and she wanted to know what was in some of the different loaves. Unfortunately, she speaks no French and none of the workers spoke English well enough to explain the different breads to her. She ended up just picking what looked good.

Mom's breakfast.

I enjoyed my croissants, not the best I have ever had but they were pretty tasty.

Bellies full we were off to the Market at the Old Port (Marché du Vieux-Port de Québec).

By the time we arrived our legs were frozen. It really felt good to get in from the cold and thaw out!

There was a nice mix of handcrafted items, wines and ciders, jam, fruits and veggies, fresh meat and fish etc.

I ended up buying two bottles of ice cider, a bottle of wine and several handcrafted Christmas ornaments.

Our plans for the rest of the day were to visit the Museum of Civilization and explore Quartier de Petit-Champlain. However, we were now weighed down by our purchases so before going ahead with the rest of our itinerary we decided to go back to the hotel and drop our bags in the room.

The easiest and fastest way to get back was to take the funicular which is located in Petit-Champlain.