{"id":54879,"date":"2026-04-25T15:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/?page_id=54879"},"modified":"2026-04-25T15:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:15:08","slug":"quebec-city-day-3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/?page_id=54879","title":{"rendered":"Quebec City Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Quebec City Day 2.<\/p>\n

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\nFirst, some pictures from last night. Making use of our \u201cliving room\u201d in our room. Watching the French Dispatch, and we both realized we had seen it together but both have forgotten much of it. I guess we\u2019ll watch it again, inspired by all the French we\u2019ve been hearing all day today.<\/p>\n

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\nNow, it’s morning time. Another cloudy cold morning.<\/p>\n

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\nStarbucks this morning for coffee. They still have cold brew here even though it\u2019s cold!<\/p>\n

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\nCoffee in hand, a stroll along the boardwalk by our hotel.<\/p>\n

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\nLooking down from the boardwalk to Lower Town. There\u2019s a funicular to go down there, and usually I\u2019m really into funiculars, but somehow, this one feels too short for me to even attempt to ride.<\/p>\n

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\nFound a semi dry bench to sit on under a pergola.<\/p>\n

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\nMini pancakes.<\/p>\n

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\nIt\u2019s pretty chilly out here, but we are dressed for the occasion.<\/p>\n

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\nPermanent ice slide, but too warm right now to operate.<\/p>\n

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\nWhat a cool building. Honestly if Chateau Frontenac isn\u2019t here in Quebec City, don\u2019t think I\u2019d ever come visit the place.<\/p>\n

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\nThis is the coldest day so far.<\/p>\n

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\nShame they\u2019ve blocked off the stairs, we would have kept on walking. Wonder why it\u2019s blocked off?<\/p>\n

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\nAlright, time to do our one ticketed event today. Going to head 30min out of town and visit a sugar shack. We can get a taxi out there no problem, but let\u2019s see how easy or difficult it is to get a taxi back in town from the country. Talked to the concierge, she said that they could call us a taxi from out there if we have trouble finding one to get back.<\/p>\n

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\n30 min drive, but all is not well. In the last 10min or the drive, I started feeling heavy waves of nausea. No idea what\u2019s going on. Something with the smell in the car? The way our Moroccan driver was driving waving his arms while he was talking and swaying the car? My sinuses giving me a headache from allergy? A combination of it all? Who knows.<\/p>\n

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\nThank god we are here, I feel like I\u2019m about to puke everywhere. Ugh.<\/p>\n

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\nThe sugar shack dining area. We came in, and I felt so ill, I had to go outside in fear of throwing up. Thankfully we\u2019ve got about 15min before our dining time.<\/p>\n

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\nThe actual sugar shack with all the maple products.<\/p>\n

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\nThis front building is the dining area. Feels like driving out to The Salt Lick. You go out in the country for lunch or dinner, and it\u2019s in this rustic setting. Communal tables and served family style buffet. Instead of BBQ sauce tying everything together, it\u2019s maple syrup.<\/p>\n

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\nAlright, I\u2019m starting to feel slightly better now that I\u2019m out of the car and had a chance to walk around a bit. Let\u2019s try this again.<\/p>\n

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\nMore fruit ketchup.<\/p>\n

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\nSome bread and pea soup is making me feel better. Slowly, but seems to be finally settling down.<\/p>\n

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\nMeat pie.<\/p>\n

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\nEggs.<\/p>\n

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\nPork ears.<\/p>\n

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\nYum. Let\u2019s eat. I\u2019m finally feeling pretty good, and got my appetite back, yay.<\/p>\n

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\nA Canadian family from central Canada sat next to us. This whole sugar shack experience is also foreign to them as well. It\u2019s pretty much a Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois thing.<\/p>\n

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\nLast, maple pie with maple syrup. And in typical Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois fashion, almost all the food is sweet and then coated once again in maple syrup.<\/p>\n

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\nThe Canadian family have 3 kids aged very similar to our kids, but despite all the sugar, they were all still very calm. WTF, how are these kids so calm and well behaved! A big group of seniors here also have some sort of awards ceremony for their organization. It was all in French, so we had no idea what they were saying.<\/p>\n

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\nDone with lunch, now out walking the grounds. Cool to see actual maple syrup collection here.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve called our taxi driver who took us here, and he\u2019ll be coming back to pick us up again. It\u2019ll be probably 25min until he comes back. I hope I don\u2019t feel sick again.<\/p>\n

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\nHeaded here to get maple taffy.<\/p>\n

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\nThey pour hot super thick maple syrup onto snow.<\/p>\n

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\nWait 10 seconds for it to cool and harden some, then you use the wooden stick they give you to wrap it into a lollipop.<\/p>\n

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\nTime to eat more sweets! You like the photo background in front of the trash cans? Behind the blue trash can is a small shed where they collect all the maple sap from the trees.<\/p>\n

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\nA whole network of pipes all up this mountain connecting to all the taps on the trees leading to this shack.<\/p>\n

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\nThis is where it\u2019s all collected, and it\u2019s actually a stream of maple tree sap flowing in like a half opened water faucet. From here, I don\u2019t know where it goes, but somewhere to get boiled filtered etc. etc.<\/p>\n

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\nThere are also some traditional buckets here collecting the sap. And there are different colors in the different tree saps as well. I tasted some, it did not taste very sweet yet. We looked it up and it\u2019s about 40:1 ratio to be boiled down to turn into maple syrup.<\/p>\n

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\nDidn\u2019t have much planned for Quebec City except to visit a sugar shack. Glad we did a very authentic(hate how this word has been hijacked) Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois thing, despite me feeling violently ill on the way here. We are towards the very end of maple syrup collecting season, and in about another week or two the shacks will shut down until spring of next year. Lucked out that our anniversary date coincided with it still being sugar shack season.<\/p>\n

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\nWhile we wait for our taxi to arrive, we visited the little trappers museum.<\/p>\n

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\nSuper old school snowmobile! Cool.<\/p>\n

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\nChainsaws for days, even some two person operated ones.<\/p>\n

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\nWood burning stove, but there\u2019s more, there\u2019s a mirror on it! You can look at your pretty self while you cook!<\/p>\n

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\nYou just straddle a hot engine in these old snowmobiles. Look at the position of the carb\u2026sucking air right next to your crotch, hah.<\/p>\n

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\nAlright, our taxi is here, let\u2019s go back to old town.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, whatever caused the nausea on the way here struck immediately within 3 minutes of me getting in the taxi. It must have been the smell or something, who knows. This is fucking miserable trying to hold it all together. I must have looked pretty sick because at one point the driver looked at me and asked if I was feeling sick. Hold it together please\u2026ugh. At one point, my body just went into some sort of shock and I could feel my hands, arms, and my torso going numb. Pull over, pull over, I need to puke.<\/p>\n

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\nWe made it all the way back until 5 minutes from our hotel, and I just couldn\u2019t do it anymore. Violently threw up 3 times in a planter by the sidewalk. Ugh. WTF, I feel like shit. Still feel like shit after puking. Had to get back in the taxi and go 5 more minutes until hotel, and almost threw up again. We arrived, I left RL to pay the taxi and made a beeline up to our room. I feel sick, I hope I don\u2019t throw up again. I laid down on the bed and immediately passed out and fell asleep.<\/p>\n

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\nWoke up from my nap, I feel better. Still off, but no longer miserable. What happened? Who knows. All I know is that really sucks. But, life must go on, let\u2019s go to dinner. Let\u2019s see how I feel after a while.<\/p>\n

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\nDown the stairs again back to Lower Town.<\/p>\n

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\nIt\u2019s Wednesday night, there\u2019s a few more people here today than yesterday.<\/p>\n

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\nThat cliff separates lower town from upper town.<\/p>\n

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\nThis is the Main Street down in lower town. This is basically it\u2026we thought it would be bigger and longer and\u2026well, more.<\/p>\n

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\nI like this hybrid spiral staircase.<\/p>\n

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\nDinner spot.<\/p>\n

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\nNo reservations for us, but we came in pretty early. Good thing, because very soon after we got here, the whole restaurant filled up.<\/p>\n

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\nIt\u2019s a restaurant that specializes in rabbit.<\/p>\n

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\nRL\u2019s rabbit saddle dish. Very tender!<\/p>\n

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\nMy duck confit and duck sausage stew dish. Yummm.<\/p>\n

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\nLove all the comfort food. They have all these traditional high caloric food probably because it\u2019s always so cold here and people need the calories to keep warm.<\/p>\n

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\nThankfully, whatever nausea hit me from the car ride is now mostly gone. Enjoyed my dinner.<\/p>\n

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\nWe had no idea when we took this picture, but the red door next to RL\u2019s head was featured heavily on the Korean hit drama Goblin. We\u2019d find out about all of this the next day.<\/p>\n

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\nNice. I think this triggered some sort of memory. I feel like I\u2019ve been to Quebec back in my younger days with my parents and I remember seeing this? Maybe?<\/p>\n

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\nI think I\u2019ll have to visit this coffee shop tomorrow just for the name alone.<\/p>\n

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\nAn entire store front made into a public bathroom. Fancy. I also like the actual sign itself.<\/p>\n

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\nAlright, we\u2019ve seen it all, not too much to see. Back up to upper town we go.<\/p>\n

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\nThis park in Upper Town was closed off yesterday for some unknown reason, but it\u2019s open today. Let\u2019s go visit.<\/p>\n

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\nGlad we did, it enabled us to get some good photos of Chateau Frontenac.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s still bright, but is actually past 7. Time to head back to our room and watch a movie and blog and whatnot.<\/p>\n

To be continued at Quebec Day 4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Quebec City Day 2. First, some pictures from last night. Making use of our \u201cliving room\u201d in our room. Watching the French Dispatch, and we both realized we had seen it together but both have forgotten much of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":54514,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-54879","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54879"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55098,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54879\/revisions\/55098"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}