The time has come, we are finally going to get a change in scenery. By now, most of you guys have be accustomed to my point-of-view of walking the very colourful streets of Montreal, but now we go to somewhere even older: Quebec City! This trip was a part of our session project, the funnest one yet. I haven’t been to Quebec City since I was about 6 months old; so that was about 6 years ago :). I was very excited because going to a new city means that I have more to capture.
When we pulled up to Chateau Frontenac, I immediately had my camera in hand and ready to start shooting, but before I could do that, I had a project to do. The Quebec Tourism Office was our first stop. We got our ticket and within minutes we were talking to the employee at the office. I watched the tourism students get to work, I observed the different things that they ask for when searching for information on a given area. Funny enough, I was greeted by “Bonhomme Carnaval,” who happened to be very photogenic.
Our first stop was “Chateau Frontenac,” this is not just a 5-star hotel, but also a very historic hotel. It is actually the most photographed hotels in the world, but with fame comes being full. When we entered the lobby, we were bombarded by tourists alike who were actually attending a convection. With our limited time, we only grabbed a few shot and then went on with our itinerary.
As an attraction for those who love boutiques, you’ll love “Le Petit Champlain”. As you walk down the steps that lead toward Fleuve St-Laurent, you’ll see the beautiful alley of shops that offer products that date as far back as the Inuit traditional clothing to the fashion styles of today. There was one store that we went to that had stuffed animal heads all over the place that sold native products and articles of outerwear made from fur and leather.
As we were walking through the corridor of shops and cafés, we also saw our second attraction: “The Funicular”. The Funicular allowed its riders a beautiful view of the St-Laurent River as well as giving your legs a break while getting a beautiful look at the surrounding area. We unfortunately did not ride it because of the time constraint that we were under, but there is always a “next time”.
Funicular
Since it was around 1:30 at this point, we were all pretty hungry, which is a feeling that I’m quite familiar with. We stopped into the restaurant that had food that we could all agree on, as well as affordable. We ended up Choosing “L’Improviste”, an Italian style restaurant with a French and Quebec twist. I ordered a poutine with duck Confit with a balsamic salad. The food did take a bit longer than desired, which was made up with the fact that we were able to speak with the manager. Thankfully Camila speaks better French than I do, because she asked the question with ease and get the proper responses.
As you may know, I was in charge of the hotel section of the project. I arranged to have a full tour of the “Best Western Plus City Center,” that was only a 5 minute taxi ride from the restaurant. When we entered the hotel, the atmosphere was very warm and welcoming, but there was a lot of construction that we were not warned about. The lobby had a valet stand and then there was the front desk, the lighting was warm like in your living room and not like in a kitchen. All the employees looked as if they were friendly and serious about their jobs at the same time.
Thankfully, all of my teammates had a good time throughout the majority of the trips with only a few minor hiccups. This trip was better than I expected and I can’t wait to go back and really take the time to capture the city for what it really is.
jerrysphotoblog 