Scout’s Age
11 months
Most Important Gear
Head-to-toe snow suit for Scout
Baby stroller instead of baby carrier
Itinerary
Day 1
Fly into YUL (Montreal) - 3.5 hour flight
Drive from Montreal to Quebec City - 3 hours
Check into hotel Saint Pierre
Quick walk around the neighborhood
Day 2
Hotel breakfast
Christmas market
Old town Quebec City
Hotel dinner
Day 3
Hotel breakfast
Dog sledding
Mom and dad date night (Thanks Nana!)
Day 4 (Christmas eve)
Hotel breakfast
Day 5 (Christmas Day)
Brunch at Chez Muffy
Drive to Montreal
Check into Hotel Nelligan
Poutine lunch
Hotel dinner
Day 6
Super early drive to the airport
Flight home!
Best of the trip
Dog sledding
Santa in Quebec City Old Town
Hotel Nelligan in Montreal - large room and good location in Vieux Montreal
Trip Story
For the past 6 years, the Fays have adopted their one and only Christmas tradition: LEAVE.
Every year, we try to spend the holiday somewhere "Christmas-sy" and, I have to say, we always nail it! Disneyland, Munich, Paris, New Orleans, and so on. So this year, being our first as parents, we wanted something just as memorable. After volleying between San Miguel de Allende and Quebec City, we landed on Quebec. (Deciding factor: airfare was a little cheaper!)
Québec City
at a glance...
- The old area (Vieux-Québec) is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and is gorgeous! If you are wanting the feel of the Latin Quarter of Paris but only want to fly a few hours, this is your jam.
-The city is extremely walkable, albeit, very steep hills are involved. In fact, the steepest areas have railings installed to help in snow and ice.
-The only fortified city north of Mexico
Québec with Baby
So, it snowed literally every day we were there. Which for a Texan was fantastic...in the beginning. I will admit, by day 5, I was ready for a break! The most difficult thing I learned carting a baby around in the snow was HOW to cart a baby around in the snow!
Day 1: I tried baby wearing but with my thick layers and her thick layers the sling and the backpack carrier were a joke!
Day 2: After seeing other parents schlepping their kids around in the v deep snow in their strollers, I relented and we gave it a shot. One person pushed, one pulled...but it worked and we ended up doing this for the remainder of the trip. It was really great because at 10 degrees fahrenheit, I was able to make sure Scout was snuggled up really warm and comfortable!
Day 3: I saw that some parents with older kids had just bought sleds and were dragging their kids around town. This was GENIUS and if your child is old enough to sit in a saucer sled, I would highly suggest this!
SANTA! The santa here was hands-down the best I've seen and I've seen probably 3 Santas. He was dressed in dark, decadent robes reminiscent of Father Christmas. He sat in a velvet throne against a cliff wall draped in real garland. There were never more than 3 people and line and was COMPLETELY FREE! Also, every child was given as much time as he thought they needed and he reached in his velvet bag and picked a special gift for every single child. Scout go a small stuffed eagle. I also recommend grabbing a Glühwein and sitting by the fire next to Santa.
Our hotel, Saint Pierre , was great. The staff were wonderful and extremely helpful and the breakfast in the morning was a good start to the day. The only complaint I have is the room is extremely small and for 2 adults and an infant, was very cramped. That being said, from now on I will actually pay attention to the room dimensions online! One of my favorite things about the hotel was on Christmas day all of the children staying at the hotel had gifts from Santa under the tree in the lobby! Each gift even had their names on it! So after we opened gifts in our room, we went downstairs and sat by the fire while Scout opened her gift from Santa.
Speaking of the hotel, I wanted the room to feel like it was Christmas. I brought some 3M hooks to hang our stockings above the radiator and we stopped at a dollar store and bought a table top tree with all the trimmings! And after, we left it behind...it was all of $12.
Not a looker but did the trick!
I booked two restaurants, one for Christmas Eve dinner and one for Christmas day brunch. Dinner was planned to be at Cafe St. Malo. This restaurant in authentic French-Canadian. Small and cozy, the atmosphere is perfect. But, this became the disaster every parent fears. Scout lost. her. shit. After chowing down the paté and blood sausage (which were divine) she was DONE. This combined with the kitchen mixing up the timing of our table with a larger party and causing a delay in our entrees was a perfect storm. The staff could not have been better. They brought over free drinks and apologized even though it was our kid that was the real issue. Had she not had a melt down, we would have gladly had another martini and waited. We asked them to just cancel the meal because we had to go but they wouldn't hear of it. This insisted we take our meals to go for FREE! I still can't believe how kind they were to us considering it was really our bad judgment bringing a baby to a place like this. Now that I'm thinking about it, I need to send them a gift!
Christmas brunch was at Chez Muffy. A fantastic buffet (including oysters, eggs benedict, all the cheeses, and cured hams) This was a great meal with no incident. Also, it is rumored this is Justin Trudeau's favorite QC restaurant!)
Our dog pack
On Christmas Eve we decided to try dog sledding! I was surprised they were open but soon realized that not only were they open, they were booked! We booked our sledding through Auberge Le p'tit bonheur. It was a fantastic place with a fantastic staff. They even have all of the outerwear you would need for a small fee.
We assumed because of the amount of tourists that the sledding would be more "touristy". You know, perfectly coifed dogs and shiny sleds and a professional driver. Nope. These dogs were cute as could be but were definitely working dogs. And the sleds were authentic and used but safe. And WE would be driving our own sled. After a 5 minute intro to the basics of the sled, the instructor, with his thick french accent, said, "Ok. Get on de sled and wait for de signal. Ok?" So, we picked out our sled and pack. All of the dogs were barking and yipping, ready to run! I sat in the sled with Scout in my lap and they threw a giant fur coat over us both. Frankie manned the helm. After a few minutes, it was our turn to go and with no effort on our part, we were off!
I have to mention, these dogs are incredibly well trained and seemed to love the run. They knew just what to do and once we were off, they became silent and focused. The ride was spectacular! Peaceful and smooth, we wound through the tall trees of the forest on a winding path. It was so serene that Scout fell asleep while we were riding.
I honestly can't explain how much we all loved this experience. I can only insist that everyone do this!
It was cheaper to fly in and out of Montreal and just drive up to QC. So we decided to spend our last night in Montreal. We had visited before and love this city! I wish we would've planned a couple more nights for the Montreal leg of the trip. Montreal is a beautiful city full of history! We stayed at Hotel Nelligan. This hotel was GREAT. It is near everything you would want to be near. And the rooms were giant. The restaurant attached was delicious and perfect end to our trip. I love having a restaurant in the hotel because we were able to leave Scout asleep in our room while we had dinner. Travel hack: create a video monitor by using 2 phones. We pointed one phone toward her bed and facetimed the other phone. Worked like a charm:)
We only had one night in Montreal, so we did the obvious: visited Notre Dame and ate poutine! Scout loved Poutine so much, she ate her own plate full!
Scout in Notre Dame
