Weds 11 Dec - part 4
Mr Katie made a 7pm bookings at Aux Anciens Candiens in the old city - he'd researched and found it recommended for game meats, as well as Quebecois food. A little touristy,but not too much. One of their claims to fame is that they have been operating for over 300 years (or a restaurant has been operating on that site for that length of time). Part of the restaurant is like a little two storey house with a red roof - so cute!
We arrived shortly after 7, got undressed - well, took off most of the layers required for dealing with sub-zero temps outside, but not in a cozy little restaurant that's well heated. Our waiter was local, but had great English.I keep commenting about the English skills because through my work and other associations, I expected to encounter some Francophone Quebecois attitude to our lack of French. In our experience, apart from one or two small interactions, we've had far more attitude issues in France from not speaking French - we can do the basics, Bonjour, Merci, and I can point and order. We always try to use what little language we have anywhere.
We ordered a local wine with dinner (yes, sorry to my dermatologist and naturopath for drinking red wine. Ooops):
We assumed we'd be paying too much for it - we confirmed this at the SAQ the next day where this bottle was selling for under CAD20. But, that's restaurants! Not much skin off our noses, and only just a bit extra $$ to supporting the hospitality industry in Quebec.
We shared an onion soup for entree.
Miss 13 had the most friendly for her thing on the menu - salmon.
I had canard - yummy!!
Mr Katie had the bison bourginon. He approved.
Some chippies with our meal.
This was my dessert, which I think was something like a bread and butter pudding.
Mr Katie had this -again hazy on the details, but we think it was a butter tart. Like a pecan pie without pecans - so very sugary!
As we left the restaurant after dinner, it was snowing! How fun! How exciting for three Queenslanders! Miss 13 started twirling on the footpath, and almost bowled over a local lady walking along.
Luckily, she didn't. We reminded Miss 13 to say sorry, and apologised for being excited Aussies. The lady responded with "It's OK, I was looking, even if she wasn't" with a slight French accent. We took that as a scolding.
Walking along the wall down to near Rue St Jean. So beautiful.
Hiding panda, smiling father - for now.
On the walk back to the hotel, on the top side of the Palais Montcalm, Mr Katie decided to walk down the side of the Palais to see if the ice rink we'd seen that morning was open. Rather than walk on the snow covered path/driveway, he veered near the snow covered garden bed.
Reader, he fell on his bottom and his right arm went out to support him/took much of the jarring of the fall.
Reader, I did not realise how badly he'd hurt himself, and am very lucky he was in so much pain he didn't start divorce proceedings there and then for me being doubled over with laughter trying to control my bladder.
I calmed down, realised he was not OK, and from then onwards all thoughts of ice skating were out of all of our minds. Even the wee girl didn't ask about it again, bless her socks.
Back to the hotel, ice, voltaren, ice leaking in the middle of our bed when Mr Katie put down the ice bag, and all the fun of trying to work out what the heck has happened. I was in touch with a physio friend, took their advice, and we didn't seek medical attention. Maybe we should have, will find out more in the next hour or so when Mr Katie finally sees the orthopaedic specialist (thanks to the Xmas holidays).
As I think I mentioned earlier, he tore one shoulder tendon and partially tore another; the other two tendons hurt after the fall probably from the shock of it (as suggested by the physio who reviewed the MRI he had at home on 20/12).
This put a bit of a damper on the rest of our trip. I was very grateful that Miss 13 can wheel her own suitcase, and generally enjoys it, and that I'm strong enough to be lugging our suitcases on to and off of things. We didn't have too much either, even with one suitcase each. though I'm astounded at the weight of Mr Katie's laptop bag. Far out, carrying that through airports later in the trip felt like I was on Biggest Loser carrying my lost 15kgs around - but it was just an extra 15kg for me!!
So, we recommend this restaurant.
We do not recommend men wearing Doc Marten boots not made for snow walking down icy snowy paths.