Eric Stendal

Date: Friday, 18 September 2026

City / Region: Québec City, QC

Weather: 17° today with a little bit of rain on our way from Edmunston to Québec City.

Morning Summary

Shelley and I departed Edmunston and made our way through to Quebec City. The scenery was beautiful with more and more of the coloured tree foliage along the sides of the highway combined with the sweeping landscape and the blue of the river beside us.

We reached St-Philippe-de-Néri and pulled over at a rest stop to stretch our legs and let Maggie do her thing. We weren’t there long, but it was a nice stop.

Rolling along, the directions from Apple Maps took us off the highway and through Montmagny due to construction. We don’t know if that actually saved us the amount of time, but we stopped at McDonald’s for lunch after filling up the car and getting a car wash. That took care of the majority of the caked on pink mud from Prince Edward Island.

Afternoon Summary

Arriving near Quebec City, we were trying to figure out why we were only 16 kms away but 39 mins at the same time?

We discovered that Apple Maps was going to take us across the river! We didn’t know that there was a ferry someone can take to get across. We assumed that the only way is by using the bridge. That would have required us to head more down past Quebec City, take the bridge, and then retrace our steps to come back. The ferry was a nice surprise for us and didn’t take long at all; we think 15 mins or so?

La Maison Simons was our first store we went in to. Shelley found some towels that are going to fit in with the new paint at home (not done yet, but we have the towels ready to go!). As well some beautiful door mats and carpet for our entry way and pantry area.

I ran those items back to the car and rejoined Shelley and Maggie outside City Hall. We walked a bit more and then ended up having a lattê and chocolatine each. We ventured further down and came across a store called Darlington. We went inside and came out with mittens for Shelley and a sweater for me; both Dale of Norway.

We decided on a little bite to eat and enjoy a patio somewhere. We found Pub Saint-Patrick and they sat us outside on the patio. We ordered fries and a Guinness for me and a Kronenburg 1664 for Shelley. Wonderful.

Evening Summary

Driving through Quebec City is so beautiful. The old stone buildings, the architecture, the colours, the layout of the roads….it’s dripping in history.

We checked in to our hotel in St-Foy just outside Québec City. It’s a nice little spot near to the highway but we can’t hear it. Bonus.

I went for a little dip in the hot tub that they have here out of doors. It was quite refreshing. It was more like a ‘warm’ tub and not a ‘hot’ tub really. After a quick shower, it was time to pour a drink and work on the blog a bit.

After a while, it was time to order our food. We elected to have me ‘go ‘n git it’ so we ordered from St. Hubert up the street and I went to collect it. Turns out Shelley wasn’t feeling well and just picked at her food a little bit. We hope she feels better soon after a good nights’ sleep.

Daily Highlights

• Our best moment was being back in Quebec City again and pointing out to each other places we’ve been, site we remember visiting, things that happened on previous trips together here. We’ve been here a number of times and love it here. We agree that this is the closest one can get to feeling ‘in Europe’ in Canada.
• We unintentionally realised while we were finishing our supper that our first meal on the road was St-Hubert in Rivière-du-Loup, and our last meal on the road is from St-Hubert also!
• Our biggest surprise was that there was a ferry available to get us from Lévis over to Quebec City instead of going all the way around and taking the bridge.
• We learned today that one cannot simply ‘walk in’ to the Hotel Frontenac. You need a hotel card to get anywhere near a washroom or to see the lobby, etc….our guess is that too many tourists were flooding the place making it unsavoury for guests who shell out $433.00 – $1383.00 Cdn per night!

Logistics

• We drove about 330 kms to Quebec City today. Lots of walking up and down and all around in the city – lots of hills and inclines.
• We bought some linens and door mats at Simons for our place. Some mittens and a sweater at a shop along with a lattê and chocolatine each. Guinness, Kronenberg Blanc and a plate of fries between us.
• We are really looking forward to getting home tomorrow. It’s been a long two weeks but we did a great job to ensure there were no super heavy days that took away our enthusiasm. This is the longest road trip we’ve done yet in that length of time and we’re both looking forward to being back home tomorrow.

Closing Thoughts

It was great being back in Quebec City again. We found it busier than we’re used to. We think it’s because we usually come when it’s not ‘high’ tourist season – chillier and colder too. We enjoyed our little drive today from Edmunston, and discovering the ferry. We can’t believe that tomorrow ‘is it’ and we’re done!