Weekend Getaway: Quebec City {Part 2}

Last month I had the pleasure of visiting Quebec City. We spent a long weekend in a place that felt out of this world. As we pulled up to the Chateau Frontenac that very first night, this is the magnificent scene we saw.

Brass rotating doors transported us from the outside in. In all of my travels I've never seen a rotating door as beautiful or as just plain magical as the ones at the Chateau Frontenac. 

The next morning we awoke to a beautiful view from our hotel room. We explored the city on foot for the entire day.

After our explorations and a few good beers, we went ice skating in the city center.

We strolled home that night, arm in arm through the pretty streets of Quebec City. The following day was all about skiing, and we were PUMPED. We jumped in the trusty Audi wagon (complete with Tibetan good luck charms hanging from the rear view window) and headed about an hour up north to Le Massif de Charlevoux. 

The slopes were great, lots of black diamond trails that were challenging and, well... perfect. There was a lot of variety, and not a ton of people (we just missed the spring break crowd by 1 day!). 

The best part was the view of the St. Lawrence river as you skied down the mountain. It felt like you were just a few feet away from the water... 

...magical.

After the first day of skiing, we stopped at the Hotel de Glace, Quebec City's Ice Hotel. The entire thing is made of ICE! It's basically a huge adult igloo. 

If you look carefully, you'll see one of the coolest little details of the Ice Hotel...the fur-wrapped doors at the main entrance!

There were tons of intricate ice sculptures in the Hotel de Glace (and me, aghast, next to one of said ice sculptures).

Below is a shot of one of the beds in the Ice Hotel. They give you a tutorial if you book a room there. Sleeping in this icy wonderland involves: 

1) a jump in the hot-tub to warm up your body 

2) a super warm sleeping bag that only lets your little nose peak out

3) a heated port-a-potty for late night bathroom breaks

What a crazy experience! I don't know that I would ever stay at the Hotel de Glace, but it was definitely worth a visit on the way home from an awesome day skiing. I felt extra warm and cozy in bed at the Frontenac that night :)

Oh and I forgot to mention, there was an ice luge outside of our hotel. You know, standard ice luge. Red Bull was coming to town the following week to host the quite serious "Crashed Ice" race. Check out the video footage here, the ice track looks beautiful weaving through the Old Town of Quebec City. We're pretty big Red Bull fans in my family, so we were pretty sad to miss the big race and see what all the fuss was about!

Would I go back to Quebec City, you ask? The 2013 trip is practically booked!