A wintertime view of Québec’s 300 year-old Quartier Petit Champlain

YOUR SCHOOL FRENCH CLUB
UNE EXCURSION HIVERNALE A LA VILLE DE QUÉBEC

DAY ONE: ORIENTATION TOUR, DINNER, INTERACTIVE HISTORY LESSON

Bienvenue à Québec, the cradle of French civilization in North America.

After checking into your deluxe, in-town hotel, your guide will lead you on a walking orientation tour that will begin at the Assemblée Nationale, and time and weather permitting, will introduce you to Place d’Youville, la Porte St-Jean and Québec’s colorful Latin Quarter.

After the tour, you’ll have dinner in a French Canadian restaurant on the Grande Allée, the Champs Elysées of Québec, or in the stone vault of a 300-year-old heritage building in the Quartier Petit Champlain.

Your first day will end with a memorable wintertime swim in the hotel’s heated outdoor swimming pool, where you’ll be perfectly comfortable, even if it’s -20°.

Overnight security begins at the hotel at 10:00pm.

DAY TWO: CITY TOUR, ICE HOTEL, WINTER SPORTS PARK

After a full breakfast at La Chaldronnée, board the bus and depart on a city sightseeing tour that will include the Parc des Champs-de-Bataille, the Assemblée Nationale, the Grande Allée, and many other points of cultural and historic significance.

The tour will end at les Galeries de la Capitale where, after lunch on your own in the international food court, you can take a ride on the indoor roller coaster or Ferris wheel or hip hop tower, or practice your French in a few of les Galeries' 250 boutiques and retail stores.

Board the bus and depart on a brief city sightseeing tour ending in the Village of Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier for a tour of Québec’s internationally famous Ice Hotel.

There, upon arrival at the incomparable l'Hôtel de Glace, you will be taken on a guided tour the unusual structure, built with 11,000 tons of snow and 350 tons of ice (the only one of it’s kind in North America).

After your tour, return to the hotel to dress in your warmest winter clothing, then board the bus and depart for dinner and an evening of winter sports excitement at the largest winter sports facility in North America.

To begin your visit, you can try any of its 42 exciting inner-tube and crazy carpet slides, or go ice skating on the 2.5 kilometer skating rink.

Don’t miss the Tornado, a giant inner-tube which holds up to eight people at once and brings you twirling down the slopes, or Everest, the highest accelerating slide in Canada, upon which you can reach the speed of 80 kilometers per hour!

DAY THREE: MUSÉE DE LA CIVILISATION, AU REVOIR QUEBEC

After a full breakfast, you’ll transfer to the Quartier Petit Champlain (below left) for a visit to the Musée de la Civilisation.

There, after a brief orientation from your guide, you will see a 250-year-old boat, the Barque, that was found on the very site of the museum, and you can visit and photograph the interior of the Maison Estèbe, a beautifully preserved 250-year-old stone house, considered to be one of the brightest jewels of the crown of Québec's architectural heritage.

After lunch on your own in the Quartier Petit Champlain, you’ll have an hour to practice your French while gift and souvenir shopping in the oldest part of the city, where the ancient greystone buildings and cobblestone streets (pictured on the previous page) date to the 1600s.

After Lunch, meet your bus at the Rubik’s cube and transfer to depart for home. Au revoir, Québec. À bientôt.

OPTIONAL: End your visit with a once-in-a-lifetime dog sledding excursion in the Québec Countryside.

After breakfast, place your bags on the bus, and depart (again, dressed in your warmest winter clothing, for the south shore community of St-Nicolas for a dog sledding excursion in the Québec countryside.

There, upon arrival, every student will be partnered on two-person sleds, and each pair of students will take turns riding and driving along a very memorable, 20-kilometer dog sled course through snow-filled woods and rolling meadows.

After your dog sledding adventure, depart on the first leg of your bus ride home. You’ll stop for lunch in Drummondville at about noon.