Quebec City--like Europe only closer

Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City

My travel muse has smiled on us and we are headed off on long weekend without the carful of kids. Yes. There is NO car and NO kids--just my husband and myself on a long weekend of great food and sightseeing in picturesque Quebec City, Canada.

The carful of kids are at the most magical of places--it is full of candy, unlimited cartoons and a pair of facilitators that love them in spite of their tantrums and sibling war. It is Grandma and Grandpa's house and I don't need to know what happens there when I'm not there to witness it.

My husband loves to travel as much as I do and we love visiting new places; Quebec City is one of the few places we haven't been to before. We can't wait, it has a reputation for being the most European-like city in North America and we absolutely love Europe.

We leave out of Austin-Bergstrom Airport early and arrive in the afternoon at Jean Lesage Airport in Quebec City. The airport is on the smaller size so it does take a bit of time to clear customs but we are on the bus and headed to the old city soon enough.

UNESCO World Heritage Monument

More so than the more modern Montreal, Quebecers also speak French. You will hear a Bonjour, Hello! to say hello and to determine your language of choice. But unlike the French, Quebecers love to share their language so if you are brave and speak just a little bit of French, use it.

We are in for a treat, we are staying at the Chateau Frontenac, a National Historic Site of Canada and one of the most photographed hotels in the world because it's perched on top of the hill in Old Quebec. Opened in 1893, it was built by the Canadian Pacific Railroad to lure tourists to travel across Canada; today it is managed by Fairmont Hotels.

Old Quebec is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was founded by the French explorer Samuel Champlain in 1608 after he discovered Port Royal, Acadia, now Nova Scotia. Champlain explored the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes region and governed New France until his death; he is considered the Father of this area.

Champlain established and built the Saint-Louis Fort and  the Ramparts of Quebec starting in 1620. The fortified walls are still intact and also a National Historic Site of Canada.

After we check into our room at the Chateau Frontenac, we head out for a walk around the hotel, Old Quebec is a great walking city. Outside the hotel doors along the Dufferin Terrace is the Saint-Louis Forts and Chateaux National Historic Site (open daily in the summer from 10 to 6, $3.90 CAN/adults, $1.90 CAN/youth).

The tour starts under the boardwalk and you walk through the excavations of the old forts and chateaux that were the official fortifications and residences for the French colony until it was conquered by the British in 1759. This is a quick tour and a great introduction to the history of Old Quebec.

After returning to the boardwalk, we walk by the statue of Champlain and the UNESCO World Heritage Monument on our way to visit the Notre-Dame Basilica-Cathedral.  We dart down the Artists Alley, or Rue du Tresor, looking for a souvenir.

Notre-Dame 

Holy Door

Notre-Dame Basilica-Cathedral is a Roman Catholic basilica that has been on this site since 1664 and is the oldest parish outside of Mexico in North America. It has been destroyed by fire twice and in celebration of its 350th year, it installed and opened a Holy Door.

Notre-Dame's Holy Door is the first one outside of Europe but closed in December 2014 and will remain closed until 2025. Notre-Dame is a National Historic Site of Canada and is free and open to the public during daylight hours.

We decide to walk back a different route to the Chateau Frontenac enjoying the centuries old stone buildings along the cobblestone streets covered with  flowerpots dripping with color.

After an amazing dinner at the hotel, we decide to walk along the Dufferin Terrace to look at the lights of the city and share an ice cream cone. A fabulous end to our first day in Quebec City.

Up next: a guided walking tour of Old Quebec

Lady Liberty for Lunch

The carful of kids are in the shadow of the New York City Skyline waiting for the ferry to arrive so we can meet Lady Liberty after spending a day walking the Freedom Trail in Boston. We are finishing up a three-week road trip that took us from Central Texas to Quebec, the Canadian Maritimes and along the eastern seaboard.

We are skipping New York City because we only have one day and it's a stand-alone trip. That and my boys, aged six and ten, are a tad too young to enjoy it. I am definitely not ready to do what it would take to keep my boys from wandering off.

I lived in NYC for two years when I was a flight attendant and I am not comfortable using public transportation to get my carful of kids in and around the city--which is necessary to get the full NY experience. So we will come back another time and explore it for a week, there is so much to see and I can't wait to share it with them.

Though I lived in NYC, I have never visited the Statue of Liberty myself, so I am just as excited as the kids. We are departing from Liberty State Park in New Jersey, because of the convenience. There is ample parking and it is easier to get to from the interstate and the New Jersey Turnpike.

We spent the night in New Haven, Connecticut, after driving in from Boston and used the Tappen Zee Bridge to cross the Hudson River to get to New Jersey. NYC traffic is a bear so the carful of kids skirt the city, driving north to avoid the majority of it. It seems to have worked, we are almost on-time for our 1 p.m. ferry reservation.

The carful of kids are mesmerized by the Manhattan skyline as we wait for the ferry. It is amazing to see for the first time. My 11 year-old daughter looks over to lower Manhattan with a look I know. She is dying to get there; she will love the city when she gets to the city--just like me.

The ferry that departs Liberty State Park in New Jersey stops at Ellis Island first and doesn't stop on the way back from the Statue of Liberty. We don't have time for the Ellis Island tour so we will have to come back another time, it will give us a chance to visit the other national parks of NYC like Governors Island.

Me and my girl on the ferry

The carful of kids fight the bash, brazen New Jersey crowd and jockey our way onto the top level of the ferry. We didn't drive all this way to sit down below without a view. The Statue of Liberty does not disappoint, she is magnificent and the crowd can't get enough pictures of her.

The Statue of Liberty is a national park and therefore the carful of kids will be earning a Junior Ranger Badge. We check in at the Information Center to get our booklets after we arrive on Liberty Island.

I was able to secure tickets to the pedestal when I realized we had time in our itinerary to visit the Statue of Liberty ($18/adults, $9/kids 4 to 12, ferry included). Visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is an all-day activity, it's a very popular destination and even with advance tickets you will have to wait in long lines for security and the ferry.

If you secure tickets to the pedestal or crown level you will have to pass through an additional security checkpoint. You will not be allowed to bring ANYTHING with you, except a small camera and medication. I rent a locker for $2 for the backpack, purse and everything in my husband's pockets--keys and pens are prohibited too.

After clearing the additional security checkpoint, the carful of kids head to the elevators but there is a line so we take the stairs instead. After 215 steps, we arrive at the top of the pedestal for an epic view.

Along the way, we see the framework and giant nuts and screws that Gustave Eiffel was hired to design. The carful of kids take a few minutes to absorb the view before heading back downstairs to the Liberty Island Museum for a history lesson.

The Statue of Liberty is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an enduring symbol of freedom worldwide. In 1865 Edouard de Laboulage first proposed it as a gift from France to the US for its Centennial.

Artist Frederic Bartholdi was commissioned to sculpt the Statue of Liberty; Laboulage and Bartholdi both agreed that Bedloe's Island was to be the home of the statue. Bedloe's Island had a long history as quarantine station and in 1814, it became Fort Wood--complete with 12 pointed-star shaped building.

In 1876, the Statue's hand holding the torch was displayed in Philadelphia for the Centennial Exposition. Fundraising continued in both countries to complete the project.

In 1879, Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel was hired as the engineer after the first engineer died. He designed a structure to hold the weight and height of the statue and to withstand the winds of the New York Harbor.

In 1881, Richard Morris Hunt(architect of the Biltmore Estate) was commissioned to design the pedestal. Morris designed a pedestal that is half the height of the statue with poured 20-foot thick concrete walls and a granite block facade.

Also in 1881, the first copper plate was riveted and the statue started to take shape in Paris. The Statue of Liberty was completed and gifted to the US on July 4, 1884, in Paris. In 1886, she was reconstructed and placed on her pedestal with her dedication on October 28 of that year.

During the 1980s after a hundred years of standing tall, the Statue of Liberty underwent a major restoration and her torch was replaced with a gold-leaf one. The original is on display in the museum.

Getting our Junior Ranger Badges

The carful of kids walk through the museum learning as much as possible while on vacation. The boys even look up her nose for boogers--sorry Lady Liberty.

The carful of kids explore the entire complex, filling out the Junior Ranger booklets before we are ready to call it a day. We take our oath, grab our badges before jumping on the ferry back to New Jersey.

We still want to stop by Rutgers University's RU Hungry? food trailer, famous for their fat sandwich, as featured on the Travel Channel. And we have to drive 400 miles to get to Virginia; the carful of kids need to get home.

Know before you go. Tickets purchased ahead of time are a must for the Statue of Liberty experience.  The carful of kids wanted to make it to the crown but those tickets need to be reserved six months in advance for busy weekends and school vacations.

Up next: Road Trip Wrap-Up

Shenandoah National Park and Monticello

The carful of kids with Thomas Jefferson

The carful of kids drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday from Asheville, North Carolina, intending to make it allthe way to Waynesboro, North Carolina. But with all the stopping, exploring and the setting sun; we had to drop in on Interstate-81 to get to our final destination.

We want to continue through Shenandoah National Park via Skyline Drive to earn our Junior Ranger Badge and explore the park. The carful of kids enter through the Rockfish Gap Entrance and make our first stop the Loft Mountain Information Center, mile marker 79.

I look over the Shenandoah National Park Junior Ranger Booklet and discover that you are required to attend two ranger programs. What? I didn't schedule that into my itinerary. Then I look at the Ranger Programming and see we are at the south end of the park and all the programming is at the north end of the park.  Geez.

The carful of kids regroup for a moment and cut our losses. There is no way we are going to get to the northern part of the park (the more popular entrance because of its proximity to Washington), attend two ranger programs and get to our next destination--Hershey, Pennsylvania, today.

We decide to check out Charlottesville, Virginia, and drive around the campus of the University of Virginia--UVA instead. It is a beautiful campus that was designed by Thomas Jefferson. The carful of kids aren't doing full campus tours but we look at areas and ask, would you like to go to college here?

After lunch, we drive to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello--his home and plantation that he started when he was 26. Thomas Jefferson designed his home according to the principles of Neoclassicism and it's a notable example of Palladian architecture. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a must-visit.

The carful of kids pay for admission ($25 for adults and $8 for kids, 5 to 11) and hop on the bus to the top of the hill where Monticello sits-Italian for Little Mount. 

Inside of the house itself is Jefferson's collection of artifacts and his unique solutions to household problems of the day. It is not a luxuriously-appointed mansion, more of a large, comfortable retreat for the third president of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson had a passion for gardening and agriculture, the collection of restored vegetable and flower gardens are amazing. The carful of kids love running around gardens, we only wish we had more time to explore Monticello--the security guard is following us to ask us to leave. We are the last people here.

Up next: Hershey, Pennsylvania and Niagara at night.