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Photo: Stéphane Audet, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
City-wide, first two weeks of February and spanning 3 weekends. A truly spectacular event, the Winter Carnival is a hundred-year-old tradition in Quebec City. Each year, a giant ice palace is built in the Place Jacques-Cartier as the headquarters of the festivities, but there's activities all during the week. The International Ice Sculpture Competition sees teams from around the world build monumental sculptures. There are 3 parades during the event in different quarters of the city, and other winter-defying competitions including a canoe race across the St. Lawrence and a group snow bath. The festival's mascot, Bonhomme Carnaval, a sashed snowman, is the city's most famous logo. $12 (2010) will get you a rubber snowman to attach to your parka for entrance into the festivities on the Plains of Abraham.
The Quebec Winter Carnival, commonly known in both English and French as Carnaval, is a pre-Lenten festival held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. After being held intermittently since 1894, the Carnaval de Québec has been celebrated annually since 1955. That year, Bonhomme Carnaval, the mascot of the festival, made his first appearance. Up to one million people attended the Carnaval de Québec in 2006, making it, at the time, the largest winter festival in the world. It is, however, the largest winter festival in the Western Hemisphere.
La Citadelle
This fortification at the juncture of the Old City wall and Grande Allée is still used as an active military base by the Royal 22e Régiment of the Canadian Army, which has long been known for the irony of being exclusively French-speaking despite having ceremonial uniforms that are clearly British in origin. Also serves as the official residence of King Charles III and the Governor-General of Canada when they visit Quebec City.
The oldest of the gates to the city, standing at the western end of the street with the same name. It was first built in 1693, then left to ruin, but was restored and strengthened after the War of 1812. It got its current outlook in 1880.
Leading to the west, also this gate to the city has been rebuilt several times, the current version is from 1939-40.
Leads to the west of the city, and was constructed as the last of the city gates in 1878-79, but is the only one that has retained its original shape.
Connects the upper and lower town, and first built in 1797 and named after Robert Prescott who was the general governor of Canada then. It was dismantled in 1871 and rebuilt in 1984 but the current version looks rather different from the original version. At the gate there are stairs to the top of the wall.
Next to Place Royal, this is considered the oldest stone church in North America. The first small church was built to celebrate a victory over the British in 1690, was finished in 1723 but was destroyed in a British attack on the city in 1759. Construction of the current church started soon after, and one of the builders was the master carpenter Jean Baillargé. It was declared a historical monument in 1929.