-One, deux, trois, quatre.

♪♪ -I'm in a destination where winter is paradise, where snow and ice only increase the opportunities to head outdoors and feel alive.

[ Laughs ] Oh.

It's a city with incredible history where the architecture is regal and the streets enchanting and where centuries-old traditions are met with jubilance every year as the temperatures drop.

But it's the generous smiles of the people here combined with their exceptional gusto that are as welcoming as a crackling fire or a mug of hot chocolate.

I've got my inner joy to keep me warm.

I'm in Quebec City, Canada.

[ Cheering ] I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... -The rhythm of the waves.

The calming sounds of nature.

On the Southwest Florida coast, there are wide open beaches and hundreds of islands.

Sometimes doing nothing can mean everything.

♪♪ Learn more at fortmyers-sanibel.com.

♪♪ -We believe watching the world go by isn't enough.

That's why we climb... ♪♪ ...pedal... ♪♪ ...and journey beyond the beaten path, on storied rivers, with a goal to ensure that every mile traveled turns into another memory.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

♪♪ -All the untamed beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the American Southwest... experienced on a journey by rail.

Rocky Mountaineer, proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

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Wherever you want to go, AAA has services to help you before, during, and after your trip.

Learn more at AAA.com/LiveTV.

-I'm starting my trip on the banks of the mighty St. Lawrence River.

It's a cold 7:00 a.m., and I'm trying something I never imagined I would.

-Whoa!

-[ Laughs ] -Ice canoeing.

-So, when there's ice, the captain will say, "Get ready.

We're gonna go on the ice."

-Okay.

Are you gonna say that in English or French?

-I'll try to say that in English, but it might slip a little bit like [Speaks French], which is in French.

-[ Speaks French ] -I'm Carolyn Boileau.

-I'm Liliane Oullette.

-And we're ice-canoe racers.

-Ice canoe is a mix between rowing and running on the ice.

-The challenge with ice-canoe racing is just to be the fastest across the river and the fastest to go back.

And so we have to find our way through the ice and the water to be as fast as we can.

-Any questions?

-I'm gonna do it.

-I certainly had them, but all are answered at the Canot à Glace Experience, where just about anyone can try their hand at this unbelievable sport.

-And then up in front, this here, and then you just have to do like this.

-Yeah.

-Okay?

-What you have to get your head around is that at some point while on the water, you will have to get out of the canoe kinda, and this takes a bit of maneuvering.

So I slide the oar this way.

-Yeah, exactly.

-It comes out.

I put it in.

-Exactly.

-I don't hit either of you two with a 10-foot oar.

-[ Laughs ] -That won't happen.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

[ Laughter ] And then I don't leave the boat, put my knee in here, -Just put your knee here.

-Swing over.

-That's perfect.

-I don't decapitate him with my clamps.

-Hey!

Whoo-hoo!

-And that's it.

-Yeah.

All right!

-Excellent.

-This is easy.

-Up we go!

Let's go!

Perfect!

Up in front!

-Up in front!

[ Speaking French ] ♪♪ Un, deux, trois, up!

Un, deux, trois, up!

-Whoa!

That's not ice.

This sport was born of necessity.

Back in the day before there were bridges and hard-working ferries, there was only one way across.

With ice flows constantly moving, the easiest way was not around but over them.

-Push!

Get ready to row!

Row!

♪♪ -Physically, this is very challenging.

The good news is you won't be cold.

That's the first iceberg I've ever walked on.

-Okay, let's go back.

Up.

Excellent.

-When I first saw the two words "ice canoeing," I thought, "That's the most Canadian thing I've ever heard."

I mean, seriously, does this sport exist anywhere else in the world?

-No, no.

The conditions that we do have on the river here -- I mean, you can't find them anywhere else.

This is where the river gets a bit more narrow, so because of that, there's a lot of, like, ice current.

It's really more tricky here than it is in Montreal, for example.

So you are right now in the best spot to do ice canoe.

Whoo!

-Oh!

[ Indistinct chatter ] Did we win?

-[ Laughs ] I think so.

-Cheers, guys.

Oh, my gosh.

One thing that happens that doesn't in the actual sport is you get to take a cookies-and-hot-chocolate break on an actual ice floe.

-You can be back tomorrow and you will never see the same scenery as you're seeing right now.

The ice would be totally different.

You're gonna have more ice, less ice, more wind, less wind, depending on the tide.

It's always changing.

-Cheers to being a part of the team.

I appreciate it.

-Yeah!

-We're glad you enjoyed the experience.

-I loved it.

I absolutely loved it.

I would totally do this sport if I lived here.

Canoeing on the ice is as old as Quebec itself.

But there's something else that old, and it's celebrated in places like this.

[ Upbeat folk music plays ] ♪♪ Why do you like the traditions of old Canada, of old Quebec so much?

-Because I am one of them.

[ Both laugh ] I'm Pierre Faucher.

I'm the founder of Cabane à Pierre.

This farm has been in the family since 1905.

And it's very important for me to keep the traditions alive.

-And for the rest of the world, we taste your heritage through one of the most delightful products ever to come out of a tree.

-Quebec produces 80 percent of the world's maple products, not because we're better than anybody else, but... [ Both laugh ] ...all the trees are in Quebec.

Most of them are growing in Quebec.

-I'm looking at these trees, and there are buckets all around them.

So I'm assuming these are maple trees.

Are they producing any... -Yes.

Maple water.

-Oh, my goodness.

Whoa!

-Maple water here.

You have...

This tree will -- providing it freezes at night and part of the daytime, then the maple sap will come up the tree and fill the bucket.

-That tree filled that bucket?

-A maple tree will give about 60 liter of maple sap a year.

That's not much because it's a liter and a half of maple syrup.

-Oh, when you have to boil it down.

-40 liter to one, yeah, exactly.

-[ Laughs ] Once the tree has done all the hard work of getting the maple water out of itself, now it's turned into maple syrup, which is done in the sugar shack.

-This is an old-fashioned evaporator.

-Inside the steam, thick and sweet, mixes with the smell of burning wood, making the sugar shack as magical as it sounds.

So, the maple water gets poured into these big bins.

-That's right.

Poured into here.

The big bin is where the water starts to come in.

-Okay.

-And then the second bin, it starts to boil harder -Uh-huh.

-...and starts to turn color.

And this is where the maple syrup finishes.

219 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's when the maple syrup is ready, and then we pour.

-Well, how do you know it gets to that perfect temperature?

-When we take the syrup... -Yeah?

-...and then it starts to break.

-Okay.

-Long, drop, break, it's ready.

-You don't have just, like, a temperature gauge in there, telling you or a computer or an app telling you that it's -- -No, no.

[ Both laugh ] -You just go by your eyesight?

-We can see it.

It's there.

-So, what type of taste is your maple syrup?

-The best.

[ Both laugh ] -But if you're going to put all this effort into creating maple syrup, you're gonna want to share it, and share it they do at La Cabane's restaurant, right next to the source.

Pierre's son Stefan is the co-owner.

[ Upbeat folk music plays ] ♪♪ -La Cabane à Pierre inspires some serious cabin goals -- lights strung across the room, a roaring fire as a centerpiece, long wooden tables for families and friends together, and musicians in flannel.

But a visitor has their work cut out for them.

Wow!

Whoa!

-This is the egg souffle.

Baked beans.

Garlic and parsley pepper mashed potatoes.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Maple-glazed ham and sausage.

And tourtière, the meat pie.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Merci.

-This looks fantastic.

-We try to put a little bit of everything on your plate.

-Wow.

Look at how beautiful that is.

-You don't have to share.

-I don't have to share?

-We can ask for more.

[ Laughs ] -This is where you learn there's a difference between Quebecers and just about everyone else.

They put maple syrup on everything.

That is really -- like, I have maple syrup, I don't know, once a month on pancakes.

That is very different from the people who live here.

It's a true condiment.

-Right.

-So, you know, as soon as you walk in, there's just this feeling of warmth and being home.

It's immediate -- that feeling of the fire going.

-And tradition, I say -- it's like a tight pair of jeans.

It fits everybody well.

[ Both laugh ] -Well, after this meal, my jeans are gonna be pretty tight.

[ Distant cheering ] ♪♪ Soaring over the St. Lawrence River rises one of the icons of not only Quebec City but the country of Canada.

Its spires, turrets, and gables have served as a regal entrance to this World Heritage city.

There is no doubt that for over 125 years, Château Frontenac has been a sight no one forgets, including me.

My family traveled here when I was 9 years old, and we felt it was the most beautiful hotel we had ever visited.

Right outside the hotel is a funicular that originally opened in 1879, and it takes you down to the beautiful district of Petit Champlain.

As the site of the first French settlement in North America in 1608, it's a wonderful area for a historical walking tour.

But one of its biggest draws is its main street, Rue du Petit-Champlain.

Here in Quebec, I was walking all over the city, the old quarters especially, and I was walking down this street, which I've been told is not only the most beautiful street in all of Quebec City, but really all of the world.

It's considered one of the world's most beautiful streets.

How long have you been here?

-My shop has been open for 39 years.

I've been coming for over 45 years.

-My goodness.

Looking around your shop, you run the gamut of themes here from, of course, the architecture of the Château Frontenac, I see the Santa Claus, but I also see cats and marine animals and just everything.

So you have a little bit of everything for everyone.

-I sell Santas all year 'round, even in August.

-Of course.

-Very popular.

-That's when I buy most of my Santas.

-Really?

-Yes, I'm gearing up.

I'm getting excited.

-Ah.

I had a lady from Florida.

She bought 11.

[ Both laugh ] Wood is a warm material.

-Mm-hmm.

-So it's a poetry in the wood, in the veins, contrary to stone, which is heavy, hard, cold.

So it puts warmth in your environment, wood carving.

-There's no question that Alain has a warm and inviting shop on one of the most inviting streets.

But the Rue du Petit-Champlain wasn't always so enchanting, and Alain was part of the effort of local artists and shop owners who turned it around.

So, you came in the '80s?

-Yes.

-And this street was abandoned?

-Well, you know, at the beginning of the 20th century, the port industry went down.

This place was literally abandoned, you'll see in old pictures, so we had to renovate the buildings to make it that nice as it is today.

-You yourself had to renovate this building?

-As a group.

-Okay.

-Yes.

We own 28 houses on the street as a co-op.

-So you put your own blood, sweat, and tears into this building.

And we're kind of seeing that right now in your sculpture, right?

[ Laughs ] You work with your hands.

-Yes.

-That's pretty special.

-It is special.

That's what people says.

I'm starting to believe it.

[ Both laugh ] [ Twinkle ] -If you're visiting Quebec City in late January or early February, you will notice a certain smiling snowman is everywhere.

This is Bonhomme, the beloved ambassador of Winter Carnival.

[ Upbeat folk music plays ] ♪♪ This is where Quebecers' full embrace of winter is on display.

People of Quebec don't hide and hunker down from the cold.

They dance, play, drink, and slide.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Whoo-hoo!

[ Crowd cheering ] -But for visitors of all ages, there's one moment everyone looks forward to.

[ Dramatic music plays ] ♪♪ There is no way to totally describe how Quebecers feel about meeting Bonhomme, but this comes close.

-Samantha!

-Oh, Bonhomme!

Finally, we meet!

-Yes!

-Ah!

You're even more beautiful in person.

-Well, thank you.

You, too.

You have a beautiful smile, Samantha.

-You, too.

-Very festive.

-Thank you so much.

Wow!

What are your duties?

What is your goal and mission as Bonhomme?

-To be as visible as possible.

-[ Laughs ] Well, you'll see, it's hard to miss me.

-[ Laughing ] Yeah.

-You know?

I walk around, we take pictures.

It's a dream for a lot of people to come and say, "Oh, finally, Bonhomme, I get to meet you!"

And then we take pictures, give hugs and kisses.

And it's just, like, a festive time.

And as far as I'm concerned, winter is not long enough.

We come out, we embrace winter, and let's go and see Bonhomme and take part in the festivities.

-And take part in the festivities I shall.

Whoo!

As with any carnival, there are games of skill... Nice!

-Yes, sir!

-...and opportunities to learn a new skill, like learning the ways of ice with the actual chief sculptor of Bonhomme's Ice Castle.

So, I'm not sculpting anything right now.

I'm removing.

-No, just removing the parts you don't want.

What you don't need.

-All right.

I'm just gonna remove big shards of it, right?

-That's it.

That's it.

-At an angle.

-My name is Marc Lepire from Quebec City.

I'm an ice sculptor.

And, also, I build a big castle for Bonhomme Carnival.

I love it.

-That seems like a very large responsibility to have.

-Oh, yeah, it is, but at the same time, it's very fun because we have a very short time to build that big thing.

It's 2,500 block of ice, more than 1,000 cubic meter of snow.

It's a lot of job.

-What's the most difficult part of your job?

-For me, it's easy because I do this every day.

-Uh-huh.

-And ice, for me, is very my life.

If I don't touch ice, I'm not happy.

-How do you give the finishing touches, then?

It looks a little rough to me.

-Usually, I will use the hand saw because we can really... cut this one around.

-Just feels so gratifying to do that.

You make it so beautiful.

-The sound.

Listen, the sound of this.

This is my favorite part of when I carve.

If you have a very sharp chisel... [ Ice scraping ] A small sound.

I love it.

And when you put the light -- when you are done and you put the light behind or under, it's awesome.

-Now, before we go, Samantha... -Oui?

-...you're gonna have to do my trademark move.

You want to do it?

-Let's do the dance, yeah.

-Well, I tell the kids -- I warm them up.

-Yeah?

-And then I tell them to jump.

And I tell them to clap their hands... -Uh-huh.

-...and then start jumping.

Like this, and then I finish it off with a... -[ Laughs ] I love it.

Bonhomme is so ubiquitous in Quebec City during Carnival that he's even in the lobby of the Château Frontenac, but that's probably not the hotel he'd stay in.

Hôtel de Glace, or the Ice Hotel.

What it's made of makes this unique, but that's not all.

-This is the only ice hotel on the American continent.

Je m'appelle Yanick Lajoie.

I'm an artisan at Hôtel de Glace.

This is my 16th ice hotel.

I've been part of the project since the very first ice hotel in 2001, and I'm passionate about it.

-Yanick, you helped build all of this?

-Yes, yes, I did.

-You're literally the maker of dreams.

Right?

Dreams come true for people when they come here.

-And that's why I'm here.

I like to build dreams.

-[ Laughs ] In everything that I'm looking at, is there a structure that creates the shape, or is it simply the snow?

-It's simply snow.

There's no internal frame, wood, metal.

There's nothing.

I mean, this is a self-snow-sustained building.

-Oh, my goodness.

We're now in the lobby, right?

-We are in the lobby.

This is the lobby.

This is the hall, so very specific one.

We are underwater.

-Mm-hmm.

-Huge whale -- two whales.

-[ Gasps ] Look at the eyes!

And the eyes are just balls of glass.

That's fantastic!

-Huge detail.

-Like traditional hotels, are there rooms?

Like, how far does the hotel theme go?

-We have 42 rooms.

Because we are celebrating our 20th anniversary, we did 20 suites.

Usually, we do 16.

-Okay.

Do you have an ice machine?

Get it?

-Sorry?

-An ice machine.

-An ice machine?

-You know, where you get ice when you're staying at a hotel.

-That would be such a great idea!

-[ Exhales ] I'm on the team?

-Yeah!

Yeah, you'll be part of the artistic community next year.

-You've got to have an ice machine.

-Yeah, sure.

-Wow!

What suite is this?

-This is the honeymoon suite.

This is the suite nuptial.

-This is the honeymoon suite.

Oh, wonderful.

I got to see this bed.

This is amazing.

[ Laughs ] So, and everything is made of ice?

Every single thing?

-Everything is made out of ice.

-The bed is ice.

The side tables are ice.

-Yeah.

-Wow!

Do people get cold here when they stay at night?

-Well, actually inside here, it's in between -5 to -8 degrees Celsius.

-[ Laughs ] -And we provide sleeping bags that goes up to -20, even -30.

So actually, we don't have that much complaining about cold temperature.

-I hear that it's very healthy to sleep in colder temperatures than we do.

-One comment we often receive from people is the silence.

-Oh.

-[ Whispers ] So it's really quiet.

-[ Whispers ] Right.

But before there's a night in this room, there's a walk through this one.

Yanick, we should walk like this.

-Yes, let's... -Down the aisle.

-Down the aisle.

People are coming here with their guests.

So there's plenty of, you know, benches for the guests.

-Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

The chapel here at the Ice Hotel hosts up to 30 weddings a year.

There might be more, but people do get cold feet.

-Two months, you build the Ice Hotel.

4,000 people -- guests -- stay here.

100,000 people enjoy it.

-Yeah.

$1 million to build.

-And it's only here for three months.

-Yeah, until the end of March.

And at the end of March, we knock it down.

-What do you mean you knock it down?

-Yeah.

We have to destroy the whole thing.

We cannot wait for Mother Nature.

-To let it melt?

-To let it melt.

-So, I mean, at the end of March, it's like, "Okay, thanks.

We had good moments."

We had, you know, thousands of people in awe, with, you know, that hard work.

And we destroy it with that feeling of duty well-done.

And let's wait for the next one.

[ Laughter ] -Whoa!

[ Screaming ] -It's like you hear it first, right?

-Absolutely, yeah.

-And then you follow the sound, and you just find this place of pure joy.

[ Screaming ] I find it amazing that this city was founded in the early 1600s and one of its oldest, most historic sites is a toboggan run.

[ Screaming ] -It appeared for the first time on the terrace here in 1884.

-1884?

-Absolutely.

It makes it older than Château Frontenac, believe it or not.

-It's older than the hotel.

-Yeah, it is.

-That is incredible!

-The hotel was built in 1893.

So a few years later.

They figure if there's a slide here, maybe we should have a nice hotel next to it.

[ Cheering ] You want to try it out?

-I'm gonna race you.

That's what I'm gonna do.

-Oh, yeah?

Well, you know you're not gonna win, right?

-Why not?

-Because I'm heavier than you.

-Oh.

-It's only a question of weight.

-I've got a lot of padding on, Marc.

I could probably beat you.

-You think so?

-Yeah.

-Oh, just give it a try.

-Why did they put it right near the river?

They just thought away from the river would be 10 degrees warmer and that's not Canadian?

It's got to be right on St. Lawrence where the breeze is coming in from the Atlantic.

I haven't felt my nose in an hour.

-[ Both laugh ] That would be normal.

Are we good?

-Estoy listo.

-No, seriously, Sam.

You don't have a chance, huh?

-[ Laughs ] [ Cheering ] [ Laughing ] -See you later!

-Whoo!

-I do know that many people don't like winter.

[ Laughs ] -[ Samantha laughs ] -Quebec City is the paradise of winter.

This is the time now for Carnival.

We have the Ice Hotel.

We have a lot of winter activities.

I don't know.

It's a dreamy season.

-We have a beautiful winter with a lot of different conditions going from -30 degrees to -- like today, it's quite warm.

-Minus 10, -20 is awesome.

You just need to wear a good jacket and cap.

-And they all bring back home some incredible memories of something that you will never see somewhere else.

-When people come over here, they experience tradition.

They experience being, like, in real life.

-Whoo!

[ Laughs ] When the days are short, but the thrill is long, when being cold as ice could be a thing of beauty, when the big smiles offer all the warmth you need -- that is when we share a love of travel.

Whoo!

And that's why Quebec City, Canada, is a place to love.

For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" was made possible by... -We believe watching the world go by isn't enough.

That's why we climb... ♪♪ ...pedal... ♪♪ ...and journey beyond the beaten path, on storied rivers, with a goal to ensure that every mile traveled turns into another memory.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

-The rhythm of the waves.

The calming sounds of nature.

On the Southwest Florida coast, there are wide open beaches and hundreds of islands.

Sometimes doing nothing can mean everything.

♪♪ Learn more at fortmyers-sanibel.com.

♪♪ -The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

AAA wants to help turn vacation dreams into reality.

Wherever you want to go, AAA has services to help you before, during, and after your trip.

Learn more at AAA.com/LiveTV.

♪♪ -All the untamed beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the American Southwest... experienced on a journey by rail.

Rocky Mountaineer, proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪