Montreal

Hi everyone!



Sunday night here, and we have been in Montreal for four days. Unfortunately, wifi is not free here, so we picked a slow evening to buy some time and get caught up.

We left Quebec City on Thursday, driving the 250 km to Montreal. This KOA is not nearly as nice as the QC one, and the bathrooms are not all that, but it is a good base for visiting Montreal (it is only about 25 km away).

On Friday, we went into downtown Montreal (CRAZY drivers) and found the world's largest tourist info centre, where an incredibly helpful woman gave us all sorts of ideas. Since we were in the middle of downtown, we decided to use the afternoon to shop, and so Dennis went to Indigo and sat and read computer books while the girls and I went out to shop. Since Montreal gets very wintry, a whole "underground city" developed around the metro stops, with more stores than in the whole of Victoria, I think! All the usual brand names are there, along with Simon's, a Quebec department store that is terrific. Both kids found some clothes there. FASHON ALERT! For those of you who want to be cutting edge, fall clothes are starting to appear, and I saw STIRRUP PANTS for sale. Just FYI...if only I had kept mine! The jeans are getting narrower and narrower, and the tops bigger, kind of 80s style! I wonder if the mullet will return?

Anyway, picked up Dennis (now drinking coffee and reading the paper), and walked to St Denis street, a very funky neighbourhood with hookah cafes and the like. Went to a really nice Mexican restaurant, and then next door to a place the tourist info had recommended: Juliet et Chocolat. Three guesses why it appealed. Everything they served had chocolate, just about...although they also make sweet and savoury crepes. Dennis had milk hot chocolate (which, Sara and Beth, is like that chantico they sold at Starbucks for a while), which comes in a small pitcher and is poured into a bowl for drinking. It is so rich, it is almost like a melted chocolate bar (it also comes in dark and white chocolate). Mhairi had a citron et sucre crepe, which she has been craving since Paris, and had the most blissful look on her face as she was eating it...Ceilidh and I had chocolate cake with a molten chocolate centre, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream (we could have had chocolate ice cream, but that seemed overkill, even for us). Neither of us could finish ours, but our tablemates helped us along. I thought my tastebuds were going to explode. I hope to go there again for a savoury crepe and another dessert. That was a meal to remember...

Saturday was not so successful. We decided to go to La Ronde, and amusement park. When we got there, the woman said they didn't give refunds if it rained, which we thought was peculiar, since who does give refunds if it rains? In Canada, everyone would be bankrupt. What they didn't mention was that they actually CLOSE THE RIDES if it rains. So, after paying $38 x 4 of us, and then a stupid fast pass to get us through the lines faster for another $50, and then paying through the nose for food cuz you can't bring coolers onsite, it RAINED! AND, they had the gall to actually charge extra for some things (which we didn't do). So, $300 later, we left. The kids enjoyed some of the rides, but really, it was a waste of time and money. A lesson learned.

Today, we went to Mount Royal Park, which is designed a little like Central Park. Apparently in the 1600s, Jacques Cartier was taken up the mountain by some native guides and he loved the place and decided it would be a great place to have a settlement, and named it Mont Royal...there is the history lesson for today. We took our bikes in with us, stopped by Fairmont bagels, which has THE best bagels in the city (also recommended by my favourite tourist helper!) and is open 24/7. Dennis ordered "plein" bagels instead of "nature", but other than that, he did well. Had a picnic at the park beside a lake, rented a paddlboat, and had a great time. We then biked around the park, stopping at the viewpoint, and at la croix. The story is that one of the founders of Montreal named Maisonneuve carried a cross up the hill when the city was saved from a flood, as his promise to God. Now, unless there is some Quonset story here (a story far too embarrassing for me to repeat here, but I am sure my sister would be happy to tell!), they have replaced the original cross he carried up, because this one was metal and lit up.

We then went into Vieux Montreal, and biked around the old Expo 67 site. We saw the Habitat 67 buildings and the geodesic dome (not sure of that spelling) designed by Buckminster Fuller. I kept imagining Montreal in 1967, which must have seems SO cosmopolitan, especially by Canadian standards. I imagine my sister, a 20 year old, going to Montreal for the summer in 1967. In fact, almost everyone we have met speaks both French and English, and with the large immigrant population, I am sure many are multilingual. What a gift! People I have overheard speaking seem to switch between French and English, even within the same sentence, and if they hear us struggling in French, they automatically switch to English, unless we ask them not to!

Anyway, there is a long pedestrian/bike concourse, so off we went to explore along the river, and a short way along the Lachine Canal. Reminded me of biking along the canal in Oxford.

Navigating here is quite fascinating, since almost every street is either Sainte or Saint something or other, so we are constantly saying "St Jean or Jacques?" "Did you say Ste Catherine or Ste Marie?", etc.

A close to home day tomorrow, then into Vieux Montreal for a good look around on Tuesday. Ceilidh is meeting another teacher (!), Jenne Martin, who is from Montreal, for a morning together while Dennis, Mhairi and I poke around the town.

We took a quick look at Notre Dame, where there is a series of organ recitals going on, one by none other than Matthew Larkin for those of you who would care to know!