Rappelons Montréal

Wednesday was our day to tour the city in a bus tour. We like to do that to get the lay of the land in a city where we haven't been and the guide always has some interesting things to tell us about the history and culture. We were not disappointed.

Mercredi...L'Excursion

Le 4 Novembre

This morniing we were expecting to be picked up by the tour shuttle at 9:20. We got up a little earlier to make sure we were done breakfast in time and waited. And waited. The shuttle was over 20 minutes late, unusually so, according to the concierge who called to check for us. Only 2 other people on it and we had to make a couple more stops before getting to the tourist info centre where we then had to hurry and pay for the tour before getting on the nearly-full bus. I think the traffic has been snarled by construction zones judging from what we later saw on our travels around the city on the bus.

The day is sunny with some big clouds so it looks to be a decent day for the tour. It's not the hop-on hop-off type as they don't do that off season. Just as well, it would have been way too cold on the open top of that type of bus! I never did get the name of the guide but he was good, quite entertaining with all the patter. The tour made it's way back towards Old Montreal and we had a half hour stop to go up and see inside Notre Dame Basilica. I'd been in it once before a few years ago but it's been awhile. It really is beautiful inside, glowing all blue and gold in the quiet darkness of the interior. Behind the altar is a smaller and newer and very much brighter chapel often used for weddings. It's made of light wood and has lots of sunlight streaming in.

An aside, Notre Dame was built by an Irish Protestant turned Catholic architect, James O'Donnell (who was also the architect for St. Patrick's cathedral in New York City) and it was finished in 1824. He's buried here rather than in NYC's cathedral because he turned Catholic. St. Pat's in NYC is Protestant. The chapel was builts about 30 years ago to replace one burned in a fire. Apparently the Basilica can old 4000 though it doesn't look it. The columns and blue pattterned ceiling over the altar remind you of Sainte Chappelle in Paris. They also have a light and sound show in the evenings but we didn't get there though had thought about it if time allowed.

We lost 3 tour members who never came back from the basilica. They can only wait so long. we drove along the riverfront past Marche Bonscours and the chapel Notre Dame de Bonsecours next door (dedicated to sailors, and dates to 1773. There's a musem inside now). We headed out east along the industrial waterfront and then up to Olympic Stadium which was built for the 1976 Olympics. The domed stadium was used for the Montreal Expos (baseball) but is now used for exhibitions. The next door ex-velodrome (bicycle racing) is now a biodome with four different eco systems represented inside. The curved tower has elevator access and you can get great views of the city from up there. We hoped to go there on Thursday with some friends but they didn't think they'd have the time to do that plus other stuff they had hoped to do. We had a photo stop here and a few minutes to use the toilets in the visitor centre before winding our way back down Sherbrooke street through the Plateau section with it's nice houses that have the curved outside iron staircases winding down in front of all the rows of houses. Having the stairs on the outside saves space on the inside.

We headed up the large hill through the campus of McGill university, founded by wealthy Scots. It's one of two English unis in Montreal and there are two French ones as well. High on the hill is St. Joseph's Oratory, an enormous church this is a shrine to St. Joseph. This was just another quick photo stop but you can go up via little shuttle busses or up the long staircases to the church. Apparently it has a massive interior and is quite lovely. Pilgrims come here and pray their way up the stairs to the church on their knees. They hope for a miracle. Doing it that way, it would be a miracle you even made it to the top!

One more photo stop at a lookoff point at the top of Mont Royale over the city. It's still clear and you could see the Laurentian mountains in the distance. Excellent view with the Jacques Cartier bridge standing out and the Olympic stadium and tower prominent. Most of Montreal isn't filled with really tall buildings other than the downtown business core.

The tour ended a little after 1 o'clock back at the info centre. It's a shame really, there are a lot of pretty squares but many of them seem to be filled with construction vehicles and noise and dust. Can't imagine what they're doing. Nearby here is another huge cathedral, Marie Reine du Monde (Mary, Queen of the World). We walked a few blocks to Place Bonaventure where there is supposed to be an atrium with a high fountain but it must only be in the summer. If we were in the right place, where the atrium was is a small indoor skating rink! Oh well. We found a cafe and had a hot drink and found our way to the Metro underneath. We got off one stop past the hotel so that Graham could get some takeout from Micky D's. I didn't go with him, just waited at the bottom of the hill but i hadn't thought. The restaurant was all in French and he had a bit of trouble getting across what he wanted. We trotted the few blocks to the hotel. I heated up the leftover Chinese food for my lunch while he had his. Later we used the hotel business centre for the internet access to catch up. Graham is trying to get hold of a friend who lives in Quebec City who is coming to see us on Friday. We also had a couple of drinks at the manager's reception/happy hour with our free vouchers.

Next order of business is dinner. We planned on going to the Keg down on Rue St. Paul in Old Montreal. We first turned the wrong way but got turned around again and found the restaurant. It was pretty full but as we only needed a table for two, we didn't wait long to be seated. Our waitress was really nice and our starters came within a reasonable time. Unfortunately our main course was a very long wait. There were two large groups in ahead of us and that delayed things. The poor waitress was embarassed to keep coming back to apologize for the wait. We didn't really mind, though probably would have if she hadn't kept us up to date and just left us there wondering. When it did arrive, it was worth it even if they had run out of prime rib which i had wanted. I had sirloin instead and it was very nice and perfectly cooked.

We walked back to the hotel. The chilly wind from earlier in the day had died down and it was a really nice night. I took some good night shots of the Basilica with it's blue lights in the windows and we relaxed back in the suite before bed.

« Page Précédente   Page Prochaine »