A Day in Montreal

When we stepped outside there was a VR catalog, like Camping World, was on our doorstep. We’ve seen many VR (or in the U.S. RV) dealers along I-20. Amazingly, John hasn’t asked to stop and look.

We drove into Montreal on Route 116, a more scenic route than I-20, across the Pont Jacques Cartier and then found our way to Old Montreal with the goal of seeing the Basilica of Notre Dame. We actually found a free handicapped parking space about two blocks from the Basilica. Parking in Montreal is expensive. On-street parking with a meter is $3 an hour so a free spot was gold.



We walked by the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and noted all the brides having photos taken with their limousines waiting. The square across the street from the Basilica has carriages lined up to take tourists on rides through old Montreal. There was a harpist playing in the square.

But our plans to tour the Basilica were thwarted by the six weddings scheduled today that closes it to tourists. We’ll try tomorrow or Monday.

Not wanting to give up our parking spot, we walked a few blocks to a Metro station and bought a 3 day tourist ticket that’s good on the subways and buses. The Metro covers downtown quite well, and goes across the river at 3 places, but there’s no parking lots evidently. There is a commuter train that goes to Mt. Ste-Hilaire, but it doesn’t operate on week-ends.

We took the Metro to the McGill stop. From here we walked to Christ Church Cathedral, the Episcopal Cathedral on Sainte-Catherine Street, one of the major shopping streets, both above and below ground. Montreal has 18 miles of underground walkways with access to various buildings, Metro stations, and lots of shopping. This Episcopal Cathedral was actually lifted up to accommodate the building of this underground world.



The Bay Department Store is across the street (and under the street) and we wandered through. Formerly the Hudson Bay Company, the branch in downtown Monreal is a HUGE department store. They were doing some renovation work and the facade was covered by a canvas cover painted to look like the real store.

From there we walked up to Sherbrooke Street, across from McGill University, to the McCord Museum of Canadian History. There is a small café and as we walked in the door the chef was walking to the admissions desk with a delicious looking strawberry shortcake. The young man selling tickets said he gets to taste the new creations. John offered to be the assistant taster.



After we toured the museum we went into the café and John ordered his own shortcake. We had a nice chat with the chef because we were the only ones in there at 3 p.m. The museum had an exhibit all about winter in Montreal. I loved all the photos of snow.


Back on the Metro to the Jean Talon stop in Little Italy. We were looking for a Italian Catholic Church that has wonderful murals inside. We found the church and a wedding was just ending. We also found one of the four public markets in Montreal – the Jean Talon market. I bought a quart of Quebec strawberries.

Back on the Metro to find our car and then home. We went across Pont Victoria this time. The auto lane is right next to the train’s lane.

We don’t have any TV reception here so we’ve been watching Roy Rogers movies at night. John received a set of six as a present and they’re the only DVDs we have with us. With one a night we have just enough.