Sunday, July 19, 2015

Montreal, Quebec


We spent  July 15 in Montreal.  Steve and Cathy had a rental car so we went into Vieux Montreal for the day and explored the old town on foot visiting the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours (Our Lady of Good Help) chapel.  This chapel is often called the Sailors’ Church.  It was built in 1771 over the ruins of an earlier chapel.  Lynn was very taken with the  light fixtures shaped like Spanish galleons, container ships, etc.  We also visited a very cool archeological museum built upon the excavated foundations of the original settlement of Montreal. 

Montreal 2015-07-15 003Montreal 2015-07-15 007Montreal 2015-07-15 008

Of course,  we ate lunch at an outdoor café and Lynn had one of her  French favorites - moules frite (mussels and french fries).

Montreal 2015-07-15 014Montreal 2015-07-15 001

We strolled through many different parks and neighborhoods including Chinatown and a great gallery district.

Montreal 2015-07-15 026Montreal 2015-07-15 006Montreal 2015-07-15 017

During the summer, Montreal has endless street fairs and we strolled through a couple of them as well as many parks and plazas.

 

 Montreal 2015-07-15 021Montreal 2015-07-15 022Montreal 2015-07-15 025Montreal 2015-07-15 018

That evening we met friends of Cathy and Steve’s for dinner where we had another French favorite (steak frite) and topped the  evening off by watching an amazing fireworks display in the harbor.  Montreal goes all out in the summer and there is a general mood of celebration throughout the city. 

Montreal 2015-07-15 005Montreal 2015-07-15 002Montreal 2015-07-15 010

The only damper to the day was the endless hassle of returning the rental car to the airport and taking a cab back to the marina. A trip that should have taken about 45 minutes took twice as long because only one bridge was open one way due to construction and the fireworks traffic.  We had had a very long day – it was almost 2 a.m. before we tumbled, exhausted,  into bed! But all in all, we had a fantastic day in marvelous Montreal!

Montreal 2015-07-15 004Montreal 2015-07-15 027

No comments:

Post a Comment