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Tuesday, September 9: We were up at 7:00 because a Royal Tours van was picking us up
at 8:45 for the 9:30 tour of Montreal. We were glad our room came with breakfast, so we didn't
have to go out for that. The breakfast room was charming, with white wrought iron furniture.
The breakfast buffet included scrambled eggs, ham, cereals, bagels, English muffins, bread,
cream cheese, jam, orange juice, fruit, coffee, and tea. We finished in plenty of time to catch our
van.
The tour started at Dorchester Square in the center of downtown. As it crisscrossed the
downtown area, the guide pointed out dozens of points of interest. (The brochure says over 200
in all.) Everything was repeated in both French and English. We found that very helpful in
trying to pick up French pronunciation. There was a long stop at Notre Dame Basilica in Old
Montreal. The bus also took us to several places outside the downtown area, such as Ile Notre
Dame (Casino de Montreal), Ile Ste. Helene (site of Expo 67), the University of Montreal, the
summit of Mont-Real (with a great view of the city), Olympic Park, and St. Joseph's Oratory.
The tour ended a little after noon. We made the mistake of asking the van driver to drop us off near Old Montreal and wound up getting more of a tour of the city than we wanted, as he first picked up the passengers for the next tour. We started walking at the west end of the old town (really the south end, but that's the way they describe the directions in Montreal), at the Gray Nuns' Hospital (1693) and Youville Stables (1825). After going through an old firehouse (1903) converted into a museum of the city's history, we had a salmon salad for lunch in a small art gallery on rue St. Paul.
We saw the obelisk commemorating the founding of Ville Marie (Montreal's original name) in 1642. We walked to Notre Dame Basilica (1829) for another look at the overwhelming beauty of its interior. The altar was the widest we'd ever seen, made up of 32 bronze panels depicting the life of Christ. This time we also visited the Sacred Heart Chapel, very popular for weddings. The chapel was larger than many churches we've seen. The tall reredos behind the altar was ornately carved from linden wood.
Next to the Basilica was the Supulcian Seminary, Montreal's oldest surviving building, dating from 1658. Across the Place d'Armes was the Bank of Montreal (1847), copied after the Parthenon in Rome. From there we walked down the hill into Chinatown (also seen on the tour). We went inside the Holiday Inn there. It was decorated with a Chinese motif and had two full size pagodas on the roof.
We continued along rue St. Paul until we were opposite the Quai King Edward in the Old Port. We wanted to visit the flea market there. Unfortunately, it had closed permanently at the end of August. We were starting to wilt in the sun, but nevertheless we pressed on to the Quai Jacques Cartier, the next pier over, despite its lack of any shade. We walked all the way out to the end for the view. We could see the Biodome and Habitat 67 on Ile Ste. Helene, the Jacques Cartier Bridge, and the skyline of Old Montreal.
Leaving the Quai, we walked to the long, silver-domed Marche Bonsecours (1852), once the city hall, then a central market, but now used for exhibitions . We also went to the Notre Dame de Secours Chapel (1673) across the street, but it was closed for renovation. We followed rue St. Paul back to Place Jacques Cartier, the heart of Old Montreal. The square was very picturesque, lined with sidewalk cafes on both sides. In the center strip, a singer with a guitar was performing for tips. We bought some ice cream and sat and listened for a while.
Then we strolled down the part of rue St. Paul that we had missed when we turned down to Old Port. The sun had gone down and it was starting to get cool. We looked in some shops and also checked out a number of restaurants. We finally decided to have the "surf and turf" at the Restaurant Vieux Port. We had a table at the corner window and could watch people walking by as we ate. We each had cream of leek soup, salad, two small filet mignons, six large shrimp, rice, dessert (creme caramel for Jane; strawberry torte for me), and coffee. It was an excellent meal.
By then it had gotten dark. Rue St. Paul was beautiful with all the shops and restaurants
lit up. We walked back through Place Jacques Cartier to Place Vauquelin with a great view of the Champ de Mars. We continue through the Champ de Mars where there
are remains of the city's old fortifications. It was such a pleasant night that we decided to walk
the several blocks back to the hotel. We got there about 8:45 and called it a day. That was
exactly 12 hours after we'd left that morning, and we were very tired.
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