|
Thursday, September 11: We had decided to use the car today to allow us more mobility
in getting to different areas. We headed for St. Joseph's Oratory across town to the northeast.
We tried to drive through Little Italy on the way, but never found it.
The Oratory was built between 1924 and 1955 though the efforts of Brother Andre, who has since been beatified (a step toward canonization). It sits on top of a high hill. There are three long flights of stone steps that devout pilgrims often climb on their knees. When we'd been there on the bus tour, we'd only seen the church from inside the entrance gate below. Now we found we could drive up the hill and park the car almost at the church door. We toured the Oratory following an excellent little guide book we obtained there. In addition to the church, the Oratory contained a museum with, among much else, a large collection of Nativity scenes. There are also displays relating to Brother Andre's life. The original chapel on the site, built in 1904, is also preserved. On our way back through the city, we drove down Rue Crescent, noted for its upscale shops and restaurants, built in fine old houses that once had been scheduled for demolition. Back at the hotel, we put the car back in the parking lot and took the Metro back downtown to visit the Underground City, 18 miles of passageways linking hundreds of shops, department stores, hotels, etc. It had been an overcast day from the beginning and now was starting to drizzle off and on, so we thought we may as well spend the afternoon underground. We stopped for lunch (tuna on croissants) at one of the food courts, then wandered along, not sure where we were in relation to the city above. We got side-tracked some and ran out of shops when I wanted to see the central train station, also part of the Underground City. We finally hopped on the Metro and rode back to Place d'Armes to pick up another section of the Underground City. Jane bought a very nice shirt-jacket at Reitman's. We came up to the surface at Place d'Artes, where there was a pretty fountain and an artificial waterfall, as well as the city's principal performing arts theater. We took the Metro back to our hotel, arriving shortly before 5:00. At 7:00 we walked up rue St. Dennis in a steady drizzle. We picked Pamir, an Afghan restaurant, where we each had a different kind of veal escallops. Although prepared well enough, the meat was of too poor a quality to be good. We were back in our room before 9:00 and did some packing for our departure in the morning. |
