Day 1 in Montreal

Day one in Montreal. The kids slept in (Eric: "I'm jetlagged!!") so we just made it to the hotel breakfast. Our room is on the 19th of 27 floors and the breakfast is on the floor 2 mezzanine over the lobby - you can imagine the kids delight!

I knew Quebecois were VERY French, but even I didn't realize how little English is spoken here, or on the street signs even! While the rest of Canada is required to show both English and French on their signage, evidentally that rule isnt' true (or is poorly enforced) in Quebec.

it's hard to imagine a Catholic Church anywhere outside of Rome more beatuiful than Montreal's Notre Dame.

When we finally got started, we decided to go visit "Old Quebec", the historic district beside the St Lawerence river. Once again while driving down to the waterfront we were amazed by all the Basilicas (LARGE churches) we passed. We parked in public parking on the wharf and started our walking tour of the area.

Narrow streets, stone buildings, and a very European feel best describe Old Montreal. You can tell the Quebecois are very proud of their European (and more specifically, French) roots. In fact, we saw more Quebec provincial flags than Canadian flags flying on both public and private buildings! We walked through the oldtown, making our way towards the Basilica du Notre Dame, perhaps the most well known of Montreal's many churches.

Now Pat and I have seen many churches around Northern Europe and the United States, and although we haven't yet been to Italy it's hard to imagine a Catholic Church anywhere outside of Rome more beautiful than Montreal's Notre Dame. It is by far the most colorful church we've ever seen, made even more so by the extra lighting that has been installed for a nightly show (which we skipped). The alterpiece is unbelievable....made of carved wood and painted and gilded in glorious detail (I'll add photos as soon as we are home). And after more than an hour in the main church, we were able to go into 'chapel' (a full sized church in it's own right) which, while much more modern, was spectacular in it's own right!!

After a couple of hours of 'churching it', the kids needed a break. We made a quick soda stop in the square across from the Basilica, stopped in a Christmas shop on a side street (for our obligatory souvineer Xmas ornament commemorating our travels....these are becoming quite a tradition for us!) we made our way back to the waterfront for a visit to the "Labrynthe of Montreal".

Imagine an old warehouse on the water, transformed by tarps hung to make a maze. Add barriers such as rope tangles to crawl through, squishy mats on the floor, tunnels and slides to go through, and top it off with several mathematical clues to figure out, and you have the labrynthe! Needless to say the kids loved it, and Pat and I had a really good time as well! We spent well over an hour there, and were ready for dinner when we left.

Back across the street in Old Montreal proper, we sat for a nice (touristy) dinner in an outdoor cafe, with live music across the square. Luckily we were under cover, since the skys opened up and poured just as we finished - so we climbed into our raincoats and made our way back to the hotel to finish the day with a swim at the rooftop pool. The views from the pool were also spectacular, and it made a good place to practice my new harmonica! Not a bad start to our vacation!