Montreal, Quebec
July 24, 2024
After our short stint in the United States to gorge on cheap gas (it's all relative), cheap milk, and good ole fashioned English units of measure, we pointed ourselves toward the Canadian border once again. This time, we had our sights set on Quebec.
A beautiful travel day through northern Maine
Past the point of no return
We had a bit of a wait to get through customs, but the border agent was the friendlies we've had, and he let us back into Canada
The pretty countryside of Quebec
Lots of hills!
Looks like a Christmas tree farm
They put their dollar signs on the opposite side here
We immediately noticed that despite Canada officially being a bilingual country (all the signs in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia always displayed both English and French), here in Quebec, all the signs were in French only. We didn't really have too many problems with that, as you can usually figure things out enough to get by. The people at the RV park knew enough English that we were able to successfully check in and find an appropriate site to set up in, so that was a plus.
Nothing posh here, but super convenient to Montreal
Our campground was on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, right across from Montreal
Since we were only going to be at this location two full days, Julie had spent quite a bit of time researching what we were going to do. The first order of business was to find a place to buy a 24-hour all-modes transit pass for the zone locations we needed to travel among. We found a nearby gas station that sold tickets, and Julie was able to grunt out sufficient caveman-style French to actually buy two tickets of the exact type we needed. The two years of high school French actually came in handy!
The first day had the least chance of rain, so that became the biking day. Conveniently, our RV park was just off a bike trail that connected us with everywhere we wanted to go. We ended up riding over 40 miles, testing the limits on our ebike batteries (we had just enough) and our helmet intercom batteries (they failed in the last mile of the ride).
The bike trail started out with great views of Montreal
Not too far into our ride, we arrived at a bridge. Seeing that the pedestrian bridge was raised to let boats pass underneath, we waited in line for the bridge to lower back down. After a while, we noticed that nothing was happening. No boats traveling underneath, no movement of anything--just some orange cones beyond the gate. The gate was chained and padlocked in such a way that it looked like it wasn't meant to be opened. No signs (not even in French) gave any indication whether the bridge was closed or not. People gradually started leaving, as did we. Fortunately, many of the bridges over the St. Lawrence have bike lanes, so we found another way across the river.
You can see the small portion of the pedestrian bridge that we needed to take suspended up high.
We took this bridge across the river
Nice wide bike trail on the bridge, and a great view, too!
The popular Atwater Market where we bought a picnic lunch
Lots of stalls of expensive produce
Our lunch consisted of grilled ham and cheese on awesome bread with other tasty things inside (don't know what they were) and a cucumber-peach salad. Have to say, splintery bamboo forks are not sharp enough to actually stab food, and they feel kind of yucky in your mouth.
The historic Lachine Canal
Interesting rotating bridge (no longer in service). Also, there seemed to be no shortage of graffiti in Montreal in general.
Rene Levesque Park The guy ahead of us on the path was an older gentleman out for a stroll in his mobility scooter while happily blasting his music. We encountered him a couple of times along the trail.
There was a lot of modern art in the park, most of which we didn't care for. We didn't particularly appreciate this one either, but at least we could figure out what it was.
A blue glass cube. We thought it could be improved somewhat if it had fish sculptures swimming inside.
A series of rapids in the river made it possible to actually surf!
We passed through several lovely parks, all connected with excellent bike trails
Prime avian real estate
The iconic Biosphere
The next day was dedicated to visiting the St. Joseph Oratory, Mount Royal Park, and Old Montreal. We used the all-modes transit passes we purchased prior, and it was way better than trying to drive and park.
View of Montreal from the outdoor terrace
Look around to get a sense of scale
The art deco interior contrast pretty strongly with the classical exterior. Not our favorite style, but experts of modern architecture describe it as beautiful. We'll take their word for it.
Some pretty stern looking apostles
The mosaics were nice
Interesting blue-lit side chapel
The crypt church was in a style more sympathetic to our particular church aesthetic
The original chapel in honor of St. Joseph, commissioned by St. Andrew Bessette
Plaques of thanksgiving for healings received during St. Andre Bessette's lifetime. Note the old crutches as well.
St. Andre Bessette's living quarters above the chapel
Mount Royal Park
Mount Royal Chalet
A spectacular view of Montreal
Look around from the large patio
We couldn't find any signs about the chalet, but it looked to be just a big open hall that probably hosts various functions
Rick thought the center coat of arms in the lower row resembled an electrical outlet
Squirrels in the rafters
We took the long staircase down the mountain into town
There was a series of "beautified sidewalks" called the Promenade that led from Mt. Royal down to the river. Due to lack of signage (in either French or English), we had to keep close ties with our friend Google Maps in order to follow it.
Looking back at Mt. Royal from where we walked down
We wondered at the tight security around the entire perimeter of McGill University. Only authorized persons were permitted entry onto campus. After reading this article, we were glad that we hadn't been here a couple of weeks ago.
Wow, a sign in English
A fun circle sculpture
Not a fan of "Mr. Pink", but apparently the bubbly sculptures scattered about are popular
Random old church
Notre Dame, with one tower under renovation
Brother Andre Bessette was well-loved in Montreal during his lifetime
When it started to rain, we headed into a random building...
...We found ourselves in a rather fancy bank lobby as we waited out the rain until our dinner reservation
After an awesome dinner at Monarque restaurant, we walked around Old Montreal
...and found un-photogenic construction on many of the streets
Didn't expect to see Big Boy here
Can't go down this street
Or this one
Nope, can't go here either
Ah, here are a couple of quaint streets we can walk down!
Rain clouds were starting to get more serious, and we caught a nearby subway to go back home. After getting off the final connecting bus, the clouds opened up and released their contents on us, drenching us during the 3-block walk to the camper (even with umbrellas). All in all, it was a good day, and we considered ourselves fortunate that it hadn't rained too badly earlier.
Two days really isn't enough time to "do" Montreal, but we got a good taste, and if we had stayed any longer, our pocketbook would have gotten a bit strained by all the additional restaurants we (mostly Julie 😉) would want to try.
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