At about 9:30 we were deposited at Dorchester Square, the main departure point for many tour buses. Our driver said be back at 6:00 P.M. and then we were on our own. We may have looked like hicks from the back woods, but we were certainly dressed for the weather. Our first destination was Old Montreal, the historic district and specifically the Notre Dame Basilica.
We found the Metro entrance, the subway, and bought an all-day pass for $5 each. That permitted unlimited transportation via subway or surface buses for the one day. That's not a bad deal when you consider that a single fare at the turnstyle is $1.85, with no transfers.
Still we had to walk a couple of blocks in the heavy rain
before getting to the Basilica. The trip was most definitely
worth it though. The place is magnificent. Actually it
includes the ornate and beautiful main cathedral and a smaller
chapel. Both are quite elegant and exceptionally impressive.
Jean thought that was the highlight of her Montreal tour and I
had to agree that it was something special.
We had our morning coffee a bit later, but not at a Horton's this time. No, instead it was at the Electronic Cafe. That's one of those new-fangled places that features Internet access computers at a coffee shop. I heard about such places from our Vancouver friend, Daisy. She had tried one at Harvard Square in Boston to check her eMail and send messages. So I did pretty much the same, sending our girls each an eMail message. Neat.
From there we walked to the waterfront area and out on a pier that once served cruise ships. Now it's a bazaar, sort of like a flea market only more eclectic. Some of the stuff was quite exotic, merchandise from China, Egypt and India. Most of it was junk, interesting but nevertheless junk. It would be the kind of stuff that you looked at after getting home and wondering why in the world you bought it. Well, we looked but didn't buy.
Then we walked along the waterfront promenade to the Montreal
City Historic Museum. It's a bit smaller than we expected, but
the self-guided our was interesting. All of the exhibit signs
and placcards are in French, but we were provided with an
English translation booklet keyed to the various stations along
the tour. I enjoyed it. And it was in out of the rain. Oh yes,
we were entertained by a staff story teller (in English) who
gave us a ghost story. That was fun.
From there we hiked up the hill some eight blocks to the popular underground shopping complex, a connected series of malls. There are hundreds of shops and eateries there. Many commercial buildings in the downtown area, as well as the Metro subway, have direct tunnel access to the area. It's different, but also a little confusing because you lose you sense of direction.
It was almost 2:00 by the time we decided to have lunch. We opted for an Oriental fast food place and had teryaki combination plates. It was filling but nothing to brag about.
Since we had paid for the all-day subway tickets we decided to try some more of the Metro system. We rode one line all the way to the end and then back again. Yep, you let those country folks into the big city and you never know what they'll do. Eh? Well, we have to give the folks here credit for having a superb, modern and well-run subway system. Our only trouble with it was trying to figure out the French messages over the public address system. Even with a map in front of us we could barely decipher the station announcements.
We got off the Metro at the old Olympic sports complex, a huge collection of facilities built when the city sponsored the events some years ago. Now part of the complex is home to the major league sports teams, like the Expo's. It's all very impressive.
Shortly before 6:00 we were back at the pick-up point for our shuttle bus back to the KOA. We were there, along with others we recognized from the morning ride in, but no bus. It turned out that someone at Grey Line had goofed and forgotten they had to take 50 or more of us to our hotels and campground. They finally straightened it all out and we departed 40 minutes late. Ah well.
Adding much to our day were our travel companions on the bus.
A family of four from Leon, France sat near us. Their two
young girls, ages five and seven, were sweet, cute and
delightfully playful. Neither they nor their parents spoke
much English at all and we speak even less French. Yet we got
to be pretty well acquainted and thoroughly enjoyed their
company, on the inbound drive and the late return. Amazingly,
we adults found that we both had enough command of Spanish to
communicate effectively. Figure that. The whole family was
delightful and their presense added a nice bonus to our Montreal
touring.
Yes, the weather was a real downer, but over all we had an interesting and certainly unique experience. We would like to see more of this enormous and modern city, particularly in good weather. But we consider this to have been a good day in many respects, certainly one to remember fondly. It was fun.