Lakes Road Trip 2019: Montreal

We arrived in Montreal before lunchtime and opted to head straight to the Old City to look around. We started with the Notre Dame Basilica, which dominates this part of town:

The statue in the center of the square, which commemorates the founding of the city

Inside the basilica

Once we finished looking around, we walked further into the old city for lunch, enjoying the cobblestones and quaint buildings. We eventually landed at Chateau Ramezay. Built in 1705 as the residence of the governor, the Château was the first building proclaimed as a historical monument in Quebec. It is now a UNESCO heritage site:

Old City Hall, across the street from the chateau

Model of the original chateau, which is one of the first exhibits in the museum, which is an in-depth look at Montreal history

The outside of the museum

Cobblestones in Place Jacques Cartier

Bon Secours Chapel, which is dedicated to the fisherman and located right on the old port

By late afternoon, we decided it was time to find and check into our hotel, which turned out to be in Montreal proper, right by the International Quarter. It was a great find:

hotel from the outside

Our room

The hotel night clerk was super friendly and helpful with suggestions. This first night, we relaxed a little bit and then watched Kevin on Jeopardy! When we came back downstairs, the clerk had also watched the episode. We chatted for a bit and then headed out for a late dinner. Turns out, the International Quarter was hosting a festival, so we were also treated to some entertainment:

This act was totally in French, so we did not get all of it, but he was essentially making and juggling toast

The next morning, we headed out early to see Mont Royal. With instructions from our clerk-friend, we found a parking lot about 2/3s of the way up so that we only had to walk about half a mile to the summit:

View from the summit

Benji is obsessed with these binocular thingies

We then headed to Mile End, the up-and-coming/artsy part of town for a local food tour, which did not disappoint:

First stop: The Green Panther, where we had falafal

St. Viateur Bagels, which are the most famous bagels in Montreal (Montreal-style bagels are sweeter and softer than NY style, but they claim they are the best in the world)

We took a digestion break and checked out this old restored theater

They just make gnocchi and serve it out a window

We also had ice cream, chocolates and cheese, and all of it was excellent. At the end of the tour, we took an uber to Jean Talon market, where we purchased yet more food, namely local berries, cheese and bread to make a picnic for dinner. We were ready for a rest at this point, so we headed back to our hotel, where the clerk let us know where (and what type) of wine to suit our meal and where to picnic:

This is the only picture I took of our picnic spot (we were too busy eating), but the lake was very pleasant

After dinner, we took an Uber back to old town in order to see Aura, the light "experience" at the Basilica. It was a really neat show, where the light up the different artwork and set it to appropriate (mostly baroque) music:

After the show, we wandered back out to Jacques Cartier square and eventually to the field of Mars, where the foundations of the original city fortifications were found (and rebuilt) a few years ago. Benji became engaged in a movie about the history of Montreal, which was being projected onto a nearby building as part of the city's Cite Memoire installation:

After we all watched the movie all the way through, we walked back through the square (and past this cool fountain) to catch some fireworks at Old Port before calling it a night: