October 22, Sunday

---

Another long day of adventures in French-speaking Montreal.

We didn’t rush to awake, which made for a lovely lie-in. We walked the 3 blocks to the closest Metro station, Cadillac, and figured out how to ask for 2 day passes, and which line and platform and even negotiated the change of lines half way in. We were about 8 stops to the east of where we wanted to go in the Old Town, also called the Old Port, full of cobble-stoned streets and shops that didn’t look very busy. The Basilica was busy with morning mass until 12:30. A kindly lady saw us reading our maps, asked where we wanted to go and gave us a hint. We walked past the Basilica and just wandered a few circles in the Old Town until it was after 12:30. An interesting set of statues was in the square near the Basilica – the snooty Englishman and the snooty Frenchwoman with their dogs, who longed to get together.

The line to get in was pretty slow but it was too complicated to buy the tickets online. So inside it was pretty crowded, but it was magnificent. I would have purchased the guidebook like I usually do but all the English translations were gone and I didn’t feel like taking Chinese on Duolingo next. I can’t tell you much about the history or anything then, but the statuary and carvings and coloring of the ceiling were amazing. Many confessionals lined the sides – guess the Canadiennes can be pretty naughty folk. We were in there about an hour and then wandered to the Bonmarche – a huge covered market. We thought it was going to be like our Westside Market, but it was 4 stories of shops, not stalls. As we weren’t in the market for anything it was a bit disappointing, but it kept us out of the constant gentle rainfall. We had a nice sit down with 2 cups of cappuchino inside. We could see that we were right near the Montreal version of London’s Eye – it can’t be that big, and the docks. We wondered about climbing the clock tower but it was a pretty long walk. Instead we walked just a block or two to a “hidden gem” as one guide said, another church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Notre-Dame des Bon-Secours, with a museum to a 17^th century nun who started educating women. The church was probably not much bigger than in footprint than our own, but beautiful, and the organist was practicing beautiful sacred music .

There were at least 8 ships carved from wood hanging from the ceiling. We had seen this in Norway, and there they explained that it was because the congregation was traditionally sailors. These were from people who believed that praying to Mary had saved their lives when in ships.

Eventually we climbed the stops to the belvedere – I think I counted only about 90 steps, and it was well worth the climb. The trees in the parks on the old wharfs had turned beautifully, but without sun on them they weren’t their most brilliant. Then there was the history museum about Ms Bourgeoys – yes, the I was a Y in those days, which was very interesting. And finally a big display of paper art about Noah’s Ark. This artist died recently. Each animal was amazing, cut out of zillions of schnitzels of paper– I hope the photos do it justice.

Now what? How about another coffee. We took the recommendation of the young workers at that church and walked just around the corner. There were only 8 chairs. I got one, and a young woman offered David one. We demurred, but eventually struck up a conversation. They are from Toronto and they were visiting McGill. Loved it, but evidently a new law makes tuition for English-speakers TWICE the tuition for French-speakers. So they aren’t as thrilled as they would have been. Wonder if the teaching is in French or English.

We came back on the Metro, feeling like experts by now. It was quite crowded this time, and it was interesting to see the white variety of ethnicities there. Didn’t hear one bit of English either. Cooked our dinner in, had our family chat on Zoom, and so, we are also now laundered and ready to pack up and move on to Mont Tremblant - more trees and hopefully some new birds for our selection.

(And no, Yvonne, we are not driving on east to the Gaspe Peninsula!! Quebec is indeed huge!

---