Advertisement
Published: October 8th 2010
Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal
The Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal in Old Montreal. My luck of running into famous landmarks with construction or restoration in progress continues.Well "Hi All". Currently in my hotel room in New York watching the world pass by my window. Once again, I'm weeks behind in my travel journal updates. So without wasting too much time let's get the Montreal entry up and out there.
After the key snapping incident in the Toronto bus station I was thankful for the uneventful ride across to Montreal. I was hoping that the Greyhound bus would have WIFI or power outlets but no luck there. I think I slept for most of the trip and only woke up when we hit a scheduled pit stop or when someone prodded my shins on the way to the restroom. I do remember driving through some pretty towns - I think I spotted one named Perth
Arriving into Montreal was a bit of a shock for me. Sure it's part of Canada, but with French being the primary language I felt completely lost. I really wish I paid more attention in French class (I blame Jason for distracting me). After exhausting my schoolyard French within the first 5-minutes I moved straight into English. Thankfully everyone is bilingual but I did have to speak a little slower since
I don't think the locals are used to the Australian accent - judging by the looks on their faces I imagine them thinking "Why does this guy sound like he's got a mouth full of rocks?"
Once again the weather wasn't fantastic. I did spend quite a bit of time walking around Old Montreal. The area is the oldest area in Montreal with the oldest of its buildings dating to the 17th century. The architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal have been maintained and in some instances restored in order to retain the old settlement feel. You'll notice from the photos that I did visit some churches .... well two churches. To answer your first question .... No, I didn't burst into flames when I stepped over the threshold. I must admit that the holy water did burn a little when it touched my forehead.
The hostel I stayed in during my stay was pretty swanky. It featured one of the best hostel breakfasts to date (the one in Niagara Falls is winning at the moment). After eating tuna and instant noodles for the last couple of months I was like a pig in mud - croissants,
muffins, boiled eggs and all the coffee and juice I could drink.
There was obviously a large percentage of French speaking travellers in the hostel. This did make things a little more difficult when it came to having a conversation in the dorm, common room or kitchen. I did head out to the odd discothèque during my stay. Let's just say the language of dance, specifically bad 80's breakdancing, destroys all language and cultural barriers. I was also surprised at how well my French improves after a couple jugs of beer.
The next stop on the roadtrip is sunny Saskatoon! More pics from my trip can be found on my
Flickr account.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.211s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0499s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
