Into MontrealSep 14, 2009
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Basilica of Notre-Dame in the old city
The interior of the Basilica ...
We got up in the morning, did some clean-up, then headed towards the city towards a suburb called Agrignon, which had a big parking lot at the end of the Metro line (name supplied by the somewhat bilingual campground operator!) Lots of room for the motorhome at $5 for the whole day, so we headed onto the Metro. It was another cloudy day, so we took our jackets which we didn't end up needing. After one line change we popped out near the old city, and headed to the Basilica of Notre Dame. Very beautiful, with lots of spectacular carving and painting - the stained glass was newer, and featured scenes of Montreal's history. Then we walked down some of the old streets admiring the old buildings (and sometimes regretting the cobblestone streets in our sandals). We went into the museum at the Chateau Ramezay, which had lots of history about Montreal in it's early years, and was a nice old building, with very nice gardens. After that we went back into the subway and went over to Olympic Park. After walking almost all the way around the stadium we finally found our way to the funicular tram which goes up the supporting tower for the stadium roof. Enjoyed the views, although we were many miles from the places we had seen earlier. The signs said there was food available, and we were ready for lunch, but the only food anywhere nearby was a couple of vending machines, so we had a SMALL lunch. After that we went across Sherbrooke Street to the Montreal Botanical Gardens, which are huge! Spent many hours walking around there, including through their Japanese and Chinese gardens, and huge greenhouses. (NOTE - and still no food!) Then when we finished everything we could, we had to go through the Chinese garden again, as they were featuring their annual Chinese Lantern festival. Lots of gorgeous creations made of fabric over wire frames, and this year made with LED lights inside. After that we (OK, me) were absolutely exhausted, so we got on the Metro and headed back out to our motorhome. Heading back to the Walmart near our Metro station we found a Chinese Buffet restaurant still open, and for less than $20 we feasted on a choice of about 80 different items, including a huge salad bar and desserts - we were in heaven! And back to WalMart for the night!
