♫ O Canada ♫

Last October, my wife and I finally got a chance to take an extended trip by ourselves; the first time since before the pandemic began.  Starting in 2021, once we thought it was safe to travel by air again, every one of our trips has been to visit family members.  In fact, our Hawaii trip prior to the pandemic in December 2019 was marred by us both being sick with sinus infections during our stay.  So, it has been even longer since we have had an unencumbered trip.

In deciding where to travel to, we both wanted to go somewhere new and somewhere that felt European.  However, we did not want to incur the lengthy travel time necessary to get to a European destination.  We had really enjoyed our trip to Vancouver, BC in 2012 so we thought why not check out the eastern end of Canada.  When we learned Old Montreal had a European feel to it, we decided to go to Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

We arrived on a Thursday night via two short flights from Memphis and Atlanta (if my smile looks odd, you may recall I had a broken tooth pulled the day before our trip and thus the right side of my face was swollen).  After a bus ride from the airport, we had a short walk to our very nice downtown hotel (although we initially walked in the opposite direction).  We then had five full days to entertain ourselves and explore the city.

My wife had done quite a lot of research before we left investigating different things we could do in Montreal.  We chose not to rent a car but rather rely on mass transit or shank’s mare to get us where we wanted to go.  Over those five days, we ended up doing a lot of walking with my wife getting over 20,000 steps a couple of days and me topping 16,000 steps twice (being shorter than me, she takes more petite steps).  In fact, by our third day of walking the city, we really felt like we knew our way around with no further mis-directions.

Each day, we would get up and have a leisurely morning enjoying coffee in our room.  We would talk about what we wanted to do that day.  Then we would set off.

On our first morning there, we decided to visit the Notre Dame Basilica.  Built in 1683, we were stunned by its beauty when we walked in the door.  It was amazing to walk in a church that was older than our country.  Without realizing it, we spent about an hour inside taking in all the different treasures the church held.

After lunch, we made our way into Old Montreal which was nearby.  As we walked the streets, we really had a sense of walking the avenues in Gay Paree. And once we hit a shopping street blocked off to vehicular traffic, it gave us the feeling of wandering the streets of Amsterdam.  We had definitely achieved the European feel we were wanting!

That afternoon, to get a high up view of the city and the St. Lawrence River, …

… we rode the La Grande Roue (huge Ferris wheel) where we indeed got some great views.

During our stay, we enjoyed a cultural experience as well by visiting several museums.  One of particular interest was the Pointe-à-Callière (Montreal Museum of Archeology and History) where we learned the history of Montreal.  This museum is built above the excavated ruins dating back 6,000 years to the early hunters/gathers that eventually settled there.

Another museum was the Musée des beaux-arts (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) which is so large, it is housed in three separate buildings.  It has quite an eclectic array of exhibits, from classics by Renoir…

… and Pissarro…

… to modern works by Marisol, this one depicting Emily and Washington Roebling crossing the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time (that’s his father John in the background who had died before construction began).

Another museum, maybe inspired by the popularity of the recent movie, was a Barbie Expo.

Over 1,000 dolls were on display including this crowded fashion runway.

On some of the dolls, Barbie’s head had been replaced by someone famous like Cher…

…or Olivia Newton John, here in her two costumes from the movie Grease.

One entire wall of dolls had custom dresses made by famous designers such as Yves Saint Laurent…

… while another section had dolls dressed in country distinctive garb.

On one of our huge steps days, we ventured into the Mount Royal Park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead which being on a tall hill, provided a great view of the city.

And what trip would be incomplete without enjoying food dishes representative of the culture.

I got to sample Poutine, fries with gravy and cheese curds, as well as bagels two items for which Montreal is well-known…

… and some delicious pasta dishes.

But even beyond the great food, several of our dinner venues had unique character as well.

On our next to last night there, we dined atop the 44^th floor of a building that had great views of the city (that’s my wife enjoying New Brunswick oysters) …

…where we also got to see the setting sun.

On Tuesday, our last night, we ate at another French restaurant that again reminded us of dining on the streets of Amsterdam…

… that even had live jazz music to complement our last dinner there.

The next day, our return home was the easiest international travel we have ever experienced.  There was no line, no waiting to get through security and Montreal is one of those international cities where you go through US customs and passport control inside the airport before boarding your plane.  Again, there was no line and no waiting which eliminated the hassle of enduring both in Atlanta.

We had such a great time in Montreal that, even before we left, we talked about what all we would do on our next trip to Canada, which hopefully won’t be years away!