Two months ago we decided that the Summer was almost over and school was about to re-open for another year.
Our son was going to grade 12 and our daughter to grade 9. High School!! The years have indeed passed by faster than I would have liked. When we moved to Canada in 2008, our kids were 11 and 7. Now they are 17 and 13......teenagers....and touch wood are a fine balance of Indian-Canadian. I'll talk about that in another post.
This post is about our Summer trip to Montreal. We drove the 5 hours from Toronto to Montreal and booked a hotel there for our five day stay. (Well, actually 2 hotels because we stayed 2 nights in a place called Terrebonne (outskirts of Montreal) and three at Montreal.)
First impressions of Montreal: Beautiful city with absolutely stunning old/ancient architecture that is still standing because of a law they passed about not destroying them. So you see a sign for a modern bank, that is housed in a building that looks like it is straight out of a Charles Dickens book.
Even the streets in Old Montreal are still cobbled, and when you take a horse carriage tour, the sounds of the clip-pity clopping of the horses hooves taking you around the old city gives you a feeling of nostalgia for the glory of the past. Awesome experience!!
Will upload some pictures now as they are worth more than a thousand words as they say!
Montreal has a wonderful night life. We walked from our hotel every night through Denis Street and ate in one of the many popular street and sidewalk cafes. They are open till late. There are also many clubs and pubs open till late for those interested as well as the usual line up of fast food places.
The St. Basillica Church is the number one tourist spot. Doesn't matter what religion you are. This is a must see place, especially the inside. Amazing architecture, statues and stained glass windows. You can pray, light a candle or just tour the Church and appreciate the old paintings which you feel like taking home. They are absolutely stunning!!
Poutine is the one food dish you have to try. Basically French Fries with melted cheese and gravy. Delicious!!
Everyone speaks in French in Montreal (being part of French Canada), but they also speak broken or perfect English with a French accent. They are SO friendly and are very accommodating to tourists.
We spent our days there eating, shopping (some hand-made jewellery and tourist t-shirts), visiting places like the Basilica, Olympic Tower, Mont Royal (view of the city from the top of a small mountain), Old Montreal and a tour of McGill University. (As our son is now in grade 12th grade and will be applying for Universities later this year).
Our drive back was through the city of Kingston. (Three hours from Montreal on our way back to Toronto) I'll tell you about that in another post. We had been to Kingston before and seen Fort Henry. So this trip we avoided that and saw some other tourist attractions.
We stayed here for two days and then made our way home...a two hour drive.....and back to school.
More pictures of Montreal coming up......................
Our son was going to grade 12 and our daughter to grade 9. High School!! The years have indeed passed by faster than I would have liked. When we moved to Canada in 2008, our kids were 11 and 7. Now they are 17 and 13......teenagers....and touch wood are a fine balance of Indian-Canadian. I'll talk about that in another post.
This post is about our Summer trip to Montreal. We drove the 5 hours from Toronto to Montreal and booked a hotel there for our five day stay. (Well, actually 2 hotels because we stayed 2 nights in a place called Terrebonne (outskirts of Montreal) and three at Montreal.)
First impressions of Montreal: Beautiful city with absolutely stunning old/ancient architecture that is still standing because of a law they passed about not destroying them. So you see a sign for a modern bank, that is housed in a building that looks like it is straight out of a Charles Dickens book.
Even the streets in Old Montreal are still cobbled, and when you take a horse carriage tour, the sounds of the clip-pity clopping of the horses hooves taking you around the old city gives you a feeling of nostalgia for the glory of the past. Awesome experience!!
Will upload some pictures now as they are worth more than a thousand words as they say!
Montreal has a wonderful night life. We walked from our hotel every night through Denis Street and ate in one of the many popular street and sidewalk cafes. They are open till late. There are also many clubs and pubs open till late for those interested as well as the usual line up of fast food places.
The St. Basillica Church is the number one tourist spot. Doesn't matter what religion you are. This is a must see place, especially the inside. Amazing architecture, statues and stained glass windows. You can pray, light a candle or just tour the Church and appreciate the old paintings which you feel like taking home. They are absolutely stunning!!
Poutine is the one food dish you have to try. Basically French Fries with melted cheese and gravy. Delicious!!
Everyone speaks in French in Montreal (being part of French Canada), but they also speak broken or perfect English with a French accent. They are SO friendly and are very accommodating to tourists.
We spent our days there eating, shopping (some hand-made jewellery and tourist t-shirts), visiting places like the Basilica, Olympic Tower, Mont Royal (view of the city from the top of a small mountain), Old Montreal and a tour of McGill University. (As our son is now in grade 12th grade and will be applying for Universities later this year).
Our drive back was through the city of Kingston. (Three hours from Montreal on our way back to Toronto) I'll tell you about that in another post. We had been to Kingston before and seen Fort Henry. So this trip we avoided that and saw some other tourist attractions.
We stayed here for two days and then made our way home...a two hour drive.....and back to school.
More pictures of Montreal coming up......................
No comments:
Post a Comment