Yesterday we flew from Calgary to Montreal. We were welcomed by Denis at the Heritage Victorien B and B last evening. Denis renovated an historic townhouse with most of the original fixtures and structure intact. It is a beautiful home. We woke up to a generous, delicious breakfast, with homemade quiche, fresh pastries, fresh squeezed orange juice, and the best coffee of our trip.
After breakfast, Papa and I walked to Old Montreal, about 6 blocks away. We visited the Chapel Notre Dame de Bon Secours, historically known as the Sailor's Church. Some of the light fixtures were carved boats. A cobblestone street separates the Chapel from the St. Lawrence River.
We walked inside and outside the Marche' Bonsecours, formally Canada's Parliament and now used as retail and art gallery space. The Hotel de Ville is up a block, built in 1872, an impressive building. On we walked down Rue Saint-Paul, lined with original buildings now housing shops and cafes, to the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal. There were lots of tour groups lined up to go inside, so we just admired it from the outside. With twin towers of 226', it is considered Montreal's grandest Catholic church. Across the Place d'Armes from Notre-Dame is the Banque de Montreal, built in 1845. It sits on Rue Saint-Jacques, historically the "Wall Street" of Canada. Rue Saint-Jacques has block after block of over the top 19th century bank buildings.
We bought $8 metro tickets at the airport yesterday, to get from the airport to our B and B. The metro tickets were good for 24 hours, so we used those tickets again today! We rode the metro from Old Montreal up to Marche' Jean Talon, in Little Italy. The Marche' Jean Talon was started in 1933. It is primarily an outdoor market with food shops and restaurants on three sides. The market is open 365 days/year, with over 300 vendors, mostly farmers from Montreal's surrounding countryside. We wandered up and down each aisle, tasting fresh plums and strawberries, tried fresh cerises (little yellow berries, similar to small cherries), and listened to a woman playing the accordian. We had a pecan and maple pastry at LaFourne bakery. We bought fresh berries for later and wished we had space in our suitcases for maple syrup.
We took the metro a bit south and walked to Parc Mont-Royal. The peak is 767'. Jacques Cartier gave the "mountain" it's name when he visited in 1535 and it, in turn, gave its name to the city. The hill became a park in 1876 when the city bought the land and hired Frederik Law Olmsted, the man responsible for designing New York's Central Park, to landscape it. There are sweeping views from the Parc Mont-Royal over all of Montreal.
On our way back to our B and B, we found a boulangerie that I had read about, as the city's best.
We got canneles, which Papa deemed just as good as our favorite canneles from the little patisserie in Prayssac, France. Papa also got a cinnamon roll with raisins and cream that he said was the best he's ever had. We highly recommend a visit to Mamie Clafoutis Boulangerie, 3660 Rue Saint Denis!
