What a trip!

After a 7 hour bus journey, we arrived in Montreal to find that it was a lot colder in the East- glad I packed my thermals! Once we'd checked into the hotel- kitsch kind of place with an Audrey Hepburn/Marilyn Monroe theme running throughout- we headed out into Montreal to explore.

The city seems to have three main areas: the Old Port, downtown and the "mountain".

On our first full day, we decided to take ourselves on a self-guided walking tour of the Old Port. It was a relatively successful trip, although we did have to backtrack a few times as we'd missed the key points of interest that we were supposed to be admiring! In our defence, map reading isn't easy when the road names are in French and certain streets look more like cobbled alleyways! Clearly the degree in geography is really working for me! We rounded the day off with a couple of French-brewed blonde beers; much to Nick's distaste! Oh well, more for me!

The next day saw us taking a walk/hike up the mountain. The people of Montreal are very proud of their mountain, which was created by Central Park, New York's designer. The path meandered up to a lookout point at the top which provided great views of the city. I'm not sure we picked the best day to "climb" it though, as it started to snow as we ascended! It was so quiet up there away from the hustle and bustle of the city, despite being right on top of it. We even saw a woodpecker along the way!

It was getting a little cold up there however, so we made our way back down into the city, and over to the Old Port again. Here, we visited the Basilica de Notre Dame. Well, we had two attempts at visiting! Unfortunately for us, and probably for the gathering party on the steps of the Basilica, there was an ongoing funeral. So we returned a little later; and it was definitely worth the wait. Nick and I took a seat and sat there in silence, taking it all in. Not only was it grand in scale, but it was so unbelievably ornate. The ceiling was a vivid blue which was decorated with silver stars. It was the altar that really caught your attention though. From the floor to the ceiling, the wall was adorned with gold carvings and statues; always drawing your eye to an area with a little bit of detail that you hadn't yet noticed. As profound as it all sounds, it was a very impressive building, both architecturally and historically. On a lighter note, it was also where Celine Dion was married!