Day 38- August 3 Montreal

Day 38- August 3    Montreal

We loaded up the bikes on the Expedition and left Mickey in the trailer for the day with the fans on.  We drove into Montreal to St. Patrick's Basilica with a 69 m steeple.  It had an elaborate sanctuary and grand interior.  The ceiling had a mural made of gold and the woodwork was oak wainscoting lining the walls.  This was the first church for English speaking Catholics in Canada.

St. Patrick's Basilica

Breathtaking

Beautiful stained glass

We continued further into Old Montreal to walk the cobble stone streets.  It was a hot and sunny day as we made our way down to the water, the Old Port.  We saw the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal, but didn't go in as there was a special tour going on. 

Notre Dame

Old Port on the water front

We took a 30 minute horse drawn carriage ride touring around Old Montreal as our driver pointed out 17th century buildings and statues.

Old Montreal

Horse drawn carriage ride with lots of historical information

Old Montreal - so much history



Carriage ride closeness

We sat inside in the air conditioned Restaurant Papillon down in Old Montreal and had a fantastic lunch.  We walked through a few shops after lunch as the kids picked up a few souviniers.


Narrow streets

Made our way back to our vehicle, set the GPS for the Expo 67 site beside 'la ronde', the huge amusement park.  We had to cross a very large bridge over the St Lawrence to get to the islands.  There was a special event going on as we couldn't find any parking, so we just did a drive by and took pictures.

Expo 67 sphere

We changed our coordinates and made our way to the Olympic Parc.  The summer Olympics were held here in 1976.  The Montreal Aloettes also play football here for playoff games.  We took a bike ride through Mont Royal Parc and then around the stadium.  We stopped to watch a unicycle competition.  It was pretty amazing to watch what they could do! 

Fun bike ride

All winners

Loaded up and ready to go

Our last search for the day was to Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal.  It was a large religious shrine set high on the hill with a beautiful view of Montreal and the gardens below.  We actually took escalators up to the Basilica and original chapel.  The founder of the original chapel Saint Joseph was Brother Andre who healed so many people.  Brother Andre's tomb is on the grounds amougst the gardens.  There was beautiful stained glass, statues, mosaics, organs, and huge carved wooden stations of the cross inside the church.

View from the top

Saint Josephs

So big!

What a great day of seeing some very old and some very modern archetecture.  Made our way south of Montreal back to our KOA campsite.  Mickey was great again, as we stayed out longer than planned.  While we made supper the kids played miniature golf before it closed.
Today was holiday Monday or the Civic holiday.