After we checked into our hotel last night, on rue St-Paul, we discovered it was the nightlife center of the area of Vieux Montreal. Big crowds were outside our three large windows (with a tiny balcony you could look out from, but too small to sit on), and when I leaned out people began calling to me from the street below! It was very active until about 1am, when at least two cars had a little sideshow a half-block away. We were so tired after a day of travel that we went right back to sleep.
In the morning, after a light breakfast downstairs, we headed out. It was already quite warm, over 80 degrees at 10am and humid. We walked along the waterfront, which had plenty of runners and cyclists, and found our way to a small island next to the locks of the old canal. Nearby on a peninsula were a number of huge - 7 stories at least - grain elevators and storage warehouses from the earlier shipping era, covered with graffiti. We walked around a bit, and met a nice National Defense officer who answered some questions; when a couple guys in wetsuits walked up from nowhere, we realized they were probably doing some exercises, and we walked back to the mainland. We saw a nice little farmer’s market by the Madison des Éclusièrs, the house of the lock keepers, which was now a nice cafe. We enjoyed our walk, but it was getting hot and time for somewhere cool.
Next stop: the Basilica de Notre-Dame, one of the largest churches in North America, a beautiful neo-Gothic church inspired by St-Chapelle in Paris. The ceiling did indeed have the golden stars on a deep blue background, and the painted columns with gold patterns. All the stained glass told the early history of Montreal rather than the usual Biblical saints, and there were statues of the many Canadian saints as well. It was cool, not too crowded, and very peaceful. I lit a candle for all of our ancestors and relatives who have gone.
Time for lunch … we walked to the Musée Archaeologique et Historique de Montréal, which told the story of the city’s founding, and had a nice rooftop cafe with a great view of the river. Barney had eggs Benedict and I had a tomato burrata salad that was delicious. It was a terrific small museum, built on top of the original fort and the residence of the famous Louis-Hector de Callière, the first governor of Montreal who brokered a historic peace treaty among the 32 tribes in the larger area. The underground area also had one of Montreal's original sewers you could walk through. There was a fascinating history with the names of each of the 49 founders of Montreal, some with names, some unknown. A woman named Jeanne Mance was presented in several areas as the co-founder of Montreal and its first Administrator and nurse; rarely are women given credit for this kind of activity, so it was rather cool to see how she was recognized here and in a statue on the Place d’Armes and other locations. The exhibit showing the symbols of each of the chiefs of the 32 tribes was moving, it turns out the Potawatomi were signators also! We saw the exhibit of the 17, 18, and 19th century history, as power shifted from the French to the British to a mix. We also saw a nice traveling exhibit about the Vikings, lots of including an interactive about building one of those large Viking raiding boats, which starts with cutting down 500 pine trees, shearing 700 sheep for wool for the sails, getting 600 horse tails to weaves the lines, forge 3 tons of iron rivets, and much more. Their jewelry was stunning … intricate trefoil pins, fine twisted bracelets, and necklaces of silver and gold, and all kinds of jewelry made of beads from all over the world from the Viking trade routes which spanned Portugal to the Black Sea to Greenland to Russia - plus, they melted ancient Roman mosaics to make colored glass beads.
Back to the hotel in the late afternoon- it was over 90 and definitely humid - and changed our clothes for dinner. We had a reservation at Péché, a place Madeleine had recommended. We walked to the metro - 6 blocks and very warm. A special summer offer made it free to use all downtown stations. We rode out to Sherbrooke, and walked six blocks to the restaurant. In what I think was a gentrifying area, there were lots of interesting international cuisine restaurants and at least three tattoo places on the walk. Because of the heat, there were lots of bare legs, shoulders, arms, and midriffs, and we certainly saw a lot of tattoos on this part of the trip.
Dinner was wonderful. Excellent food, wonderful service, good wines … we started with two very different gin cocktails, Aviation and something else I do not recall, and both were delicious. We shared a panzanella to start, which had the fluffiest feta I’ve ever had - it turns out they used one of those stainless steel apparatuses that whips cream to whip the cheese. Barney had a hangar steak which was perfect with pommes frites that we shared and a side salad. I had a steamed cod that was melt-in-your mouth delicate with a light sauce and caviar on top, served with green LePuy lentils and kale chips. We had a lovely chocolate torte to share, with whipped cream and raspberries, and were well fortified for the walk back to the metro. Still very warm out - maybe 82 and humid - it was nice to get back to the hotel and the cooler air. We were lucky enough to see the Cité Memoire, an art installation from a few years ago that told stories of the history of Montreal. It turns out that the alley next to our hotel was the quai of foundlings, where Marguerite d’Youville of the Sisters of Charity cared for abandoned children and young unwed mothers. The projection showed her picking up abandoned children, laid before by their mothers who had fled, and one particularly beautiful part showed several of the mothers in an emotional dance which ended with them as ending to the heavens. There were similar installations throughout the city, but this one was right next to us, and a crowd gathered to watch. The late night sideshow of cars returned, and it was a busy Saturday night outside, but we slept well.
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