FRIDAY 24 June

We made our first visit to Montreal today, specifically the area known as “Old Montreal.”  Getting there was easy enough as it was only 11 miles from our campground and mostly highway.  We had researched public parking options near the Notre-Dame Basilica and had one in the GPS.  The streets in this part of town are narrow, but generally one-way.  What we had not anticipated was the “Triathlon World Championship” that was taking place this weekend.  The running/biking course was laid out like a Monaco Formula One race course, with many streets blocked to vehicle traffic by a strong police presence.  Still, we found the parking lot, which had three spaces, one of which was open (W3W=guardian.rocket.approach).  As we had encountered in Ottawa (at the Whole Foods Market), payment was made via a pay station with the receipt displayed on the dashboard.

Old Montreal Street Signs (near where we parked)

Old Montreal was a very walkable, pedestrian friendly city, with many pedestrian malls lined with trees.  We headed first to the Basilica, but had no particular plan after that.  The weather was cloudy but nice initially, and near perfect later, and it was nice to just amble along and discover old buildings, cobblestone streets, plazas, shops, markets, and eateries.  We discovered “view” stations that featured a holder for a cell phone.  Set the timer on your phone and get in the group photo.

Notre-Dame Basilica & Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve statue

The statue facing the front façade of the Basilica is Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the French military leader who founded Montreal on May 17, 1642.  His outfit reminded me of The Three Musketeers.  The first European to set foot here, however, was Jacques-Cartier on October 2, 1535.  Their names appear on several versions (rue, place, etc.) of prominent streets.

Our walk took us to the port area where we could saw the large Ferris Wheel but did not ride it.  We could also see St. Helen’s Island and some of the remnants of the 1967 World’s Fair, which was later repurposed for the 1976 Summer Olympics.  It looked like an interesting place to visit, but that would have to wait for lunch.

Place Jacques-Cartier

The Montreal Ferris Wheel

Soon enough we were hungry and headed to LOV vegan restaurant at 464 Rue McGill St. in Old Montreal.  The setting was casual but nice.  Every table was set with wine glasses and real napkins, but we took a pass on the vin (as did most of the other patrons).  Our waiter was clearly a native French speaker but his English, which he willingly used, was more than good enough to interact with us.

Being a vegan establishment, everything on the menu was fair game, which is always a treat for us.  Paul and Nancy ordered smoked king oyster mushrooms with an orange puree and dumplings as appetizers.  Linda had fish and chips and I had a Caesar salad.  Paul and Nancy each had an oyster mushroom burger followed by Crème Brule and brownies with raspberry puree for dessert.  The restaurant was comfortable, and everyone liked the food.

Paul & Nan at LOV in Old Montreal

We found our way back to the car and put the Biosphere into the GPS.  Traffic was a bit more congested by this time, but we managed to extricate ourselves from Old Montreal and the Triathlon and get to the island.  It was essentially a big park and there were a lot of people walking and riding bicycles.  We just drove through to have a look and it felt strangely archeological, similar to our experience touring the old Kennedy Space Center launch pads at Cape Canaveral, with remnants of once great things that were clearly no longer in use.  From the island we were able to get directly on the 134 Jacques-Cartier Bridge and across the St. Lawrence River to Longueuil and work our way back to camp.

A typical Old Montreal alley

By the time we got back to the KOA, additional campers had arrived and more continued to come in and set up camp.  Although a crowed commercial campground full of families with dogs on a weekend would not usually be our preferred setting, we enjoyed the activity, especially the younger children who were obviously having a very exciting time.  Dinner was a simple affair of fresh strawberries and dumplings with homemade dipping sauce.  We rounded out the evening with a campfire.