Day 2: Exploring Montreal independently
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A day to relax and explore the
city
before the official programme begins on Day 3.
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Wednesday 2nd October 2024
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Despite agreeing that
this would be a day of complete rest, including sleeping
late into the morning and doing very little all day in order
to get over our jet-lag, we were both awake at 5:00 am and
first in the queue for breakfast at 7:00 am!
It was a grey day, with intermittent rain and a rather chilly
wind. Nevertheless, we decided to go out and get our bearings.
We didn't have a schedule in mind, but we did take the map
provided by the hotel receptionist. |
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Our hotel didn't look
like anything special from the outside, but it was well
situated and we definitely enjoyed the views from our room
on the 26th floor. |
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Because of the very
cold winters here, the city has an underground pedestrian
network (see: Montréal
souterrain and the map there) comprising 32 kilometres
of tunnels, connecting many office buildings, residential
complexes, shopping malls, universities, luxury residences
and hotels. The tunnels also contain a wide range of restaurants
and shops. Although our hotel wasn't one of the connected
hotels, we were told that it was only a short walk to the
nearest access point. As it was only raining very lightly
and intermittently, plus the fact that we actually wanted
to see the city, we didn't seek out the underground network,
but decided we would at some point go down to take a look. |
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Continuing our walk,
we set off in the direction of the Old Montreal quarter... |
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...which was quite easy
to find. |
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There was an entrance
fee for the basilica and as we knew we would be visiting
it with the group tomorrow, we didn't go inside. |
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Central to Place d'Armes is Maisonneuve
Monument, in memory of Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve,
founder of Montreal.
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...but even more striking
from the back (the side facing the port). |
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This photo (not ours)
provides proof that the front and back facades are part
of the same structure, because it is by no means obvious.
We were quite keen to go inside, but there was a special
event going on so we couldn't. We decided that we would
try again tomorrow if time permitted on the group tour (which
it did... very briefly... see photos from Day 3). |
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Bonsecours Market once
again, this time from the port-facing side. |
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From the road adjacent
to the port, we walked up the semi-pedestrianised Place
Jacques-Cartier towards the Montreal City Hall. |
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Looking back towards
the entrance to the Old Port of Montreal. |
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A few more lovely buildings
seen as we began making our way back to our hotel. |
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Mount Royal can be seen
beyond "The Ring". |
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Having been on our feet
for a good few hours on our "relaxation day",
we were quite happy to go back to the hotel for lunch... |
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...and then back up to
our room to contemplate what the rest of the day might bring. |
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The daytime views from
our room were just as impressive as the nighttime ones. |
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While we were thinking
about our next move, we lay on our beds and before we knew
it, we had both fallen asleep and only awoke three hours
later, by which time it was time to think about what we
might do for dinner.
None of the restaurants we had seen on our walk this morning
had tempted us and we wanted to go beyond the safe hotel
restaurant, so Bruce looked for a recommendation on one
of his phone apps and came up with a likely candidate. The
Restaurant BIS, close to the hotel (in the opposite direction
to the one we had walked this morning) was described as
a "star-worthy Italian fine dining experience",
so the decision was made!
We went down to the hotel lounge for a drink beforehand
and then made our way to the restaurant. |
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The restaurant was very
good. Instead of having to make do with fast food in one
of the ubiquitous shopping mall food courts, which we were
dreading, here was a quality venue where we ate freshly
prepared calamari, antipasto, saltimbocca and ravioli, accompanied
by good wines. At the equivalent of £115, which included
a suggested 20% tip, it was pretty much what we would have
paid in London, so we were quite happy. |
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The rain was bucketing
down as we walked back to the hotel, but luckily it was
only a short distance. When we got back, we saw that the
rest of our fellow travellers were checking into the hotel.
We quickly recognised a few of them from previous trips.
We also knew 3 of the 4 tour managers who all seemed pleased
to see us. With that it was time for bed once again. |
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