Day 3: Another day to explore Montreal
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We explore independently in the
morning
and later go on a city tour with the group.
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Thursday 3rd October 2024
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After the rather damp
and cloudy day yesterday, it looked like today was going
to be very pleasant. There was still some mist lingering
amongst the buildings, but it was disappearing quickly. |
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Our programme for the
day. Most of our fellow travellers were probably quite happy
to have the morning off to recover from their flight yesterday.
On the other hand, we were quite happy to resume our independent
explorations in the morning, before going on the group tour
in the afternoon. |
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Unlike yesterday, when
we were given vouchers for breakfast and could dine in the
airy restaurant on the ground floor, today's breakfast with
the group was served in one of the many reception rooms
in the sprawling subterranean area of the hotel. Nevertheless,
there was plenty of choice and the food was good. |
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After breakfast, we
set off on foot to discover more of the city. What a difference
a day makes. It was a really beautiful day! |
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From Place des Arts,
we went into Complexe
Desjardins, at the centre of which is an impressive
fountain. |
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It was time to start
thinking about a light snack for lunch and we didn't really
fancy getting a full meal at any of the city's many restaurants,
so we walked back to our hotel and had a drink and a snack
in the foyer restaurant. Afterwards, we relaxed in our room
until it was time to join the group for the afternoon excursion. |
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The first stop on the
coach tour was close to Place
d'Armes square for our visit to Notre-Dame
Basilica. We were here yesterday, but didn't pay to
go inside, knowing that it was on the itinerary for today. |
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The interior is very
striking indeed! |
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The time allocated for
the visit was generous and so we had a little time afterwards
to make a quick visit to the other church in the Old Quarter
that we had seen yestererday, but were unable to go into
because there was a special function in progress. The walk
there was a little further than we remembered so we had
to walk quite briskly to get there and back before the coach
was due to leave. |
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It was good to walk along
the same pedestrianised streets and see the familiar buildings
in the sunshine. |
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Another amazing interior.
We were glad that we made the extra effort to return here. |
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We wanted to stay a bit
longer, but we needed to go back to the coach to continue
our tour. |
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Back on the coach, we
began our drive to Mount Royal. It was more difficult to
get good photos, but here we were entering Chinatown. |
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The houses got bigger
and looked more and more expensive as we left the city centre
and made our way up Mount Royal. |
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Our final stop on Mount
Royal was at a viewpoint with fine views over the city. |
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Afterwards, we drove
back down towards our hotel. Bruce enjoyed seeing this mural
of Leonard
Cohen glowing in the late afternoon sunshine. |
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Dinner this evening
was at the hotel, in same large room where we had had our
breakfast. It was good, but not as good as last night's
Italian meal. |
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Tomorrow was going to
be a long day, with an early start, so we had our dinner
and went to bed. It had been a very interesting day. |
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