Montreal, Canada

Thursday July 22, 2010

This is were speaking French would come in handy.   All of Québec speaks French, and my high school French does not get us beyond hello, goodbye, and thank you.   Most everyone does speak some English.

We are staying at a very nice Passport America campground about 15 miles from downtown Montreal.

Friday we headed to Montreal with our GPS in hand.   There were so many detours that it was hard to follow the GPS, but we found what we wanted.  It was $20.00 to park for 3 hours or more.  Boy this is an expensive country.  We started in the old part of Montreal and you can do a walking tour with a map of the city. 

Our first stop was the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, one of the most beautiful churches we have been in.  Celine Dion was married in this church back in the 90’s. 

It was $5.00 a person to go thru the church.  Never had to pay to see a church, that was a first, but it was well worth it.

       

The main alter and a side alter.  There is also a back Alter that is used as the wedding chapel. 

 

The wedding chapel,  you have to be a pretty famous person to get married in the main church. 

The pipe organ is 5th largest in the world ( I think, see I need my internet).  Maybe I should take notes.

The next church also was Catholic, but forgot the name. 

 

We have been to many churches in Europe and the churches here in Montreal are very close to being as magnificent. 

After going thru about 6 churches we needed a rest and a glass of wine.  Had to sit and do a little people watching also.  It rained on and off all day, but never a down pour.  We got a little wet and neither of us melted.

Onto China Town.

China Town was a busy place, we didn’t spend to much time here.

Mike resting by a fountain.  The Royal Bank Building.

One more glass of wine before heading back to the MH.

We spent the day just walking around this area of town,  Saturday we will find another area to explore.

Two Days Of Rest In Prescott Ontario

 

We left Ottawa on Tuesday the 20th drove 54 miles to Prescott Ontario.  Checked into a beautiful campground for 2 nights, wow, electricity, sewer and water, all in one place.  We are just going to veg for a couple of days before heading to Montreal. 

The campground is on the St. Lawrence River, just across from Ogdensburg NY.  The campground had Wi-Fi for a charge and I posted to the blog the first few days of trip.  Hopefully we will find an internet cafe or someplace with Wi-fi so I can upload the next couple of blogs I have written. 

 

The bridge going over the St. Lawrence River to NY.  This is the view we had from our MH. 

    The campground had a resident black squirrel, he new Stormy and Lucy were in the MH, he spent a lot of time outside the window teasing them.  Drove them absolutely crazy.

 

Lucy has a favorite toy, a stuff Mini Mouse dressed in a hula skirt.  She fights with it all the time. 

Only once did we leave the campground,  had to go into town and get wine and beer.  A case of beer was $48.00, that will be the last case we buy in Canada.  The wine was $12.00, $7.00 more then I pay for the same thing in the states.  They really add on the tax to liquor in Canada.  When we were in Ottawa we stopped at a little outdoor cafe for a drink, Mike had 2 beers and I had 2 glasses of the cheapest wine they had, the bill came to $30.00.

The weather has been hot and unstable.   Ran into many thunderstorms toward the evenings.  Late Tuesday afternoon we had hail the size of half dollars pound us for a few minutes, and the rain was torrential. The MH has a little problem during the heavy rain storms, seems to spring a few leaks.  That’s okay one more thing for Mike to do.  I would hate for him to run out of projects. 

We met a wonderful couple from Ontario, they were visiting relatives in the area.  Early Tuesday afternoon they invited us over for a glass of his home made wine.  It was really good, usually home made wine is just to sweet for me, but this was wonderful.  We got to meet their 5 cats.  Wow 5 cats in a MH that has to be a little crowded.  They do own a house and just travel occasionally, the cats seem to enjoy it.     

We had a nice rest and now we back on the road.

Two Nights Spent In Ottawa

 

We left North Bay Sunday the 18th and drove 217 miles to Ottawa.  Found our Wal-Mart and set up for our stay. 

I have to say they had the most friendly people in the parking lot.  At least 6 came to talk to us to see if we needed anything or help finding something.  We did get directions to take the city bus down town.  I can not say enough nice things about the people in Ottawa, in fact all of Canada.

We started our day early, caught the bus just two blocks from the Wal-mart.  Headed down town in the rain.  It rained off and on most of the day, that did not stop us.

Our first stop was the Parliament Hill, which is close to the shores of the Ottawa River.  The hill  houses several federal departments, museums, courts of law and other national institutions, the most important is the Parliament.  Built in 1866 in a neo-Gothic architectural style.  

Sorry no pictures I’m still having problems with google.

The Parliament Building and the Confederation Building.

We had an English speaking tour of the Parliament building, it is as exquisite on the inside as it is on the outside.  The government was not in session, so we were able to view the house and the senate rooms. 

 

The House is green and the Senate is red.

 

The locks along the Ottawa River.

 

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 

 

ByWard Market is in one of the historical districts.  Open year-round this area has outdoor patios and terraces, street musicians, and open-air vendors.

We saw 90 percent of Ottawa by just walking, pretty much everything is in a small area of town.  The rest we hopped on a tour bus for a 2 hour tour and saw places on the out skirts of town.  

 

 

Residence of the British High Commissioner To Canada. 

 

The Mounties Training Headquarters.

Before we left downtown we stopped in a pub for a glass of wine and met a couple for Ohio.  Had a very nice visit,  we may run into them again they are traveling the same route we are. 

It was a long day, but we sure loved Ottawa. 

Touring Canada

We departed Minnesota on Thursday the 15th.  Mike drove 320 miles to Iron Mountain Michigan.  We spent the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot.  Not much happening in Iron Mountain.

Friday morning we headed out and drove 240 miles to Sault Ste. Marie Michigan.  Spent the night in a casino campground with full hook ups for $10.00 a night.  We did go in a play the slots, each of us doing are usual $10.00, so it actually cost us $30.00 for the night.  Try to save some money and into the machine it goes. 

Saturday we entered Canada at Sault Ste. Marie.  The border crossing was uneventful, They looked at our passports and asked two questions, do you alcohol or tobacco with you.  Yes to alcohol and no to tobacco, and we were on our way.

 

We drove 290 miles to North Bay Ontario and once again spent the night at the Hilton Wal-Mart.  Just before sunset we unhitched the truck and drove to the bay.  They have a beautiful lake walk with a harbor and a couple of beaches.  Seems to be the popular place to be at sunset on a Saturday night.

The flowers were amazing they were along the walk for about a mile.

 

The sunset was not much, but the walk was great.

Our Summer Has Been Great

Sault Ste. Marie

We spent 6 weeks at the lake, it was really hard to leave, now we are on our way to the east coast.  Saturday we will enter Canada, plan on spending some time in Montreal.  Then onto the lobster fest in Maine. 

I have a new kitty, Lucy. Cute as a bugs ear.  She is half sister to TT, they have the same mother.

I’m having problems posting pictures to the blog I will try to have some soon.

At The Lake and TT

Grand Rapids MN.

Wednesday we left family and friends and headed for one of my favorite places in the world, Big Balsam Camp and Resort.  As you remember from my blogs last year I have been coming here since I was 5 years old with my family. 

My kids and grandkids now spend part of the summer here fishing, hiking swimming and just having a good time.  My dad did spend Memorial weekend with us a few years ago, it had been some time since he was here.   Many of our friends and their kids and grandkids also come for long weekends.  This coming holiday weekend will be one of those times, should be about 20 to 25 of us, and pretty sure we will be having a good time.

When we returned home from our winter travels our cat TT was rediscovering his yard and one night he didn’t return.  Mike spent some time looking for him and found TT in the field next to the house.  We think it was a dog that got him.  He is so missed.  TT was one of the best cats we had.  No offense Stormy your a good cat too, just a little witchy.   

 

 

Back To Blogging

I have no excuse just was taking a brake from the computer for a couple of weeks, and besides I had nothing to blog about.

We are back in MN, the weather has been cold and rainy.  This week is going to be warm and sunny, so says the weatherman.  Sometimes they get the forecast right.

Been visiting with my Dad, the kids and grandkids.  Everyone is doing good. 

Our son Rich and is wife will be moving to Salt Lake City Utah in June.  He will be working for the same company and have the same position.  The company will be closing the end of the year here in MN, he wanted to get a jump on the move.

Granddaughter Elizabeth is graduating from high school in June.  She will be attending St. Thomas College in the fall.  Ryan, Lizzy brother is our oldest grandchild, he is working for a landscape company and loving it. 

Granddaughter Amanda just finished her second year at the University Of Minnesota.  Her brother Matt our youngest grandchild will be going into the 10th grade this fall.

Our daughters and their husbands are doing a great job raising our grandchildren, we are so proud of all our kids and grandkids.

We will be spending part of the summer at the lake again this summer, Mike is looking forward to catching the big one.