~Montreal, Quebec~

Hi Everyone.  We have had no internet for the last week so are a bit behind on the blog.

Here we are arriving in Montreal. What a zoo!!

Lovely view as we came across the Pont de Champlain.

We parked our van at a Walmart and took the Metro into downtown Montreal. We had such a fun time trying to figure out how much we were to pay for the tickets – the lady spoke NO English at all and we tried  our best French, but she couldn't help us. We ended up finding a very nice man who was able to help us. The metro went SO fast and we were downtown in no time at all. Lots of fun!!

We started off at the “Bank of Montreal” - this is Canada's oldest bank. The bank has huge columns, a beautiful dome and a monumental lobby!! We went into the bank's museum which had old and rare coins, bills and other memorabilia.

This is the famous Notre Dame Basilica.  This church was built between 1824 and 1829.

There were SO many beautiful old historic buildings throughout Montreal.

Throughout Old Montreal (Vieux-Montreal) are lovely cobbled streets. 

This beautiful building housed Canada's parliment in 1849-1852, then served as Montreal's city hall until 1878 when it became a market and now today it contains municipal offices.

Rue St.Paul is the city's oldest thoroughfare (1672). All very pretty.

Clock tower – can you say “ I think a storm may be coming in”?

There are many quays in Montreal and the waterfront is now a year-round recreation and entertainment complex.

After we had walked all around the Old and New part of town we went down into the “Underground Pedestrian Network”. Beneath Montreal's huge buildings and busy streets is the world's most extensive underground pedestrian system. There are about 22 kms of passageways which connect almost all the city centre's offices, hotels, stores, restaurants, theatres, high rise apartments etc.... When the cold weather “hits” - life can still go on while underneath the city.