Homecoming Part VI

Well, much has happened since our visit to Canada. And unfortunately I haven't had time to keep up-to-date with all the blogging. Man, this could take hours. But let's continue where we left off...

The next day in Montreal, we decided to drive to Vieux Montreal since it really wasn't a close walk, and it was hot and muggy, and Richel was in delicate condition. After getting lost and driving around aimlessly for about 30 minutes, we finally found our way (hey, it wasn't my fault. They actually closed off a series of roads.)

This time we were determined to visit the inside of the Basilisque de Notre Dame. I had heard of beautiful churches and such, but I was not prepared for the spectacle within the Basilisque. In one word: incredible, awesome, magnificent (...oh, that's 3 words). This is definitely a recommended place to visit if ever in Montreal.





Later, we walked the streets of Vieux Montreal. I've been told that walking around this part of the city is much like visiting Europe, so that's something that I really wanted to do. It was difficult, though, because I can walk forever. Unfortunately, with Richel's condition we couldn't walk too far or go too fast (she was 7 months along at this point). But we did the best we could, enjoying the archaeic architecture; it definitely had a very old French feel to it.



I thought this building had a very French feel to it...except for the Honda in front.



This was a very interesting building. I believe this was city hall. But there was really nothing interesting inside, just a big open hallway with a bunch of rooms off limits to the public.


It was fun walking down the streets of Old Montreal, pretending to be in Europe. Although, we didn't have to try very hard to pretend. I did have a burning desire to suddenly speak French to everyone, but was afraid my horrible accent would offend someone.


By this time Richel was becoming seriously annoyed with me, as you can probably tell by her expression. I can't blame her, I wanted to walk here, walk there, check this out, etc. And when it's 85 degrees with high humidity and 7 months pregnant, it definitely is not fun. Although I suffered Richel's wrath I knew that one day in the future we'd look back on this day and reminisce and laugh. And that inspired to me to just push on, even though I probably shouldn't have.


The oldest street in Montreal.



While walking around, it was Richel's determination to find a French pastery. How typical, satisfying that insatiable sweet-tooth of hers. Fine. We did find this one place that sold these little pastery/truffles. I was blown away by these things. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the shop, but these truffles were so rich with flavor, yet light and in no way too sweet. They were perfect. I had never tasted anything so refined and perfected before, not even Chinese food. (We later bought French truffles in Chicago because we missed these things so much but they weren't even close. Too heavy, too hard, too sweet.)


These were pictures of random buildings that I took. I wasn't sure of their significance or history, but I thought they looked very European, and very French. I thought they had a lot of character. Believe it or not, this reminded a lot of Old Port in Maine.