Trip to Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Joseph's medical conference this year was in Montreal, QC, Canada.  Joseph's parents were able to come stay with the kids so I could tag along with Joseph.  It was a fun 4 days for us.  I had been to Canada when I was a toddler, but I didn't remember any of it so this was my first "real" experience.  We drove and it was a nice drive with pretty fall colors. 

At the border.  It wasn't as intense as I thought it might be.  Joseph and I are pretty harmless though.

The first welcome sign we saw.

We took this picture for Rebecah.  She loves the movie Tangled,
so we told her that this was Rapunzel's tower.

The St. Lawrence River is so beautiful, but it was hard to get good pictures of it
because of the high railings on the bridges.  I guess it's better to
be safe than have great pictures!

I LOVED our little hotel.  Joseph found this quaint little hotel and it was perfect.  It was a made over Row House and it had such character.  There were only 19 rooms, but the people at the hotel were so nice.  The room didn't have carpet and it made it feel so much cleaner than your normal hotel room with carpet because housekeeping mopped the floor every day.  Breakfast was fun because the server would take my order and bring it back.  I actually like being able to serve myself so I can control my portions, but it was fun to be waited on as well.  The server was always so nice to me, especially since I didn't speak French.  We would recommend this hotel and definitely stay again on our next visit to Montreal.

Our room.  Small, but clean with a private bathroom.

Narrow little hallway.

Our Hotel: The Chateau de L'Argoat.  The bright sign is the hotel.  Our windows were just to
the right of the sign as you look at the picture.

In the middle of Montreal is a large park called Mont Royal.  It is similar to Central Park in NYC.  It had a great overlook and view of downtown. 

At the overlook.

There was a really cool building at Mont Royal.  We aren't sure what it is used for, but
this was a picture of the ballroom.  I'm actually just guessing it is a ballroom, but it looked like one.  

We were able to attend the Montreal Temple and it was nice to visit a temple we hadn't been to before.  Our session was in French so we wore headphones so we could listen in English.  The language spoke by the majority of the people determined the language of the session.  In our session only 4 of us had English as our native tongue but there were 10 French speakers.

I was surprised how "French" everything was.  I knew we were going to the French part of Canada, but I figured everything would be written in French and English.  Not the case.  The Province of Quebec prides itself on being French so French it was.  All of the signs were in French and everyone spoke to us in French.  People would only use English if we didn't understand or respond to their French.  We did run into a few people that didn't speak English so we used gestures to communicate and I would just turn over my credit card.  I admit it was difficult for me to not be able to walk down the streets and read the signs or understand what people were saying.  I would get excited when I heard people speaking English.

Many parts of the city looked very "French" so the following pictures are just pictures we took of the city.

This was a pretty little park just 100 yards from the St. Lawrence River.

There were a lot of small parks around the city that were fun to walk through.

This was the Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal

This was a Catholic Basilica that we were able to visit.  It was very pretty inside.  It was amazing how the loud sounds of the city were shut out while we were walking in this church.  

I know this will make me sound like a glutton, but my favorite part of our trip was going to the little bakeries and buying pastries.  It felt very European to walk into a little bakery and order a pastry.  We did this just about every day.  We would eat a big meal mid-afternoon and then just get a pastry mid-evening for a snack/dessert.  The pastries were good.  We tried 4 or 5 different kinds.  The last pastry I had was my favorite and it was probably a good thing I ate it last or I wouldn't have been willing to try any other kinds!  It was an almond flavored croissant and it was heavenly!  The little bakeries are what I miss the most about our trip.  Little shops like that just aren't something we have in the States.  

I'm not a "big city" person at all.  I found the chaos of the city very overwhelming.  I'm just more of a suburban girl.  I wouldn't have even made this trip if Joseph hadn't been along.  I would have been terribly lost!  I would never want to live in the city and deal with the traffic and people on a daily basis.  I know this is very odd to most people, but I have no desire to visit New York City even though it is only 4 hours from our house.  It is just to chaotic for me.  We will probably visit eventually, and at least I'll have English signs to help me find my way.  I enjoyed our Montreal trip, but I was glad it was only 4 days.

The drive home was nice.  We went a different route so we could drive along the St. Lawrence River more.  we also stopped at some parks along the way.  The rest of the pictures are in New York.

A view of Canada.

It was great to have a little get-a-way as a couple.  It is always nice to regroup as a couple away from the kids.  I'm grateful the Joseph's parents were able to watch the kids.  The kids had fun with them so it was a win-win situation for everyone.