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Montreal & Quebec City {Day One}

I recently went to visit our neighbor to the North, Canada.  More specifically, I went to Quebec.  I flew directly from DFW to Montreal on Wednesday, July 20th.  The only direct flight option from DFW to Montreal puts you there about 11:15 p.m.  By the time I cleared Customs, grabbed a cab, and checked into the hotel, it was about 1:30 a.m. before I got to bed.

The next morning, I went for breakfast at a place I had read about prior to the trip, and was luckily only a block from my hotel.  Olive & Gourmando was great!  I had this yummy brioche and a bowl of yogurt, granola, and fruit.

After breakfast, I hopped on a double decker tour bus and made the loop around Montreal to get the lay of the land.  This pink ball installation is in The Village, and it was high on my list of "must see sights" in Montreal.  

If you want to see some really cool pics of the pink balls, click HERE



I rode the bus to the next to last stop, and got off at the Mont Royal stop.  I walked the short distance up to the Chateau Mont Royal where you view the city from on high.  Also, there are pretty flowers.









Inside the Chateau
The next stop on the bus tour is an overlook where you can see the Olympic Stadium from the 1976 Olympics.  I just happened to be there exactly 40 years from when the Olympics were happening.  
After I rode the bus back to the old town, I was ready for lunch.  I went to Maison Christian Faure.  It was very slow, but very good.
I had the jambon et fromage quiche... that's ham & cheese quiche.  My Duolingo French lessons really paid off!
The dessert choices were irresistible.


I went for the lemon meringue tart.
After lunch, I spend some time walking around the old town.  This is the flag of Quebec.
I went to Basilique Notre-Dame-de-Montréal, or in English, Our Lady of Montréal Basilica.  This is the side view...
The front...

But the inside is what is really stunning...













I walked around some more after the Basilica.  I browsed some stores, including a Christmas store I had located prior to leaving for my trip.  I bought a great ornament from Montreal.  It's an actual Sugar Maple Leaf that has been treated and dipped in this gold like substance.  They explained how it's done, but I don't recall the technical details.  I think it will look very sparkly on my travel tree.
I went back to the hotel to check emails, etc.  Then I decided to walk a few blocks to Le Cartet where I grabbed some take out.  I went back to the hotel to eat so that I could watch the GOP convention.  Which lead to a lot of yelling at my tv, scanning the twitterverse, and texting my law partner.  You can take the political scientist out of the country, but ....  or something like that.

The hotel that I selected for the first 3 nights of my trip was the Hotel St. Paul.  It was in a pretty good location in Old Montreal.  It was an old bank building...

It is the only Design Hotel in Canada...


The hallways are exceptionally dark.
The rooms were nice enough, if not a little bland.  I'm sure that is some sort of fancy design, but I would have appreciated some of the color from the lobby being carried through.





That's a wrap of day one.  Stay tuned for Day 2 of Montreal...

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