Get Started

Learn more about Credit Cards, Travel Programs, Deals, and more.

Still Speaking French In Montreal!

This post may contain affiliate links - Advertiser Disclosure. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Day 65 – Sunday June 24, 2007 – Montreal, Quebec

Yes, since Montreal is still in the province Québec, French is the primary language here. Unlike Québec City though, English is definitely more prevalent. We spent the night in Laval, Québec, just outside the city of Montreal. I was excited when we were able to book the Radisson here for less than it cost for the uncomfortable hostel beds in Québec City. After a little research, I found out that the Montreal Metro (subway) had a station about a mile from our hotel. We decided to take the subway into the city in lieu of our car.

After a twenty-five minute ride, we exited the subway in the financial district of downtown Montreal. Without much planned, we quickly found a tourist information center in order to get more information. The tourist information centers here in Canada are among the best I have seen. They are very well organized and the people are incredibly friendly. After a few minutes of talking, the guide gave me a map and explained some of the places that we might want to see in our limited time. In following his advice, we would walk through the financial district, around Chinatown, into the Old City and eventually emerge at the Old Port.

One thing that we noticed right away, was that downtown Montreal has a Catholic Cathedral on almost every block. These buildings are all very elaborate and beautiful as well. The one we were most interested in seeing, was the Notre Dame Basilica, which is a replica of the one in Rome. In order to reach it, we would have to walk through the tall buildings of the abandoned (It was Sunday) financial district. The Notre Dame is stunning on the outside. Since admission would’ve set us back $10, we decided against going inside. What has the world come to when they start charging to see a church? Oh well!

After seeing the Notre Dame Basilica from the outside, we walked through the very busy outdoor market in Chinatown. We made quick work of it though, since most of the items on sale were junk and overpriced. When we emerged from Chinatown, the scenery changed quickly to the charming architecture of Old Town. The architecture is similar to that of Québec City, but the buildings seem to use much more brick.

 At the end of the Old City is the river’s shore and the Old Port. Everyone in the city seemed to hang out at the port, as it was very crowded. With such beautiful weather, I can’t really blame them. The real reason that I said everyone must’ve been at the port, is that all of the retail stores in the city are closed on the weekends. It was eery to drive through the area by our hotel and see all of the retail establishments completely abandoned. Even Walmart was closed!

Back at the port now, we walked around for about 30 minutes before deciding to head back to the Metro in order to go out to St. Helen’s Island. When we arrived at St. Helen’s Island, it took a while to get our bearings straight. The island is made completely of land fill, as they used the dirt excavated during the initial construction of the Metro in the 1960’s. The island is perhaps most famous for hosting the 1967 Montreal World’s Fair. Much of the infrastructure from the World’s Fair still exists, including La Ronde, a theme park on the far north end of the island. Initially, we walked around the island for about thirty minutes and saw the biosphere (one of the World’s Fair Pavilions), a vibrantly colored rose garden and even a busy aquatic center. After a while, we decided to head to La Ronde, since it is now owned by Six Flags and thus is included with our season passes. Oh the joy! By the time we reached La Ronde (about a thirty minute walk from the Metro station) it was 4pm. The plan was to spend a few hours there before hopping on the subway back to the hotel.

La Ronde has seen better days, but it certainly provided a few hours of fun. (Especially since we didn’t have to pay admission.) After riding as many roller coasters as possible, we finally left the park at 10pm and headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow we are going to take a scenic drive through Vermont and upstate New York before crossing back into Canada and settling down in Toronto for the night. Tuesday, we will finally see the infamous Niagara Falls. Today turned out to be a long exhausting day. In the end, we walked about 6 or 7 (maybe more) miles and from door to door were gone about 14 hours. I think we will survive, as long as we don’t have to do it again for the next few days! Talk to you soon.

We want to thank everyone for the comments and emails. Your support is truly appreciated and keeps us going.

The Coomer Family

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Lower Spend - Chase Ink Business Preferred® 100K!

Chase Ink Business Preferred® is a powerful card that earns 3X Ultimate Rewards points in a broad range of business categories on the first $150K in spend per year. Right now earn 100K Chase Ultimate Rewards points after $15K $8K spend in the first 3 months with a $95 annual fee.

Learn more about this card and its features!


Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Shawn Coomer
Shawn Coomerhttps://milestomemories.com/
Shawn Coomer earns and burns millions of miles/points per year circling the globe with his family. An expert at accumulating travel rewards, he founded Miles to Memories to help others achieve their travel goals for pennies on the dollar. Shawn also runs a million dollar reselling business, knows Vegas better than most and loves to spend his time at the 12 Disney parks across the world.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

5 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Coomer Family!
    I’m from Canada (1 hour south of Montreal) and I’ve been reading your blog since the beginning. It looks like you enjoyed your time here in Québec! I just wanted to tell you the reason why all the stores were closed on june 24th (because they usually are all open). June 24 is “Quebec’s National Day”. So we celebrate as much as you american do on the fourth of july and almost every store is close. So I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Canada and the rest the world.

    Karine

  2. MY COOMER FAMILY IT’S SO GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU ONCE AGAIN. OH IT LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL IN CANADA!! GIVE GLEN OUR REGARDS!! WHILE YOU’RE AT IT JASMINE GIVE GLEN A BIG HUG AND KISS FROM ME AND HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY WITH HIM… I HAVE ALWAYS HEARD VANCOUVER WAS JUST GORGEOUS. I’M ENJOYING TRAVELING WITH YOU GUYS SO MUCH THAT IF I GET TIRED I CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW YOU ALL MUST FEEL. WE LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH AND TO SAY WE MISS YOU WOULD BE PUTTING IT MILDLY!! ONLY 11 MORE DAYS AND YOU WILL BE HOME TO VEGAS FOR A LITTLE WHILE ANYWAY!! HAVE A VERY SAFE AND ENJOYABLE TRIP COMING HOME!! LOVE MOM AND MIKE OR GRANDMA AND GRANDPA MIKE

  3. hi everyone i see you are at Montreal i it looks like a fun place to expro i see the buildings are nice the old city looks nice all it lok s fun thanks for showing us,

  4. I JUST READ WHAT I WROTE AND ITS 7/10 AT 11:10 am OUR TIME. lOOK AT THE ONE ABOVE & IT SAYS 6:06 PM. WHATS WITH THAT?

  5. TALKED TO GLEN LAST NIGHT AND HE TOLD ME YOU WERE VISITING HIM TODAY AND TOMORROW AND WOULD BE STAYING WITH HIM. HE SAYS VANCOUVER IS THE PRETTIEST! YOU’LL HAVE A BALL. GIVE HIM A BIG HUG & KISS FOR ME AND OF COURSE TO ALL OF YOU. I’M ENJOYING YOUR TRIP IMMENSELY. WHEN YOU GET BACK TO VEGAS WISH YOUR DAD THE BEST FROM ART & I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    SEND MORE PICTURES VIA THE INTERNET. YOU GUYS LOOK SO GOOD.

    LOVE U ALL!!!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Related

7,703FansLike
9,903FollowersFollow
16,444FollowersFollow