We had a fantastic trip to Montreal! Our trip was for the purpose of attending my sister's wedding, but we wanted to make the most of the cost of getting there by staying an extra few days and touristing Montreal. I had been a few times, as had James, but neither of us had stayed in the historic district, and we love old cities. Probably more so because of living in Los Angeles - seeing those old stone buildings and city plans laid before cards reminds us that humans didn't just land on earth 100 years ago lol.
unconstrained children checking out the airplanes
So excited - this was really their first time being excited about getting on a plane
However, this was their 13th flight. Professionals!
We flew in Monday, which was fairly uneventful.* The girls were awesome on the flight, and lucky for us, this was our first trip with the munchkins that did not have a connection! Dear Family - can you all move to a city near a major hub airport? Thanks! *Alex did throw up when we were landing, but to her defense, it was a very bumpy landing with a lot of turns. She also said "I am going to throw up" which gave me time to find a barf bag. And while I didn't catch the entire mess, caught enough of it to make a difference, had a million wipes at my easy disposal, a ton of ziplock bags, and a change of clothes for her handy.
Jumping on the bed in our hotel suite.
The amazing view from our hotel!
Tuesday we went sight seeing and checked out the Notre Dame Basilica. I was curious whether the girls would be interested in this at all - we don't attend church so I didn't know if they would have a point of reference for this. Well in typical fashion they surprised me and were super excited to be in a "castle"! Oh yeah, of course, the stain glass and tall stone walls and big wooden doors totally looked like a castle! We walked around the city a bit and got some lunch in a cool old square a learned a little bit about why there is so much British history in Montreal, and not just French. (Short version - the French surrendered Montreal to the Brits after seeing what the Brits did to take Quebec.)
A very old monestary
trying to get a cute photo...
And...the moment is GONE
3000 people took this exact photo that day.
Alex takes a picture with her "cell phone" lol!
A nice location, but terrible food -
my one complaint about Lonely Planet's Montreal guide
was a lack of suggestions for lower cost eateries.
Lonely Planet has really gotten it right in Buenos Aires
and Prague, but very lacking in Montreal.
After a good nap, the girls took their first subway ride and we visited aunt Stephanie and uncle Dave's apartment. This went well except we headed out kind of at rush hour so we were a lot of "person" and stuff to get on the train at that time (as a former subway commuter, I knew exactly the eye roll mess that we were to those people just trying to get home). Otherwise, it was good. We had a lot of fun having a picnic in the park, saying hi to grandma Rachelle and uncle Steve, eating delicious barbecue and some mini pies from a bakery nearby.
Lemon Meringue Mini Pie!
Playing in Aunt Steffi's bed
The next morning, Grandpa Gordon came to visit with us and we all went to this weird archeology museum nearby that had a pirate exhibit that was supposedly good for kids. It was fun but I think we spent most of our time in the museum lost than actually seeing anything fun. The girls really liked pretending to be monsters over the glass covered dioramas of old Montreal. Also fun was going into the basement (while lost) and seeing the stone remnants of the city. We went for delicious Indian food with Grandpa and uncle Steve where the girls ate their weight in rice and colored on the restaurant walls (but were forgiven thanks to being cute, thank goodness).
Piano outside of the museum entrance
Telescopes at the Pirate Ship
Being Monsters
Lunch with Grandpa
Guy gives my dad a lick!
Alex and Uncle Steve
