Day 66 Wed-Montreal Red Line Day!

I was to sleep in but that just didn’t happen sadly…we ate the last of what I had been carrying for brekky then set off on foot to find the Tourist Info Centre….. it too us over an hour and hang of walking to it…didn’t help matters we..will I kinda divert from route John had planned…he didn’t tell me until much later we were way off track….I was having a lovey time taking pics of the interesting buildings etc…We eventually found it and ended up having to buy the tickets from the info centre which were much dearer than the ones we had planned to buy on line with Booking.com they must have sold out of there’s because no matter how hard we tried we just couldn’t get it to download…it was about $40 cheaper through them compared to the info centre..😩 …nothing we could do…anyway we headed for a much needed coffee before making the 1030 bus…it started at 10am…one we were had more brain energy we walked back to the bus meeting point to board our bus…we decided we would just do a whole round with the bus today as it’s a 2 day pass see what we wanted to go back to tomorrow…mind you after sitting on the bus for a few hours today…I am not sure I really want yo go back..but we paid good money for the tour so best make good use of it…
Below are the sights if the day and the stops we could have gotten off at…
Highlights

Dorchester Square
Old Montreal
Place Jacques Cartier
Old Port
Square Victoria
Place Ville Marie
Chinatown
Gay Village
Latin Quarter
Quartier des Spectacles
Downtown
Fine Arts Museum
McCord Museum
McGill University
Saint Joseph’s Oratory
Mount-Royal Park

Stops:
Square Dorchester
Old Montreal: Notre Dame Basilica
Old Montreal: Pointe-à-Callière Museum
Gay Village
Latin Quarter
Festival Quarter
Fine Arts Museum
Saint Joseph’s Oratory
Mont-Royal: Kondiaronk Lookout
Mont-Royal: Camillien Houde Lookout

Just a sure note * We did find out on the tour we were fair smack in the middle of Gay central…it’s actually called the Gay Village I am sure the tour guide on the bus says 35,000 live in the Gay village…so no winder we felt our numbered when we first arrived not realising it is actually noted for it’s name….

We chose to go right back to the start then walk to the Old Montreal area…for lunch and to go to the Pointe-A-Callliere …The Museum of Archeology and History…the lunch spot was an open air restaurant along the main walk to the old port…we had the best meal I have had since I didn’t know when it was a Share Antipasto platter with a small side dish of tomato 🍅 meatballs…the best on the platter was a whipped Ricotta with Truffle oil and drizzled with Honey…sounds awful but was truly Devine…the whole platter was simple….simple tastes but delicious …

Feed we headed to the Pointe-A-Callliere …The Museum of Archeology and History for a quick visit…..🤔 so we thought…they had a Viking Exhibition on as well as the rest of the museum which is the heart and remains of the birth place of Montreal….so by the times we did the Viking part then the rest it took us over 2 hrs…we were to continue on looking at stuff and John had thought ohh well we will catch the bus back later but I realised the last bus was probably gone…so we said we would walk back home later….just as we walked out of the Museum a big red bus pulled right up in front of us….so decision made back hime we go,,,we knew from this morning that we only had 2 stops and we were back in The Gay Village and very close to our hotel bonus,..plus being honest we really were beat…so back for a rest..so far John’s been asleep… for near on 2 hrs and still going…we enjoyed the day…the museum had lots of info to read…John sorted out some questions he had about the Vikings originally landing in Canada and he thought it would be Newfoundland and he was proven right…they definitely did…plus in the birth place of old Montreal section of the history museum….we got to go through a huge underground section of the old sewerage tunnels they had originally built for the city…now all light up and pretty it would have been an awful place once…I just couldn’t get over the sheer width of it…unreal real…

(The museum complex comprises three archaeological sites: Pointe-à-Callière, Place Royale and 214 Place d'Youville; the archaeological field school at Fort Ville-Marie; Montreal's first Catholic cemetery; the William collector sewer; an archaeological crypt: Place Royale; a heritage building: the former Youville Pumping Station; 165-169 Place d’Youville, the Mariners House; and archaeological collections of over a million objects. The Pointe-à-Callière stands above several historic and archaeological sites of national significance, showcasing major periods in the history of Montreal. Some of the archaeology exposed during construction of the building has been left in situ as part of the museum's permanent display on the history of the city. The museum was constructed on pilings to stay existing finds undisturbed and protected.

The main entrance of the museum rises above the point of land where Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, Jeanne Mance and other French settlers landed in 1642. The museum displays archaeological remains from every period in the city's past, and the sites it protects have produced one of the largest archaeological collections in Canada. The museum's staff specialize in research, conservation, outreach activities and managing archaeology and history. In partnership with universities,[which?] it conducts research on the city's archaeology and history, and its ethnohistorical collections include artifacts and documents donated locally. The museum also displays exhibits on the city's built and industrial heritage.

Permanent exhibitions include 1701 - The Great Peace of Montréal, Archaeo-Adventure, Building Montréal, Crossroads Montréal, Memory Collector, Pirates or privateers?, Where Montréal Began, and Yours Truly, Montréal multimedia show.)

All in all a good day we saw heaps and most in the comfort will 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔😩😩 of an old bus that chugged along very roughly….but got us from A-B…it’s a vintage bus so we couldn’t expect any better but did the job for the tour….

We came back to our hotel and yep the line up was a mile long again it was around 4.30pm so peak time… John had bought a 12 pack of Corona and was juggling them and trying to open our door and no matter what card we used nothing…I knew it was going to be a nightmare at the desk with the massive line up but I went…yep a night mare indeed…I wasn’t the inky one with room key issues another couple of guys also on a new side line we started….I know yesterday how I felt when people did the same when we were trying to check in…but John was waiting and I I jumped on the main line I would have been over an hour…anyways the older guy at the desk had another guy come to the side line he asked something…next thing the older guy the only one at the desk disappeared…no one at the desk….this went on for about 10 mins…next thing a women in what looked like gardening cloths but they weren’t was at the desk on a phone…obviously she was in charge of staff…was talking very loud trying to get more staff in for work…she’s talking very very loud about how she is about to have a nervous breakdown it’s all too much…going on and on with all theses people listening very unprofessional…the older guy from the desk still hadn’t come back…so she stated then serving customers…so I jumped in quickly said my room key won’t work..,she then tells us they had a 9 hr power outage…and all keys have to be reprogrammed….🥵🥵🥵 ohh my glory what a mess…it looked a nightmare and I guess it is a nightmare…people angry and just wanting rooms…but they could have had a note up that explained what happened and maybe that might been easy for people to calm….I couldn’t complain my room key/ card thing was reprogrammed so we could get in….Wheww….

A good rest John slept for over 2 hours again…then we headed to the Latin quarter for dinner…it as busy as..line ups at the popular restaurants mainly street restaurants…the whole streets are closed off to traffic….. we found a popular one with a spare table and ended up with a really great smart ass but lovely waiter…asking John did he want ott….Wings or BBQ John says what…Ott wings or BBQ he said again,,,I am kacking myself and eventually said to John HOT 🔥…..ohhh the light bulb clicked…he and the waiter had more banter about the OTT wings…it as funny…anyway the wings turned out to be extremely OTT…he was on fire…I had fish tacos with mango salsa .yummm…could only fit one of 3 in….we have had 2 exceptional meals today what a change…

This place is crawling with Weed…my glory we are nearly high ourselves from everyone walking by with weed….2 blokes making out on some steps…hmmmm…and the funniest thing were 2 old blokes cruising on the gophers…looked so funny…

Music pumping…people everywhere…what a vibe and a smell…🤪🤪🤪…
I wanted to go and see the fireworks on the massive bridge tonight we were told by a few different lots to go it’s fantastic.,,John wasn’t interested, so we didn’t go…we could hear it from our room and got the smallest glimpse of it out our window…it went for over 30 mins you could tell it was spectacular…😩😢 I couldn’t go…. Apparently they are weekly at present with a different country supplying the costs..,it would cost a fortune…
What a day…Read more