Thursday 10/2/08
Old Montreal
We have been into oatmeal for breakfast on these last few morning. We heat a little hot water in the coffee maker, whip up a package of instant and we're ready for a chilly day in the Great White North. Perfect for today. It is one of those weird cloudy days when the sun peeks out, then the wind blows, then it spits rain for a few minutes and repeat.
We start at Notre Dame Basilica in Old Montreal. This is the area of downtown Montreal where the city began and still boasts the original old buildings, cobblestone streets, and palacial city offices built in the 1800's. Notre Dame is patterned after some of the great European churches and has been looked after for the last couple hundred years by the order of the Sulpicians. To test your memory think of the church of St. Sulpice in Paris from The Da Vinci Code. We start with Mass in the rear chapel of the church with a priest who can actually sing. We have now attended mass at Notre Dame in Paris and Notre Dame in Montreal and since both were in French we still have slightly puzzled looks on our faces but the music was good. The church tour is included in the price of admission (yes, they charge to come in and look around, but not to pray or attend mass) so we do the English tour at 1:00. It is a story of inspiration over decades by some sculptors, architects, artists and organizers. The detail is really astounding from the organ to the bells, and the stained glass to the altar carvings. When you have trouble trying to find a starting place to clean the garage, this type of project is unfathomable.
We wander up Rue St. Paul where many of the galleries, shops and restaurants reside and pick out Suzzettes Creperie for lunch. John has the chicken and avocado crepe with a chive sauce and Mary has a smoked salmon bagel with a salad. Our waiter doesn't sound like a local and he explains that he spent the last couple years in Banff so can sound like a local in several different places. We stopped at Restaurant Les Filles du Roi (daughters of the king) to book a table for tonight at the recommendation of our Quebec coach and old friend Andre Levesque, and then spend the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets of Old Montreal poking into interesting looking shops and galleries along the way. An hour or two with feet up before dinner.
We booked our reservation for dinner at 7:00 so we could be back for the VP debate at 9:00. The restaurant is in the oldest building in Old Montreal and it reeks of character when we are seated. The thick stone walls, smell of candle smoke, heavy draperies, period furniture and critter heads hanging on the walls all add to the character. Our waiter struggles a bit with English but we order quickly and get a nice bottle of Margaux to start the meal. It is a three course option and Mary has the brothy vegetable soup, smoked tomato napolean and red snapper, while John has the soup, duck pate and lamb shank cassoulet. There is a large group being served in another room and this definitely affected our experience. They were obviously not staffed in either the kitchen or dining room to handle both the group and us and we would suspect both suffered. We finally escaped at 9:00 and so missed 15 minutes of the debate but with about 30 hours of analysis afterward we need not have worried. Our waiter was apologetic and we all knew that was not their finest performance. We understand, stuff happens.
Old Montreal
We have been into oatmeal for breakfast on these last few morning. We heat a little hot water in the coffee maker, whip up a package of instant and we're ready for a chilly day in the Great White North. Perfect for today. It is one of those weird cloudy days when the sun peeks out, then the wind blows, then it spits rain for a few minutes and repeat.
We start at Notre Dame Basilica in Old Montreal. This is the area of downtown Montreal where the city began and still boasts the original old buildings, cobblestone streets, and palacial city offices built in the 1800's. Notre Dame is patterned after some of the great European churches and has been looked after for the last couple hundred years by the order of the Sulpicians. To test your memory think of the church of St. Sulpice in Paris from The Da Vinci Code. We start with Mass in the rear chapel of the church with a priest who can actually sing. We have now attended mass at Notre Dame in Paris and Notre Dame in Montreal and since both were in French we still have slightly puzzled looks on our faces but the music was good. The church tour is included in the price of admission (yes, they charge to come in and look around, but not to pray or attend mass) so we do the English tour at 1:00. It is a story of inspiration over decades by some sculptors, architects, artists and organizers. The detail is really astounding from the organ to the bells, and the stained glass to the altar carvings. When you have trouble trying to find a starting place to clean the garage, this type of project is unfathomable.
We wander up Rue St. Paul where many of the galleries, shops and restaurants reside and pick out Suzzettes Creperie for lunch. John has the chicken and avocado crepe with a chive sauce and Mary has a smoked salmon bagel with a salad. Our waiter doesn't sound like a local and he explains that he spent the last couple years in Banff so can sound like a local in several different places. We stopped at Restaurant Les Filles du Roi (daughters of the king) to book a table for tonight at the recommendation of our Quebec coach and old friend Andre Levesque, and then spend the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets of Old Montreal poking into interesting looking shops and galleries along the way. An hour or two with feet up before dinner.
We booked our reservation for dinner at 7:00 so we could be back for the VP debate at 9:00. The restaurant is in the oldest building in Old Montreal and it reeks of character when we are seated. The thick stone walls, smell of candle smoke, heavy draperies, period furniture and critter heads hanging on the walls all add to the character. Our waiter struggles a bit with English but we order quickly and get a nice bottle of Margaux to start the meal. It is a three course option and Mary has the brothy vegetable soup, smoked tomato napolean and red snapper, while John has the soup, duck pate and lamb shank cassoulet. There is a large group being served in another room and this definitely affected our experience. They were obviously not staffed in either the kitchen or dining room to handle both the group and us and we would suspect both suffered. We finally escaped at 9:00 and so missed 15 minutes of the debate but with about 30 hours of analysis afterward we need not have worried. Our waiter was apologetic and we all knew that was not their finest performance. We understand, stuff happens.
Sarah was "golly gee" and Joe was his wordy self so we think not much changed with the debate tonight. In retrospect we thought McCain should have voted against the "rescue" plan with the extra hundred billion dollars in it (even though we need it to pass) and Sarah could then have ripped the idiots on Wall Street and Washington that got us into this financial mess and strengthened the reformer image. A lost opportunity for drama which will probably lead to a loss in November. Oh well.
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