Une Journée Magnifique

We bid adieu to our hotel room and traveled to Mont Royal to see St. Joseph's Oratory.   We had trouble with directions again, but we got there.   The Oratory is set on a huge hill with lots of steps.  Siri must have felt sorry for us since she directed us to some side street at the top of the mountain.  We could not find our way to the parking lot, but managed to go in a back door and voila we were at the front of the sanctuary without having to climb those steps.

The main church is very modern unlike those we've seen the last few days.  You will see that in the pictures. These first pictures are of the main church which can hold up to 10,000 standing for Mass.

Altar with Blessed Sacrament Chapel
Behind Black Grille

Praying to Brother Andre

Brother Andre Relic

Stained Glass by
Marius Plamondon

Confessional

Life Sized Stations

The Grand Beckerath Organ

After visiting the upper church, we ventured outside where we had a beautiful view of the city.

View from the Church Steps

Entrance

Side View

We then traveled down via escalators to other levels - one included a gift shop and cafeteria and the other the original crypt church with votive chapels and the tomb of Brother Andre who was declared a saint in 2010.

One of the votive shrines

Crypt Church

Shrine to St. Joseph

Brother Andre's Tomb

Crutches and Canes of those who
were healed

Behind the main oratory is the small chapel of Brother Andre.  The church is filled with notes and markers from those who were healed with his intercession.

Thank you markers & notes

Brother Andre's room

Brother Andre's Room

We enjoyed our visit there.  Next, we headed higher up with the intention of driving to the top of Mont Royal, but Siri was not cooperating and it was getting late so we headed towards Quebec City.  What was supposed to be a three hour drive turned into a 4.5 hour drive due to heavy traffic in the Montreal area.   We made the best of it by listening to the book.  As we approached Quebec City there was another traffic jam since about a dozen cars had flat tires from something that must have been on the road.  Fortunately St. Joseph is now protecting us as travellers.

As we arrived in Quebec it was 64 degrees, 35 degrees cooler than yesterday.   Miraculously, we arrived at our small hotel and checked in about 5:30.  We had dinner reservations for 6:00, but fortunately the restaurant was right next door and by the time we got settled and moved the car, it was 6:00.

The restaurant, Legende, is about 4 years old and has quickly developed a great following.  All the ingredients they use are local, in season, and fresh.  Lemons don't grow here, so you are not going to find them available. 

We decided upon their Tasting Menu which includes a series of courses with smaller plates than you would normally get.  The waitress thought we should be surprised by each course, but I asked her to let us in on the menu.  Good thing.  There was something made of cricket powder.  No thanks.  Can you believe we were offered food made of crickets two days in a row!

Ida with Appetizers

Dinner took 2 1/2 hours to serve and we enjoyed every minute of it.  We took a picture of each course so we could share.  Each time they brought out a dish, a chef came out to explain every ingredient.


The first course included three appetizers served in a basket with rocks.  There was a bowl of gazpacho, a liver pate dish, and a small duck dish with sauerkraut.

Sturgeon Salad

The second dish was a sturgeon salad.  Quite tasty, not fishy at all.  Each dish had multiple seasonings.

Mozzarella

The third dish had mozzarella as its main ingredient.  We were pretty conspicuous taking pictures so we didn't want to write down all the ingredients so just imagine that each one had five or six different tastes, all explained by the chef.







Fourth dish was lobster and a pasta like gnocchi with a tasty sauce.  Quite delicious.  Do you like how we are taking turns with these pictures?

Fifth dish was deer. We got this dish in place of the crickets, so Ida was obliged to eat it even though she felt guilty.  Really, Diana, she did.  I saved the Bambi taunts for later.  The dish was delicious and the meat is healthier for you than most meats.  Oh and um, better than crickets!










Sixth dish was duck with potatoes, asparagus, radishes, etc.  Very, very good.

Seventh course was dessert.  A tomato, strawberry dessert with sorbet that was to die for.  What a great finish to one of the best meals we ever had.

A special memory for us.   Un magnifique repas!







Our hotel is very small but cute and very accommodating.  They bring a continental breakfast to your room each morning, so we are looking forward to breakfast en suite.  Notre français s'améliore tous les jours. (Our french is getting better every day.)