Marcher dans la vieille ville

The title means Walking Through Old Town. Today we saw all of Old Montreal enjoying the European vibe and definitely the food. 

We started at the nearby Place D'Armes, one of the principal squares of the city.  The centerpiece is the Basilique Notre Dame which is adjacent to the oldest building in the city, the Seminaire de St. Sulpice.  It also has some lovely early skyscrapers.  The duo pictured side by side below are the Edifice New York Life (left) built in 1888 with a wonderful clock tower and a technological wonder for the day an elevator and on the right is the Edifice Aldred built in 1931 with features reminiscent of the Empire State Building.

Basilique Notre Dame

First Skyscrapers

Oldest Building: Seminaire de St. Sulpice

Notre Dame Basilica is stunningly beautiful.  The pictures do not do it justice.  Unfortunately there are so many tourists visiting that it's hard to retain its reverence and the church is a little over commercialized.

Altar

Confessional

Infant of Prague

Stained Glass Skylight

Organ Pipes

We then visited Pointe A Calliere, a museum of history and archeology where we learned about the history of Montreal and we visited their special exhibition on the Queens of Egypt.  We were fascinated by a presentation they did on mummification.

Say hello to my mummy

Look what's an artifact now - rotary phones

Original foundations of early buildings

Fortifications

An aqueduct

Modavie

Dave's croquettes

We took a break from the heat for lunch at Modavie where we enjoyed fresh salads with salmon and an entree before doing more sightseeing.  In the afternoon, we strolled Rue St. Paul and Place Jacques Cartier.  We saw their City Hall which is similar in design to Philadelphia City Hall and we took a tour of Chateau Ramsey which was the home of Quebec's governors for a period of time.  There is a small mention of it being occupied by le armie de estates unit as well.

Rue St. Paul

Place Jacques Cartier

Monument to Nelson

Hotel de Ville (CIty Hall)

Chateau Ramsey

Apple Trees trained to grow along a wall

We visited the Bonsecours Market and the adjacent church of Notre Dame de Bonsecours.  This church was not as ornate as the others we've seen, but it has the body of a saint, Sr. Marguerite Bourgeoys, the first female saint of Canada.  She was the founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame de Montreal.

Bonsecours Market

We took a stroll in the Vieux Port area which is now an entertainment some shops as well.














Time to eat again!  We went back to Place Jacquest Cartier to eat at Jardin Nelson.  The restaurant is in front of and in the yard of one of the oldest buildings in town.    They are known for their drinks and for their crepes which we both thoroughly enjoyed.  There was live music as well.

Jardin Nelson