We got up, and packed our stuff. Then
we took a walk down rue Sherbrooke to Eggspectation, a breakfast cafe well
recommended in Frommer's tour guide of Montreal and Québec. We enjoyed
our walk along Sherbrooke watching the people going to school and to work.
It was cold and rainy but we still had a nice walk.
We located
Eggspectation at 11:20 am using
the GPS V - testimony of the usefulness of my poor "obsolete" portable GPSr...
We were seated immediately on the second
floor and soon were served by a very friendly young man who was very happy
to be there and very good with kids. Our breakfast was incredible.
So far, we were batting 1000 on meals in restaurants.
We all had a nice big hot
brunch with generous portions and very attentive service. If you like
big fat-laden breakfasts and rich coffee, I highly recommend this cafe!
I should make a comment at this point that Montreal is a city that favors
French speakers but quickly shifts to English if you show signs of feeble
French. As the week went on, and with the help of the signs in two
languages, my high-school French came back to me enough that I was able to
get through basic transactions completely in French. At this point, I
was still limping along in English...
After we ate we walked back to
the hotel. Along the way we took in the facades of the buildings and
the occasional curious sign.
It was still cool out so we
were happy to get back to the hotel.
We packed the remaining items
and checked out of the hotel. I brought the Jeep around and we loaded
the gear into the roof box. I found it useful to review
the photo I
had taken when we left WV so that I could get the luggage back in the box in
the proper order.
We set a course for the Notre
Dame Basilica and drove across town to the location. We found a couple
parking spaces but the meter was broken so I went into a souvenir shop,
purchased some Montreal and Canada stickers (partly because I wanted them
and partly to generate change for the meters) and drove down to the
waterfront to park.
Then we walked back up the
hill.
We reached the
Place D'Armes.
We got to the
Notre-Dame Basilica at 1:45pm.
We paid the admission fee and
went inside. The interior is at once both peaceful and exquisite.
With respect we walked about and without flash made photographs of the
various points of interest. Tom came to me and asked me to help him
with the mini-tripod I had packed for him with his
Pentax
A110 and lenses. In anticipation of all the walking we would be
doing, and in consideration of the simplicity of operation, I had packed
A110's for Ted and Tom instead of their full-sized SLR's. I reasoned
that for this trip it would be easier and much better for them if the
cameras were easier to carry, load and operate than the larger gear.
Looking back now, it was a great decision though we did have a moment when
Ted's camera wouldn't work and for a moment it looked like he'd be without a
camera. Fortunately it came back alive and we were able to carry on
without missing a beat.
For about a half an hour Tom
and I worked together making photographs by natural light. His work
was quite good and he was rewarded with several impressive photos.
This exercise had some side benefits too. Using the larger camera, Tom
was not having much luck. I think he might have been discouraged had
he continued much longer that way. I may let him use the smaller more
automatic camera for a time until he gets more confident and a little
bigger.
I took my time using pews and
other surfaces to stabilize my camera and got some keepers too.
After we left the Basilica at
2:22pm, we walked back down the hill to the Jeep. Then we set a course
and headed for Ile Saint-Helene and the Biosphere.
We arrived at the
Biosphere at
2:56pm.
Entry is at the base of the
structure. We got tickets and took in a presentation about
environmental issues facing the planet and steps that Canada has taken to
address them. It was very well done. Next we toured the exhibits
that are oriented to kids. The boys had a great time.
The upper floor had an exhibit
about the structure itself and access to the outdoors.
We literally closed the place
at 5:00pm and drove once around the island in hopes of retrieving one of
several Geocaches. But it was rainy and cold, the caches were multi's
and the clues were in French. So I opted instead to move on up the
road to Québec.
At 6:30pm we stopped at the
home of Super Foot,
Restaurant Madrid.
I'm not sure how to describe it other than to say it's a little like a truck
stop diner with a hotel and some interesting attractions outside.
Suffice to say the crazy pink monster truck was enough to get me to pull of
the highway and eat supper here. The kids enjoyed it and Maria humored
the dining experience which was actually quite good though a tad expensive
for diner food. The deserts were incredible.
At 7:30pm we got back in the
Jeep and headed for Québec. We reached Place Royal in Québec at
8:56pm.
Again we unloaded and checked in. This time we could
rest easy because our 3 night stay would give us time to relax and enjoy the
hotel and the area at our leisure. The hotel garage again would not
accommodate the Jeep so I parked it in the outdoor lot provided a few blocks
away behind the facade of a church ruins.
The hotel room was perfect for
our stay. It had two rooms with an alcove entrance and kitchenette.
The bathroom was large and well equipped. It had to be the bargain
room of our trip and to top it off, the largest.
We unpacked and got the kids
in bed. I saved the GPS tracks and updated the GPS units with route
info for our trip out. We made plans for the next few days and went to
bed. It had been a very full day even though the driving time was the
shortest yet. It would be good to have a few days off from the road
and to enjoy the local area!
