Our final day in Montreal

After a rather sleepless night, due to Amanda's coughing and teeth grinding, we finally got moving around 9:00 am. We walked to our favorite local store for another breakfast of blackberry Greek yogurt, fruit, and a fresh baguette. We finally found a place to sit down, something I can only describe as a cement park that was popular with the homeless people.

After our breakfast, we set off on a walking tour. Our destination for the day was Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal), which is the oldest section in the city of Montreal.

One of the great things about Montreal is the variety of public transportation methods. Not only do they have the typical bus and subway systems of any large city, but Montreal also has the BIXI bike system.

BIXI is Montreal's award winning public bicycle sharing system. You rent a bike from one of the BIXI docking stations, ride to your destination, check it in, and when you're ready to continue on your way, just select another bike and go. For just $5/day for unlimited number of rides, I think this is pure genius.


Apparently this system will soon be available in Melbourne, London and Minneapolis. Obviously this wouldn't have worked for us since we had the kids with us, but for childless tourists, this would definitely be the way to go!

One of the things I will remember about Montreal is that the city's buildings are filled with very artistic murals. Upon first glance, it looks like urban graffiti. But when you look closer, you will see that someone actually put some thought into it.



Another thing you see a lot of in Montreal is telephone booths. Amanda actually pointed at this group of them and said,"Mama, what are those?" (Dave and I shared a laugh over this.)

Ancient artifacts: telephone booths

On our walk through Old Montreal, we came across this immense building. Unfortunately I never found out what it was!

The girls thought it was pretty neat to see a real "castle."

We followed the path of the old Fortification Wall, finally stumbling upon the Musee du Chateau Ramezay, a preserved Colonial mansion.


What a fantastic find this turned out to be! Not only was it affordable, with an admission price of $18 for the whole family, but it was educational and interesting for the entire family.

This explains the fortification wall.

I really enjoyed learning about Montreal. It's a shame how little we Americans (or at least myself!) know about our neighbors to the north!

I was extremely surprised at how interested Amanda and Eva were in all of the exhibits. When we first walked in, I worried that they would become bored. However I quickly learned this wouldn't be the case. They wanted me to explain every little thing!

Because of their interest in (obsession with?) "Little House on the Prairie", a lot of it was relevant for them. For example, this Native American exhibit was a great opportunity for discussion.

A Native American tribe

And of course they had seen an episode where Pa wore snowshoes, so now they could see a real pair.

Winter gear

They spent quite a while at the "food game" exhibit, where they had to match up laminated pictures of food to the correct family member's plate. During the process, they learned that potatoes were only fit for animals!

Since the girls are always asking for bunkbeds, they had to have their picture taken here.

By the time we had finished touring the museum, it was time to think about lunch.

Dave had mentioned that he'd like to get crepes at some point in our trip, and we really hit the jackpot with the Jardin Nelson.

It was an intimate restaurant with a "roof" of greenery and mechanical awnings that made it seem like a cross between an indoor and outdoor restaurant.

We listened to the live Jazz trio while enjoying Sangria, lemonade and crepes. We selected three different crepe entrees: apple/bacon/cheddar & mozzarella stuffed crepes for the girls; ham/asparagus/cheddar & mozzarella crepes for myself; and a roasted vegetable stuffed crepe for Dave. It was a unique treat and definitely one of our more memorable meals.

After lunch, we continued walking. And walking...

The brown brick building off to the right is the hotel/restaurant where we had crepes.

We slowly made our way to the marina area where cruises depart, and bought hats for each of the girls. With all of the walking we were doing, they needed extra protection from the sun.

We passed the Centre des Sciences and the IMAX theater, which was showing a Hubbard telescope movie in 3D. We had really hoped to go to there, but unfortunately time wasn't on our side.

It was another hot day, and our stop under a shade tree was perfect for a water and fruit break. The girls were getting increasingly tired and cranky, and we kept having to switch up the means of transportation. One of the girls would walk while the other rode in the stroller, with Liam in the Snugli on Dave's chest. After a block, we'd have to switch to some other variation. Then we'd have to stop for another water break. It was a long walk home. If only we had had a BIXI bike and a trailer!

After capturing a few quick exterior photos of the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal, we cut the sight-seeing short in the mid-afternoon.

Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal

We surrendered to the kids' pleas and called it quits. Once back at the hotel, Dave took the girls for a quick swim while Liam napped, and then we went out for our final meal in Montreal: Mexican food.

It was such a great family trip and I will cherish the memories we made there. We definitely want to return to Montreal in the near future to pick up where we left off on our sight-seeing tour. At least we know we have a successful vacation under our belts now and as the kids get older, it should only get easier.