Thursday, 14 June 2012

Day 26 - Friday 8 June 2012

MONTREAL, CANADA

 
Then we finished our tour at the Byward Markets where we were given an chance to pick up a snack as we were going to have a late lunch. Then, it was on the road again.

Old Montreal
Arrived in Montreal on Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend. There are people everywhere. The city is packed and Grand Prix flags are flying everywhere.
 
We arrived at the old Montreal area and given a short orientation tour of this part of town and where we should meet if we were going to the Maple syrup information session (where free ice cream was included! Yum!).
 
This part of town is so beautiful. The cobblestone streets, the buildings all reminded me of all those European cities I visited last year. I, of course, went off on a photography mission to take as many photos as I could. It's quite interesting as one side of the street is the old part of town and the other, the new part of town with skyscrapers, etc. Nearly every restaurant and cafe had Grand Prix flags. There was a real buzz in the air.
 
Walked over to the waters edge and discovered that Cirque de Soliel are in town. Not much to see at the water front as there wasn't really any open water to take photos of. You could hear the Grand Prix cars zipping around the track. Couldn't see them though, as the streets of Notre Dame island across the water were being used for the race and was covered with trees. I went back into the streets of the old town and found some other things to take photos of when, before I knew it, it was time for the Maple syrup information session.
 
It was quite interesting as the girl explained how the syrup is tapped and made. We even had a taste test of all the different stages of the syrup. And, oh my God, pure maple syrup tastes delicious. It's nothing like you get at the supermarkets where other stuff has been added to it to make it thick. And there are stages to it too - light, medium and dark. The dark, as can be expected tastes really, really sweet but has a watery consistency so you can actaully drink it.
 
After this, it was time to get back on the bus. Just in time too as, when the bus arrived, and we got onboard, it started raining. Not just a little rain either, this was a white out type of storm. You couldn't see a thing out the window!

Old Montreal street


We had about an hour free before getting back on the bus to head off to dinner - a steak house in the Old Montreal across the street from where we had the maple information session.

There were other groups in the building but we had a whole floor to ourselves. Great food. No one left disappointed. I even had 1 and a half desserts which was three types of chocolate layers to form a type of cake. The half came from Lee who couldn't eat all of hers and her hubby couldn't either so I gave her half a good home.
 
Back on the bus and back to the hotel. There was some type of celebration going on about two blocks from our hotel so I wandered on over to find out what was going on. They had closed one block of Peel Street to celebrate the Grand Prix. There was food, drinking, grid girls and a whole lot of people.
 
After a look around, I went back to the hotel and bed. Tomorrow, we head off to Quebec City.

Weather: Overcast and warm.
 
Before leaving for Montreal this morning, we were given a chance to walk around the Parliament building and take pictures around the gardens of this great bulding. Of course, Rosa and I had taken only photos of the front of the building, as well as the House of Commons building next door and the Parliament offices buildings.