Quebec - Old Montreal


Our latest trip finds us back in Canada, this time in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. We used Maryland as a springboard because Deborah wanted to attend her 40-year (!) high school reunion. It was a quick flight from Baltimore to Montreal, which is where we find ourselves now. Our plan is to spend two weeks in the city, then bus up to Quebec City for a few days, then acquire a rental car to drive around the Gaspe Peninsula of eastern Quebec and down into New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia before flying out of Halifax in early October. Hopefully we will see a bit of fall color toward the end of our nearly 7-week journey.

Artsy, cosmopolitan, francophone Montreal sits on an island in the St. Lawrence River. It is the most populous city in Quebec and the second most populous in Canada (after Toronto). As a vestige of its French colonial past, it is the second largest primarily French-speaking city in the world, after Paris. Fortunately for us, many Montrealers are bilingual so we don’t have to constantly pull up Google Translate.

By North American standards Montreal is a pretty old city and we have enjoyed immersing ourselves in its history with walks through the old historic center known as Vieux-Montréal (Old Montreal) with its cobblestone streets and 17th- and 18th-century architecture, a visit to the Museum of History and Archeology, the Chateau Ramezay Museum, and a festival recreating an 18th century public market.

On the road again



Old Montreal







Cafe culture is alive and well here











Chateau Ramezay Museum (1705)



Yes, that is a giant silver hand on top of the building.


Wood turner at the 18th Century Public Market Festival



18th century fashion



Basket maker



Deborah's video of musicians at the 18th Century Public Market Festival







Established 1725



This statue of a French woman with a French Poodle is looking defiantly at the Anglo-dominated Bank of Montreal. A corresponding statue of an English man holding an English Bulldog is at the opposite end of the square looking defiantly at the French Catholic Notre-Dame Basilica. 







The brick building on the left is Montreal's first skyscraper (1888)



View from Place d'Armes square. Notre-Dame Basilica is beyond the statue.



Inside the beautiful Notre-Dame Basilica



Hotel de Ville (City Hall)






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