Tonight is our last night in Montreal. We have an early train to Toronto in the morning so didn't want to have a big night, we just went to a little Mexican restaurant around the block from our hotel and then watched tonight's hockey match on the big screen at a sports bar close by.
The weather the last couple of days has been a shock to the system. Yesterday we were up early, and ready to go out and about by about 9.30. We were prepared for a big day walking around and seeing the sights, but we stepped outside and immediately were hit with extreme wind and snow and we looked at each other and ran back inside! We were going to have to add even more layers under our clothes in these conditions. After rugging up even more, we braved the elements for about 100 metres before we found a little cafe and grabbed some bagels & coffee for breakfast. We took our time as we weren't really that keen to get back outside. We noticed there was a metro station right across the road so we headed straight there and took the two stops to the Place De Arts, and headed for the Museum of Contemporary Art.
We enjoyed the warmness of the museum and browsed the exhibitions for a few hours. The most interesting focussed on experimental rock music and art over the past 40 years until now. After a quick lunch we took the metro further down to Notre Dame. The Basilica was absolutely beautiful, both of us were amazed by the interior decorations, the huge columns and ceiling painted in cobolt blue with gold patterns, and the woodwork carvings were incredible. We caught the end of a tour that was being conducted in English and followed them into the wedding chapel, le Sacre Cour - Sacred Heart. The chapel was partially destroyed by fire in the 90's and was restored using modern design and architecture. It didn't fit at all with the rest of the church, but they had decided it was going to be too costly and time consuming to restore it to its original design.... A shame.
After all the cold we both felt like having an early night so we had a nice meal down the street then headed home.
Today the weather was much the same as yesterday, same temp but a little less snowy. We decided to head to the underground shopping malls that run all through the city. The tunnels link the metro stations and go for 32 km under the main town, and if you don't know where you're going you wouldn't even know they were there! We spent the day (and some money) wandering these malls and tunnels.
Going to get a good night sleep now ready for our big train ride tomorrow... 6 hrs!
Bye for now..xxx
(Updated with some pics from Montreal including our overly decorated hotel!)
