Montreal: Pre-pilgrimage stop at Notre Dame (de Montreal)

March 23, 2017

The red eye flight from Victoria was as expected - hard on the tail bone and big on sleep deprivation. Also expected, but no easier to process was the scene of snow covered fields that appeared outside the plane window when dawn broke. Montreal itself had been hit by a huge snowstorm a week ago, and though a lot must have melted, it was still very much in evidence. That does not mean the streets were a sea of slush - far from it. With the temperature in the realm of -7C the order of the day was ice, not slush. In our thin fleece jackets, the wind was bitter.

Ready to go in Victoria. Note the Canada duffel bags, part of our higher "Canada" profile this time. Thanks for the lift, Jeremy and Melissa.

We left our bikes, in their suitcases, at the airport baggage check and dragged our sorry selves and duffel bags onto the aptly named 747 city bus to downtown. We got a gratifying big greeting from grandkids Evelyn and Joey (and mom Sabrina), with Amelia already being at her kindergarden. Evelyn and Joe headed off to daycare, Sabrina to work, and us - to our first pilgrimage stop!

Usually we show photos of terrific bakeries in places like Montreal or anywhere in Europe, but this exact brand of chocolate covered marshmallows is hard to find anywhere but here. This is the "Black Forest" flavour! Thanks, Sabrina.

We ditched our cycling or travel gear in favour of appropriate local garb. We were still pretty cold!

Montreal's premier cathedrale (actually - basilica) is Notre Dame. Not only does it have the same name as Notre Dame (de Paris) but it is located on St. Sulpice St. St. Sulpice cathedrale is to be our #2 stop in Paris. Actually all these famous names are strewn about here. We arrived at Notre Dame basilica using St. Jacques street, and another nearby lane is Notre Dame de Lourdes. In Montreal, finding places named for famous (and obscure) saints is no great trick!

Near Notre Dame we also spot a Ghostbusters type building!

Like the Notre Dame in Paris, Notre Dame de Montreal dates from the founding of the city. In this case the city was founded in 1642, and a stone church was built on this site in 1672. The church was operated by the (of course) Sulpicians, who took over from the Jesuits in 1657.

The current basilica is sort of disappointingly recent, having been started in 1824. However for Canada, 1824 is still quite ancient. The whole country only really kicked off in 1867. (This year is the Canada 150 celebration. The country is 150 years old - a joke by European standards.)

Despite its youth, the basilica is stuffed with great wood carving and fabulous stunning sanctuary and altar. Behind the sanctuary is another chapel, featuring a huge floor to ceiling brass mural like scene. We didn't get a shot of it this time because a mass was in session. The chapel is called the Chapel of Notre Dame du Sacre Coeur. This is an entirely different Notre Dame concept. It hearkens to the Sacre Coeur movement that we ran in to on a previous tour, at Paray le Monial.

Notre Dame charges $6 admission, which is fair enough given that the congregation may now be small and the costs of upkeep large. We were a little disappointed that we had not brought our Creantiales along, since pilgrims have free admission.

Detail of the towers that are part of the blue background.

We took the Metro (subway) to Notre Dame. The iconic (of Montreal) blue subway cars on rubber tires were a project in conjunction with Expo 67, 50 years ago. At the time I was a soon to be married youngster commuting on the new metro to a summer job. Very nostalgic.

In the Metro, bicycles are allowed but there are often very long flights of stairs to negotiate.

Despite the efficiency of the Metro we set off slowly walking our way back. We noticed that the old city "Vieux Montreal" is limited to just a few streets, and even there the old buildings are interspersed with newer infill ones, betraying a lack of preservation in past decades. It's a shame, although Montreal still does offer many good views of older architecture and of course many churches.

A little piece of church preserved when this ugly hospital building was put in

There are some nice building-scapes to be seen.

We walked along Ste. Catherine street, which includes the "Gay Village" district. Tellingly, this district is more extensive than Vieux Montreal.

Since Dodie's knees are an issue on this tour, it was not a great idea to launch a 5 km march into a biting wind. By the end Dodie could barely walk. Like seriously. We put her into a, yes, rocking chair with a warm blanket. Hopefully she will be ok. We have begun to think more seriously about pulling the 30 pounds of camping gear, to make cycling easy, and we are cancelling a planned forced march uphill to revisit the Maison des Cyclists, cycling bookstore and cafe. We don't need cheering up, though, because we have Amelia, Evelyn, Joe, Sabrina, and Josh here with us.

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