A Couple of Days in Montreal/Pari päivää Montrealissa

I loved the location of our hotel in Old Montreal. We were able to walk to all our destinations. The only place we couldn't walk to was the Botanical Garden. My #1 wish while in Montreal was to visit the Chinese Gardens of Light to see the nearly 1000 glowing lanterns at the Botanical Garden (their Japanese Garden was lit up also), but we were not able to go.

Since this was a business trip, our evenings were scheduled with conference activities, and on Saturday, when we could have stayed a little longer to go to the garden, I was suffering from a migraine, so we decided to head home (boo.) The exhibit is on until November 4th, and this year is the 20th anniversary year. We heard it's magnificent - so go if you can!!



During the day whenever we had some free time, we walked all over Old Montreal, Old Port, and toured the Notre Dame Basilica, which was my # 2 wish to see while visiting, and was so worth the time and money.



It was gorgeous! Definitely a must see in Montreal. If you visit during Mass, you can enter for free, but paying the $5 admission fee gave us also a tour, both the main sanctuary, as well as the smaller Chapel of Notre-Dame du Sacre-Coeur. We also heard the organ (click here for a very short video), which has four keyboards, 99 stops and approximately 7000 pipes.



You can read more about the Notre Dame Basilica by clicking here.



Despite us walking all over Old Montreal, and even visiting some interesting shops, we didn't buy anything but a few cups of coffee. And from Chinatown we picked up some mooncakes for this weekend's Mid-Autumn Festival.
 


On Friday night our group went on a Amphibus tour after a delicious dinner at Modavie. The city looked magical in the dark.



We had gone to Montreal in 2006 as a family, right before Little Miss joined our family. It was another business trip (in fact, same type of conference), and we had taken the kids to Biodome. I wish I could give you a review of our visit there, but I can barely remember it. It might be time to return with the kiddos. If and when we do, we'll also plan on seeing the Explorail, Canadian Railway Museum, which sounds fascinating. A lot to see and do in Montreal, for sure!

The question is, can the Mothership navigate the streets of Montreal?

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Vietimme pari kolme päivää Montrealissa, mutta konferenssin takia meillä oli aika tiivis aikataulu. Aina kun oli mahdollisuus, lähdimme kiertelemään Vanhaa kaupunkia, missä hotellimmekin sijaitsi. Notre Damen katedraali oli vaikuttava kokemus. Chinatownista haimme kuukakkuja kiinalaista syysfestivaalia varten. Ykköstoiveenani oli Kasvitieteellisen puutarhan kiinalainen puutarha, missä parhaillaan on miltei tuhat lyhtyä, muttemme valitettavasti päässeet sinne. Ehkä ensi kerralla. Pääsisiköhän Montrealia kiertelemään Mothership-asuntoautollamme?:)