Autumn in Canada #14 Montreal

Autumn in Canada

 #14

Sunday, October 13, 2019
Montreal, Canada

          After yesterday’s city tour and hike up to the Chalet du Montagne, at Mount Royale, we were achy and sore. We had breakfast at Bistro le Boulevard in the hotel. This was rather fancy, great table service, but no buffet. The food was very nice the menu very French too.

          Bill had found a supermarket only a couple of blocks away called “Provigo”. We walked about 3 blocks and took an escalator up to another escalator to reach the supermarket or “Gran Marché”. It was quite a gourmet market but at reasonable prices. They featured at least a dozen different types of pâté, a fantastic seafood section, very swanky meat section, and all the familiar brands. Janet was even able to get a loaf of gluten-free bread. We collected some fresh pineapple chunks, red pears, the aforementioned pâté and some small bottles of spring water. This way we could have a picnic lunch at the Chalet de Montagne on Mount Royale during our second hop-on/hop-off tour today. 

          When we arrived at the tourist info center to catch our vintage double-decker London bus, there was already a line of people. Bill sat up top in the open air while Janet stayed in the warmer downstairs. Most of the trip was a repeat of yesterday, but the sky was clear, and the colors seemed to have gotten more intense after last night’s light rain. At the stop before ours at the Park Royale, Bill went back downstairs with Janet.

          We went through the various parts of Montreal some with lovely homes and large parks with lovely landscaping

           Because today was Sunday and the day before Canada’s Thanksgiving Day, the traffic and crowds were particularly heavy. We headed straight for the Chalet for lunch. We wanted to eat on the steps of the Belvedere (a broad horseshoe-shaped plaza outside the Chalet), overlooking the city of Montreal from 734 ft elevation (more than five times as high as Signal Hill back home which is only 148 ft above sea level). It was way too cold so sat on a bench inside the Chalet. We then browsed through the gift shop. We headed back to where we caught the trolley. With the horrendous traffic coming up the mountain, we knew the bus would be late. Two trolleys came by but were full. As a result eight of us spent almost two-hours waiting to get a bus back downtown. It was getting colder by the half-hour!

          We got back to the tourist center at 5:00pm exhausted. We plopped onto a couple of chairs inside before heading back. We walked through Dorchester Park and were treated to a serenade by a carillon or chimes from who-knows-where, of Strauss waltzes. It was a beautiful way to end our day’s adventures.

          To warm-up we stopped at the lobby and had hot chocolate and watched the city locals walk by in various forms of cold-weather wear.

          A swim and soak in the whirlpool tub were in order. We found we had the whole pool and whirlpool to ourselves. so very peaceful. We spent the rest of the evening watching HGTV and looked out at the amazing night scene out our tenth-floor window.