Northeast Tour Day 12 (Montreal, Quebec)

So we drove to downtown Montreal to go explore the city, we parked in the parking garage below Place Ville Marie (a shopping center in the heart of Montreal) and walked up to the food court to have a cup of coffee and have a look at the map to plan our day.

Here's the thing: as I've said before, I love the French language, whenever I hear it I immediately think of quaint Parisian cafes, and the treasure troves known as "patisseries", which is why when someone speaking French when I am ordering from Dunkin Doughnuts just feels somehow. . . wrong.
Now that we had our bearings (and I was fully charged up with caffine) we were ready to take on the city. The first thing that you notice about Montreal is how densely packed it is. And not just the downtown either, throughout the city condos and row houses are the norm, and gone are the gigantic American lawns that I've grown so accustomed to seeing which add so much sprawl to a city. Largely, I like cities with dense urban areas, because the city tends to have a more bustling feel to it, but the one huge downside of it is the traffic. And the traffic was especially bad in Montreal, which didn't seem to have the infrastructure to deal with the droves of traffic that congested the whole city. Streets were too narrow, busses too few, and the metro was inadequate so getting around was a bit of a stress, but once you're on foot, Montreal is a beautiful, bustling metropolis.

The first stop on our walk was Bonsecours Market which served as the main public market of Montreal for more than a century, and even housed the Parliament of United Canada for one session in 1849. Today the market functions as an up-scale mall, a hall and banquet rooms, and municipal office space.

From there we made wended our way through the city to Montreal City Hall, or Hotel de Ville de Montreal if you prefer. It is a gorgeous 5 story building, just a few blocks away from Basilique Notre Dame de Montreal, which was a fantastic cathedral, that we just didn't have time to tour.

We continued on, past the Cathedral of Mary, Queen of the World (which is a scale model of the famous Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome) and on to the Montreal Art Museum where we spent the rest of our afternoon. I love visits to the museum, in this one we saw a great exhibit of functional art, or furniture pieces that were artistic as well. It is facinating to see such common items presented in such an uncommon and beautiful way.