Finsatsea: September 2 - Montréal, Quebec, Canada

After a lovely sailaway yesterday evening from Quebec City we made our way up the St. Lawrence to Montréal. It was a beautiful night on the river with a half moon casting its shimmering light on the water. Montreal was the end of a segment of the cruise so there were lots of people getting off and a whole new group coming on, all of them needing to learn the rules of the road.

After the rush of people disembarking I decided to go ashore and walk up to the Place d’Armes and the Basilica de Nôtre-Dame. It was another lovely, sunny day and we docked very close to the old part of the city. Samuel de Champlain founded a fur trading post in the location in 1611. The actual settlement of Montreal didn’t come until 1642 when a group of colonists arrived from France. It remained a French colony until 1760 when the British captured it, not long after capturing Quebec. In the Treaty of Paris concluding the Seven Years War, the entire colony was ceded to Britain.

During the American Revolution General Benedict Arnold invaded Quebec on behalf of the Continental Congress and in fact captured Montreal in November, 1775. Following negotiations for prisoner exchanges and in the face of an impending British attack, Montreal was abandoned. That’s a very abbreviated version of some of the city’s history.

Montreal is the second largest city in Canada. The metropolitan area has a population of more than four million. French is the official language, but more than 50% of the population is bilingual speaking both French and English. Until the 1970s it was the commercial capital of Canada only then being surpassed by Toronto. It has hosted the Summer Olympics and has a rich cultural and sports scene.

The Basilica of Nôtre-Dame is a magnificent structure in the Gothic Revival style. Unfortunately, one of the two towers is shrouded in tarps because renovation work is being done. That doesn’t make for really good photos. Inside the basilica the vaulted ceilings are painted in deep blue and decorated with golden stars. The walls are decorated in rich tones of blue, red, purple and both gold and silver. The organ in the loft above the entrance dates to 1891. The stained-glass windows depict scenes from the history of Montreal rather than biblical scenes. It is a stunningly beautiful church. I can only imagine what it must be like to be there when the organ is playing and a choir singing.

The main entrance to the Basilica

The Nave of the Basilica

Main Altar

Look at the beautiful columns and detail of the galleries above

The organ I would have loved to hear played

After leaving the Basilica I walked around a little in the Place d’Armes just outside the building. In the center of the square is a statue of Paul de Chomedey, the founder of Montreal. There are trees and benches around the square and of course a number of street musicians. I sat for a while and watched people, one of my absolute favorite pastimes. I walked down a few of the streets around the Place but I didn’t see much of interest. One shop did have a lot of unique things but they were all from Nepal, not this part of the world. Eventually I walked back to the ship to cool off because it had gotten quite hot in the sun. So that was my day in Montreal. Tomorrow and the next day we’ll be back in Quebec. It will be déjà vu all over again in the words of Yogi Berra.