nos vacances, partie un

Instead of an excursion to New York (purchase of new car took care of that), James & I took a day trip to Montréal with our friends Dave & Ci on June 30. We parked the car near the Metro and took the subway downtown. We walked around, shopped, had lunch, and then made our way to the Infotouriste centre, where we decided to go on Gray Lines' two-hour double-decker bus sightseeing excursion.

James resorts to snapping a photo with his cellphone,
because I have the camera

Meanwhile, across the street,
Ci guards our stuff while waiting in the shade

Robert Burns statue
Square Dorchester, Montréal

In the park or "square" (it looked round to me!) adjacent to the Infotouriste centre is the above statue of Robert Burns. It made me wonder just how many cities in the world boast such statues. I remember taking a picture of one I came across in Milwaukee, WI, back in April 2006. This Bobby Burns, though, was sporting an unusual headdress. I watched in fascinated repulsion as a few people allowed pigeons to perch on their arms as they held out handfuls of birdseed. (I thought of how traumatized Mom or Ellen would be if they were asked to help.)

Our tour took us past many historic buildings...

Biosphere

...and a statue or two...

Illuminated Crowd
(The one at the back looks to me like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.)

...and then more historic buildings. Our photos don't really do the city justice.

L'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal
(Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal)

We'd been to St. Joe's in 2002, and it's quite impressive with its Italian Renaissance architecture and stained glass windows. There are 283 steps from the street to the Basilica, with a special flight of 99 wooden stairs specifically for those pilgrims who choose to ascend on their knees. None of our group took our piety to those heights. (Click here for other curious trivia.) Last time we visited, we posed the pig--James's bright pink carnival-game booty from days of yore which rose up the ranks to become the travelling mascot of whatever team/company for which he works. This time, it was a drive-by.

James with Ci & Dave

Since pretty much everybody in Montréal is bilingual, we could no doubt have gotten by with English only. I might even have been able to get by on my painfully halting, bumbling French-in-progress. Fortunately, however, the trilingual Ci has an excellent command of French, and both she and Dave know their way around the city. All in all, it was a great way to kick off a week's vacation.