A day in Montreal
With the jet lag I couldn't sleep well and woke up around 5am. Lakmali's mother had prepared a huge jug of tea, after having that we had a full Sri Lankan breakfast, rice & curry and hoppers. After a lot of coaxing the kid woke up, what a cute boy my friend's got! I had brought a stuffed Kangaroo and Koala for him from Australia, I felt I should have brought more, but as I travel light, that's all I could bring. Lakmali had to attend a mandatory ultrasound course and I joined Aruna to drop her at the railway station to the city. As we went out, the place was very cold, 0 celcius and there were icicles hanging from the trees, I borrowed one of Aruna's jackets, I should have prepared better for this trip!
On our way it started to snow, for the first time I saw snowing! It was amazing... We dropped Lakmali at the railway station and came back home to pick the kid and drop him off at the day care. Aruna has kindly taken half day to show me around Montreal, which was very nice of him. I helped to feed the kid on our way to his day care, damn, having a kid is a challenge!
We dropped the kid at the day care and took off to city, there was more than the usual traffic jam, and we managed to get to our first stop St Joseph's Oratory of mount Royal, the largest church of Canada.
It was a huge structure and there was some construction going on around the place. It appeared to have been built with some kind of stone. Inside the church the main praying area was large, but I have been to bigger churches than this I felt. The ceiling was not as tall as I expected it to be and there were nice glass mosaic arts decorating the windows.
When we came out of the church it was snowing heavily. I was very happy to see the snow.
We drove back to kid's day care and parked the car there and decided to use the Montreal tube for the rest of the day as the traffic was heavy. The day pass on the rail was 10 dollars and you could travel as much as you want with that pass. Mind you they only announce in French on the Montreal tube.
We took the tube to Notre-Dame. Notre-Dame is one of the most beautiful church's I have every seen. The wooden pillars, beautiful altar and glass windows gave a majestic look to the entire place. In my opinion if you visit Montreal for just one day this is probably the one place you shouldn't miss.
When we left Notre-Dame it was snowing even more heavily. I was even happier to see more snow.
We took a stroll in the snow looking for a place to find poutine, the signature dish of Montreal. After walking around for about half an hour, we managed to land in a small joint which served hot, tasty, heavy poutine. It was too heavy and I couldn't finish mine.
It was time for Aruna to get back to his work. But he still came with me to make sure I found my next destination, the Barbie Expo. It was quite close to his work place too, so I didn't feel that guilty for wasting more of his time. Barbie expo is again a one of a kind experience you need to have in Montreal. It is the largest collection of barbie dolls in the world. Located in a shopping complex, it has free entry and you could go through a huge collection of barbies, dressed in different themes and by world renowned fashion labels. I especially liked the vampire barbie.
After seeing the barbies, it was time for my last destination, I had to see the Magill university before I left Montreal. I took another 1.5km stroll in the snow searching for the Magill university and finally found a part of it. Universities with old buildings always intrigues me.
It was time for me to catch my train to Toronto. I took a tube to the Bonaventure station and according to the tube map it is connected to the central station of Montreal. That's kind of a misguide! You need to follow a lot of French signs to get to the Montreal central station from the Bonaventure station traversing through an underground shopping mall, luckily 2 French girls came to my rescue. Wish Montreal gave a bit more place for English too. After about an hour of rest in the station, it was time to my 5h train ride to Toronto.
On our way it started to snow, for the first time I saw snowing! It was amazing... We dropped Lakmali at the railway station and came back home to pick the kid and drop him off at the day care. Aruna has kindly taken half day to show me around Montreal, which was very nice of him. I helped to feed the kid on our way to his day care, damn, having a kid is a challenge!
We dropped the kid at the day care and took off to city, there was more than the usual traffic jam, and we managed to get to our first stop St Joseph's Oratory of mount Royal, the largest church of Canada.
We drove back to kid's day care and parked the car there and decided to use the Montreal tube for the rest of the day as the traffic was heavy. The day pass on the rail was 10 dollars and you could travel as much as you want with that pass. Mind you they only announce in French on the Montreal tube.
We took the tube to Notre-Dame. Notre-Dame is one of the most beautiful church's I have every seen. The wooden pillars, beautiful altar and glass windows gave a majestic look to the entire place. In my opinion if you visit Montreal for just one day this is probably the one place you shouldn't miss.
When we left Notre-Dame it was snowing even more heavily. I was even happier to see more snow.
We took a stroll in the snow looking for a place to find poutine, the signature dish of Montreal. After walking around for about half an hour, we managed to land in a small joint which served hot, tasty, heavy poutine. It was too heavy and I couldn't finish mine.
It was time for Aruna to get back to his work. But he still came with me to make sure I found my next destination, the Barbie Expo. It was quite close to his work place too, so I didn't feel that guilty for wasting more of his time. Barbie expo is again a one of a kind experience you need to have in Montreal. It is the largest collection of barbie dolls in the world. Located in a shopping complex, it has free entry and you could go through a huge collection of barbies, dressed in different themes and by world renowned fashion labels. I especially liked the vampire barbie.
After seeing the barbies, it was time for my last destination, I had to see the Magill university before I left Montreal. I took another 1.5km stroll in the snow searching for the Magill university and finally found a part of it. Universities with old buildings always intrigues me.
It was time for me to catch my train to Toronto. I took a tube to the Bonaventure station and according to the tube map it is connected to the central station of Montreal. That's kind of a misguide! You need to follow a lot of French signs to get to the Montreal central station from the Bonaventure station traversing through an underground shopping mall, luckily 2 French girls came to my rescue. Wish Montreal gave a bit more place for English too. After about an hour of rest in the station, it was time to my 5h train ride to Toronto.
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