Montreal, Canada - Day 1

 YOU GUYS... It's only 5 and a half hours from my home but I FINALLY MADE IT TO CANADA! Country #43 for the Bailey's as a collective group. My 49th as a human.

It's only about 2.5 hours to Montreal from Stowe, so it was an easy drive.  Canada, two miles away.

We passed this sign and I literally freaked out.  This is a geography nerd's DREAM SIGN. I actually didn't get a picture of it, and it turns out they don't have the same sign going south on I-89 so I couldn't get a pic on the way home.  But man, this is cool!  And it's crazy to think this was once the northern boundary of the colony of Virginia! (YEP!)

We finally made it to the border after making our way (very carefully) through Smuggler's Notch on our way north out of Stowe.  At the border, we had to show our ArriveCAN app which we used to scan all of our vaccine info, although they didn't even scan our QR code.  They used our passports and the lady said, "Oh yeah, your ArriveCAN stuff is in here."  Really?  Was it? While we waited in line, I saw this monument to the treaty between Canada and the US from 1925. The Canada-United States border is the longest border in the world (good thing we are friends with them!) This treaty completed the international boundary between the two countries, which had been in dispute for some time (as a whole, not just in this location).

We finally made it into the city of Montreal, which is WAY bigger than I expected it to be! Our hotel was easy to find and we were able to check in early before heading out to see a few sights before the end of the day. We spotted this statue in Victoria Square on our way down to the Notre Dame basilica and I made Grant pose like this. I think he was kind of annoyed with me.  I like that his name is in the upper left corner of this picture though.

Our destination was the Basilica of Notre Dame.  You can see it sort of resembles the one in Paris (minus the Rose window) and it's architectural style was the first Gothic Revival church in all of Canada!

I have been waiting to go to this church for a LONG time.  

You'll never believe this, but Todd's great, great grandparents were MARRIED in this church! His great grandfather was baptized here, too.  His great, great grandfather passed away here in 1896, but his great, great grandmother passed away in Boston 1898, so it sounds like they moved to Boston somewhere in between.

This church (but not this particular building) was founded by Jesuit priests in 1642, and expanded when Sulpician priests arrived in 1657.  Construction on the current church started in 1824 when the congregation grew too large for the older church.

While many people are buried in the crypts of other famous Catholic churches, there is only one person buried here:  James O'Donnell, the architect of this church, who was actually Anglican most of his life, converting to Catholicism only a few months before he died.

There have been plenty of famous weddings here though! Celine Dion also married René Angélil here in 1994!

Believe it or not, for over 50 years this was the LARGEST church in all of North America!  It's been passed over by many church since then (particularly the "mega" churches you find in the American heartland). It's still big and can hold roughly 8,000 people for mass!

This wood carved staircase curves around until it reaches the Pulpit of Truth and it's just incredible.

Notre Dame actually became a minor basilica in 1982 when Pope John Paul II elevated it.  I've mentioned this before in other posts but major basilicas only exist in Rome. Every basilica outside of Rome is a minor basilica.

While you are probably more familiar with the OTHER Notre Dame (that one in Paris!), this one is one of the most visited sites in all of Canada. About 11 million people a year visit this church (maybe fewer during COVID!) but that is only about 1 million fewer than those who visit the one in Paris!  This church is actually inspired by Saint Chapelle in Paris, which has a similar blue ceiling.

I like Notre Dame in Paris but it's hard to argue that this is one of the most beautiful churches in the world.

I walked around by myself for a bit (ahhh, so nice for a change) and saw a quiet little chapel called Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur.  This was added in 1889 for smaller ceremonies (you know... when the main sanctuary was just too overwhelming.) A fire destroyed most of this chapel in 1978 but it has obviously since been rebuilt.  There are actually a couple of skylights in here, letting in the natural light.

They do a laser light show in here (yep) called Aura and I wish I could have seen that!  I didn't know about it because I think I overpacked my summer and didn't have enough time to do that level of research. Good thing this church does just fine on its own!

There are about 7,000 pipes on this organ, believe it or not, and it dates back to 1891.

It's kind of hard to follow up the great Notre Dame basilica, but we tried.  The English Pug and the French Poodle (aka: The Two Snobs) by Canadian Marc André J. Fortier is a cute set of statues on either end of the block at the Place D'Armes in front of Notre Dame.  This English guy is staring at the (French) Basilica of Notre Dame, a major player in the Catholic Church in French Quebec, while the French woman at the end of the block is turning her nose up at the Bank of Montreal, a "symbol of English power."  Meanwhile, the dogs are looking at each other!

Next door to Notre Dame is the lovely Saint-Sulpice Seminary, which feels very much like it belongs in Europe. Construction began on this building in 1684 and that clock from 1701 is the oldest public clock in North America, the building is the second oldest in all of Montreal, and the gardens directly behind it are the oldest private gardens in North America. Tons of superlatives!

Grant got a kick out of the fact that this coffee shop (which we had apparently seen on one of the travel programs we watch) had "British Empire Building" on the side of it. It was built in 1874.

We decided to walk down to the waterfront area which is bustling with people and sights to see.  Including some weird, half eaten fake fruit on the top of this energy zone hut.

The Old Town area is the section of town that will make you question whether you are in North America or Europe.

Me in Montreal under a flower tree drinking some yummy mango boba tea.  Also: please note that God put my legs on wrong. My left leg should have been my right leg and vice versa (you will always find me standing like this!)

We swung by the IGA for some snacks for the kids, and on our way back to the hotel spotted this cute acrobatic statue.

St. James United Church was a church we passed on our way to dinner, and although it's super pretty, what you can't see is a statue just under the pink and black sign (on the church, to the right in the photo).  It's the same statue that we saw in Capernaum, Israel of a man sleeping on a park bench, one made by Canadian Timothy Schmalz called, "Jesus the Homeless."  

The kids were tired and wanted some alone time, so Todd and I went out to dinner to NYKS Bistro where you KNOW I had to get some poutine with that foie gras sauce!

And you know this had to happen, too.

Whoa, look at that sunset behind Todd!  So pretty! Is the sky on fire??

Lastly, even though I can't stand Jack Daniels, I got a huge kick out of this soap dispenser at NYKS!  I need Makers Mark soap dispensers in my house!  (Of note: The soap was regular soap. It did not smell like JD, thank goodness!) 

It was a great first day in Montreal!