Getting an early start on these holidays has been perhaps the hardest thing to do, so we were quite excited to be able to leave the accommodation early - well for us.
With Mark leading the way, we caught a train to the hop on, hop off bus and made our first stop down near the wharf and close to Old Montreal. We walked around the streets for a while, really enjoying the architecture of past decades/centuries.
We made our way up through Old Montreal to Notre Dame Basilica. We had to queue up here to get in and as it was Sunday, we needed to wait until the Mass was over before we could go in. It was amazing inside - the wait was so well worth it. The beauty kind of hit you as you walked in and I was so moved by it that I had tears in my eyes. Liz and Mark have seen Notre Dame in France and said that this one did seem to have more colour in it.
We then made our way to the Cultural Centre to see a Michaelangelo exhibit that had caught our eye the previous day - The Sistine Chapel. The Cultural Centre had gorgeous multi-coloured panes of glass in the side wall and we were so lucky to get there at a time of day when the colours of the panes were reflected on to the floor … beautiful.
The exhibit itself was very interesting. They had taken photos of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and had enlarged these. There was a section which was overhead and then they were spread out upright around the room. The panels were much easier to view like this than by looking up at a ceiling. Of course, nothing will ever beat the original, I am sure. We had an audio tour and it dealt with each panel and Michaelangelo’s thoughts, ideas and possible meanings as he portrayed each section of the Bible. It was also interesting to learn that as predominantly a sculptor, his appointment to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was viewed in a very dim light by other celebrated artists of the day.
We then made our way back to the accommodation with Scout Leader Mark leading the way. There was also some kind of Red Bull event on that day, so some sections of the streets were closed off. It was ending by then, but from what we could see, passing through, it had been a very vibrant event.
It had been a big day of walking and Mark and Liz had been very patient with the old girl (me). When we returned to the accommodation, Mark and Liz went upstairs and recovered in the pool while I just had a shower, put my pj’s on and more or less just flopped.
Tomorrow, we leave Montreal and head to Quebec. I really liked Montreal - good vibe to the city with some amazingly beautiful architecture.