It was 40 degrees this morning but it turned out to be a beautiful, cloudless, sunshiney day. We boarded a bus aroundd 8:30 to begin our visit to Montreal. Montreal is a city with a population of
3 1/2 million people respresenting over 80 different nationalities or ethnic groups. The city is located on an island as it is surrounded by the St. Lawrence River. Founded by the French in the 1600's, Montreal and the Province of Quebec has gone back and forth between the English and French. While now a part of Canada and therefore under English rule, the French influence is very strong. French is the main language of Montreal and all road and business signs are in French. Most everyone speaks French, but most everyone understands and speaks at least a little English as well.
Our first stop today was at the Montreal Observatory which is an integral part of the Olympic stadium that was built for the 1976 Olympics. 
The Montreal Tower is the highest inclined tower in the world, with a 175 meter elevation and a 45 degree angle. By comparison, the Tower of Pisa, only has a 5 degree incline. To reach the obseratory you ride a 2-level glass funicular that can accommodate 76 passengers at a time. The two minute trip is the only one if the world that goes on a curved and inclined structure on a total of 266 meteres of rail. At the top we could see for miles around Montreal. 
The Olympic Village - home for the athletes during the Olympic Games - is a huge building across the street. It is currently being refurbished into condominiums.
Montreal Botanical Gardens from the Montreal Observatory
Olympic Village
Next we went to the Biodome which houses all the ecosystems located in the Americas and Antarctica. 
The waters around Newfoundland, the mountains of the Rockies, the Rainforest of South America, and the ice of Antarctica were all represented in a building that was once the Velodrome for bicycle racing in the Olympics. Large aquariums, jungles, rocky formations, and icey slopes gave home to fish, birds, monkeys, aligators, lynx, capybara, beavers, river otters and other species were observed in their natural habitat. The lynx looked out from its rocky den with three babies snuggling close to her. Puffins and Penguins in their natural habitat looked right at home. 
George & Carol DeWitt, our Tailgunners, posing before the ocean.
After lunch at the Montreal Underground - a large mall that is totally under the city, we reloaded the bus for a tour of Old Montreal and the three mountains which strangely arise in the city. 
Our next stop was at the Notre-Dame Basilica - one of the most beautiful churches we have seen. 
Our guide led us through the cathedral that was built between 1824 and 1829. While construction of the building took a total of 7 years, the completion of the interior took over 30 years.
Montreal underground is literally under this church.
The pulpit in the Basilica of Notre Dame
Our last stop was at the Point-a-Calliere museum for a guided tour. 
Look very closely at this statue. Can you see the two
The first part of the tour was a movie that covered the development of Montreal beginning hundreds of thoursands of years ago and working its way to present day. I have never seen a presentation quite like this one. We wore headphones and chose in which of 8 languages we wanted to hear the movie's presentation. Following the movie we were taken in smaller groups down under the building for an archiology lesson about the old city of Montreal that has been discovered. We saw a cemetery that was used in the 1600's and the foundation of a builiding that was built in the 1800's and was torn down in the 1950's. It was a little difficult to comprehend everything presented, but the tour overall was interesting.
Look very closely at this statue. Can you see the two faces looking at each other? Hint: Look at the sky on the sides of the statue - not the statue.
This represents the peace treaty signed by the Indians and the French when they met face to
face.
There were statues everywhere in this city. The two below were especially interesting.
These 2 statues represent the two different sides represented in Montreal. The woman represents France and she is turning up her
nose to the English controlled bank. The man, representing England, is turning up his
nose to the French controlled Catholic Church. Their two dogs however longingly look
at each other - wishing they could get together.
Rene, our tour guide for the day, had told us earlier that we would be taking a Shakespearian break later in the day. That turned out to be a "to pee or not to pee" break. Unfortunately we didn't get to take that break until we arrived back at the campground, and by that time it was badly needed.
Tomorrow is a free day with no activities scheduled until tomorrow night. I'm sure we wil find something to do. If so, I'll report on that later, Until then, Happy Trails!
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