Montréal
May 21, 2011
Our ship was supposed to sail down the St. Lawrence River to Montréal, but there had been a lot of rain. The river was high enough that the ship might not make it under all of the bridges. So the ship stayed in Québec for the night, giving us extended sightseeing hours there. And we had to get up very early in the morning to catch buses to take us on to our destination. I was taken to the Queen Elizabeth, the Fairmont hotel in Montréal where I would stay three nights. It was a very handy location. While I waited for my room to be ready, I used the wifi to catch up on my email, and then I checked out the area between the hotel and McGill University.
I had a nice room overlooking the dome of the Catholic cathedral. I took photos with my cell phone of the view from my window so I could email one to some friends to let them know where I was and how nice a view I had. Obviously, the window could have stood some cleaning. You can also see some of the cathedreal and probably the window in my room in the fourth picture here. Interior shots are posted on a the next page here.
Once I settled in a bit, I headed down below the hotel to catch the Metro down to the Old Town. First I went to Notre Dame Basilica.
Expo 67, said to have been the most successful world's fair of the twentieth century, was on two islands in the river. Most of the temporary buildings are long gone. The site is now mainly a park. The Islands didn't move to Washington, DC, with the eponymous baseball team.
After an active day of sightseeing, I made a reservation for the Beaver Club, the only CAA/AAA five diamond restaurant in town at that time, as I recall. It was conveniently located on the bottom floor of my hotel and would not be open the other two nights I would be there. One could order à la carte or from the complete meals as pictured below, as did I. At the end of the dining experience, the waiter rolled over the dessert cart. I couldn't make up my mind. So the waiter said in his French accent, “I will fix you a medley.“ So I got to sample a good range of what they had to offer. Quality, quantity, and service all lived up to all those diamonds.
