Canada - Part 3: Montreal

After leaving Quebec City, we drove a few hours to reach Montreal.  We took a slightly scenic route along the St. Lawrence River to see the small towns.  We stopped at a local art/painting open market, a playground, a park, and saw a couple of pretty churches including Église Catholique Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade (pictured below) and Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap.   As usual, the kids each wanted to hold Snoopy's leash:

Montreal was very different from  Quebec City.  Montreal was full of foreigners (both English speakers and other languages), whereas Quebec City seemed to just be French Canadians speaking French.  Quebec was quaint, more historic, and charming, and Montreal was cosmopolitan, and charming in its own way.  

Since nearly all churches in Quebec Province are named 'Notre Dame', this one in particular was 'Notre Dame Basilica de Montreal':

Inside a different Notre Dame church, Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel:

By the entrance to Chinatown:

Since we had done so many things that Nate and I wanted to do, we spent most of a day at the Montreal Science Centre, letting the kids explore the way they wanted to.  It was a wonderful science center for kids, and we had to push the kids to move along to the next exhibit because everything was fun.  Here they are making a huge bubble around themselves:

They built an arch bridge out of foam pieces.  It was even strong enough to hold Nate.  

We spent quite a bit of time making wind-powered vehicles with parachutes/sails out of random items, and then raced them along a path with air blowing.  

In the middle of Montreal is a large hill/small mountain called Mont Royal.  The city of Montreal was named after that mountain.  We cheated and drove up instead of hiking.  

Kids chasing seagulls in the Mt. Royal parking lot:

From the Mt. Royal chalet, we had lovely views of the city, which we shared with many tourists and tour groups.

We also went to the Atwater Market for some lunch and the most delicious strawberries ever (we should have gotten a larger container).  Just a block away is the Lachine Canal.  

Karina decided she needed to sit precariously on a dock along the Lachine Canal:

Next up was Fort Chambly National Historic Site, about half an hour from Montreal.  It was used in the 1600's and 1700's to protect travelers on the river from the Iroquois, a Native American people.  

The kids dressed up and went on a cool quest inside.

They had an old lawn bowling set with large logs/wooden pins and a wooden ball. We took turns trying to knock the pins down.

Among the many children activities was one where they chose among cards to be a particular person and tried to smuggle goods from Canada to the U.S. without being caught.  They had to make various choices along the way on displays in different rooms.  (Our kids did successfully smuggle their goods and escaped the authorities).

After completing a treasure hunt book at Fort Chambly, the kids earned a special necklace.  Kids can earn these necklaces across all of Canada at different national parks and historic sites.  Ours earned four necklaces each on our Canada trip at Fort Chambly, Grosse Ile, Fortifications of Quebec, and the Saint Louis Fort.  They were very pleased with their collections: 

Canada was a wonderful vacation and we explored and learned a lot.  I would definitely spend more time in Canada in the future.