May Maasdam Ft Lauderdale to Montreal cruise review Part 4B

I grabbed my camera and headed for a deck where I would have a better view after taking a few pictures from our verandah. Montreal has an Old town but the walls were removed long ago (1820-1840's) so it didn't have quite the visual impact that Quebec has but it is still quite a sight as you pull in via cruise ship. The docks were on the lower end of the old city section and we got numerous pictures of it as we docked.

After a breakfast in the dining room, we were going to be staying for 3 days in Montreal and had opted for getting off the ship on the last group, 10-10:30, we returned to our cabin to wait for our number, 24, to be called. HAL has changed their policies and allow you to wait in your cabin until your number instead of having to wait in a public room. It is a much way of disembarking passengers. Our room steward, Ade, had seen us leave for breakfast and had asked if we would to not sit on or use the bed as he was going to make it up while we ate breakfast. He also refilled the refrigerator with the standard stuff that we had taken out when we occupied the cabin and filled it with wine and diet pepsi.

At a little before 10 AM our number was called and we gathered up our carry-on luggage and made our way to the elevators to make it down several decks to where we would be leaving the ship. There was a line there and we joined it. On getting into the terminal we looked for our other 3 pieces of luggage and after a few minutes we found them. Our next task was to catch one of the luggage carriers who could get our luggage to the street where we hoped to find a cab to get to our hotel. After a couple of minutes I was able to get one of the gentemen moving the luggage to help us get to the street. He stayed with us through a rather long period where the policeman directing the traffic and assigning the cabs seemed to be picking other people first so he got a much better tip than I planned on giving. I had gotten to a bank earlier in the cruise and exchanged US dollars for Canadian ones so at least I had the right currency. The cab driver didn't know where our hotel was but I had a map with an address on it so after a little drive around old Montreal all we got there.

We had made reservations at a small Bed and Breakfast named Les Passants du Sans Soucy Auberge. It was highly rated on several web sites and as it turned out Peggy and John, our dinner companions on the ship, had also booked their room for there. It was our second experience with a small B&B, our first being in Venice last year, and this one also exceeded our expectations. The breakfasts were very well prepared and delicious. The service at the B&B was always helpful and gave us good advice on various places to eat dinners (more on that later). Our room was large and had two big windows that looked out on rue St Paul one of the main and one of the oldest streets in Old Montreal. The king sized bed was comfortable and came with multiple pillows so we didn't need to ask for extras. The room had a fake fireplace that not only provided atmosphere but also provided heat. The bathroom included a jacuzzi tub and was appreciated after walking around Montreal all day. It is an excellent place for really nice get away in Montreal. Their web site is:

http://www.lesanssoucy.com/en/indexen.htm

Enough about our rooms and on to Montreal. We naturally got there too early to check in so the hotel people said they would take care of the luggage and we wandered off to see some of the city with Peggy and John who had just arrived after walking up from the port.

We walked down rue St Paul towards the Place Jacquec Cartier which is large public square that runs from the port up the hill towards two large public buildings that are there. There is also a column with a statue of Nelson there that is one of the first erected to him. The two larges buildings are the Palace of Justice and the Montreal City hall. Right near there is a historic house that was the residence of one of the early governors of French Canada. we split with John and Peggy at this point after visiting the tourist office at the corner of the square. They had some other things to do and we wanted to check out the further end of Old Montreal. We went to the Bonsecours Market which is currently an upscale shopping area but previously has been the city hall, a concert hall and an agricultural market. Next to it we visited the Notre Dame de Bon Secours Chapel which is also known as the sailors chapel. It originally dates from the 1650's but the current church is from the 17th and 18th century. There were models of various ships hanging from the ceiling of the chapel donated by sailors over the years. We visited the museum and decided to purchase a museum pass that would allow us access into 30 different museums and also access to the subway and bus system for 3 days. It cost us $39 each and we got most of that back over the first two days and definitely ended up ahead over the 3 1/2 days of our visit. The museum visit included a visit to the church tower that overlooks the harbor. It was a great place to take pictures of the harbor including the Maasdam which was still there. The climb up was a little tiring but the pictures were worth it. Next you visited other areas of the museum. It was definitely a place worth visiting if you are going to be visiting Montreal.

We left here and walked back down rue St Paul. By now it was mid afternoon and we were both hungry so we found a restaurant that overlooked the harbor and had lunch. After that we went back to the hotel and were able to check in. The hotel staff had already moved all our luggage up to the room which was on what in the US what would be called the second floor but here was called the main or first floor. The first floor was called the street level. After resting a little and noticing it was getting close to 4:30 I wanted to go take some pictures of the Maasdam leaving Montreal. Trisha decided she could skip this extra walking so I went by myself. I wish I had taken time to put on my coat as the weather has cooled off quite a bit and on the harbor the wind was really quite cold. But I stuck it out until the Maasdam sailed around 5:20 or so. I got some good pictures of it pulling out of the dock and moving down the river. After that I walked back to the hotel and talk with the people there for a recommendation for some place for us to eat. Trisha had said she would like Italian so I asked about that and they suggested a restaurant right around the corner, Pavarotti on St Francois Xavier. I walked over and checked it out and got reservations for 7:30. By the way evidently for the nicer restaurants in Montreal reservations are almost required or at least they are on a holiday weekend. We got dressed and went to dinner. The meal was very good although even by ship's standards it took a little more time than I would have normally spent. We did the meal of the day, which included a soup or salad, an entree and a desert with coffee or tea. We had a nice bottle of wine and the meal finished around 10:30. We walked back to the hotel and called it a day.

Our second day in Montreal started with a great breakfast. I had french toast, juice, a fruit dish and coffee. Trisha had a ham and cheese omlet, juice, fruit dish and hot tea. It made for a great way to start the day. We planned on visiting several museums today so after getting ready we started out. We went to the Museum of Montreal, excellent in presentation and content, and the Museum of Archeology, which also had excellent and well presented exhibits. We dropped back by our room and then decided to try the subway and go to Mount Royal. The subway system in Montreal all is excellent and we got to our stop with no problems. We walked through a very nice area of Montreal including a pedestrian plaza where we found a sidewalk cafe and we had lunch. We then walked on to McGill university which is at the foot of Mount Royal. Here we realized the only way to the top seemed to be walking up a lot of stairs. We decided to give it up and we walked back to the subway and went back to the old Montreal area. We took a look at the Bascilica of Notre Dame of Montreal's exterior and decided to come back tomorrow and visit it. After getting back to the hotel we asked for recommendations again for a restuarant and one of them they gave us was Les Pyresnees which was on rue St Paul a couple of blocks from the hotel. It was a northern Spanish French restaurant that was family owned and run so we decided to try it at 8 PM. Once again the food and service were fantastic. One of the owners was our waiter and he suggested at excellent wine to go with our dinners. We did the same as the night before and did the dinner of the day with soup or salad, entree and desert. While neither meal was inexpensive, around $90 Canadian with a bottle of wine included, the food was well presented and tasted delicious. This is definitely a restaurant I would suggest people try if they are staying in Old Montreal. I had a salmon with a lobster sauce that was fantastic and Trisha had a pork dish again with a delicious sauce. Desert was also excellent. After dinner we walked back to the hotel after taking a short detour down to the harbor area.

There will be a part 4C because of the character limit.