Our hotel here in Montreal is on the periphery of Vieux-Montreal, the oldest quarter of the city.  the old town area runs along the St. Lawrence River.  The views of both the seaway and the cobble streets and old buildings are lovely.  We spent a couple of hours in the Basilique Notre-Dame, to the wonder and delight of our children.  They were surprised to find that a Canadian church could speak so clearly of a faith centuries older than the country itself.

We took a guided tour, which proved to be both inspirational and a cheap date.

While the original Notre-Dame was a chapel built in the 1600's, the present church was built between 1824 and 1829.  The architect, an Irish Protestant by the name of James O'Donnell, eventually converted to Catholicism and is buried in the crypt at Notre Dame.

And, well, if King Saint Louis the IX doesn't keep cropping up.  Turns out, the Sainte-Chapelle, in Paris, commissioned by the Good King himself was the inspiration for much of the interior decoration of Notre-Dame here in Montreal.

 one of many sanctuary lamps in Notre-Dame

While Mass is generally only held on weekends and special occasions, as it seats 3,000, daily Masses are held in the chapel of the Sacred Heart.  We attended the noon Mass there, King Louis behind us in a stained glass window.

Not much research went into our trip to Montreal, we were content with wandering about the old city, visiting Notre-Dame and St. Joseph's Oratory.  But in our wanderings in the city, we happened across a treasure.  As seems to be the trend in our trip so far, the guided tour was starting in five minutes.  The oldest chapel in Montreal, which, just a few years ago, an archeological find was unearthed when the chapel tried to make more room in its cellar.  I could go on for a very long time about this, but click here if that particular history interests you.  Here lies the work of Marguerite Bourgeoys and her remains, from 1700, the year she died, lies to the side of the sanctuary of the church.

 oldest chapel in Montreal

 cute cafe

 cute boy, cute fountain

 cute girls, cute flower pots

 cute husband

cute restaurant
Vieux-Montreal is tres cute.  My family looked tres adorable walking about there.  Here's proof.

Monday, August 29th, Montreal

Today was primarily a traveling day.   Coming into Montreal we stopped at the tomb of Kateri Tekakwitha, the Mohawk maiden of the 1600’s who was beatified as the first aboriginal saint of the Americas.  Her tomb is in a little church that sits on the St. Lawrence River, on reserve land.  It is humble and even a little run down, but there are some exceptionally beautiful artifacts there, including an original painting of Kateri painted by a priest shortly after her death, and a monstrance from the same era.

We crossed the river on the Pont de Champlain, and came in to Montreal, directly to our hotel.  Wind down time.  A short walk around the Vieux Montreal revealed the extraordinary contrast that happens in cities, where centuries collide; traditional architecture meets slick and glossy high rises.  The skyline was quite something.  Our hotel is about a one minute walk from the Basilica Marie, Reine-du-Monde.

For the folks back home, note, Mary, Queen of the World. 

Sunday, August 28th, more of the same.

So, it’s Sunday.  We went to Mass today with our hosts, and then mustered all our resources to complete of some Ottawa highlights.  First stop, Royal Canadian Mint.  We booked a guided tour, which cost us a meagre $12 for an interesting and informative tour of how collector and investment coins, all of solid gold and silver, are collected, purified, melted, formed, cut, washed, dried, stamped and inspected. 

Just a block up the street  from the mint is Ottawa’s Notre Dame Cathedral.  We visited the Cathedral and prayed there for our daughters away at school.  The church is beautiful, a testimony to the faithful who settled the area, their love of God and their ability to understand that they were building this house for future generations.  And we are grateful.


I can't share the magnitude of the beauty of this place...so just a few of the details, which intrigue me much.

detail from the ceiling

It is now getting going to be dusk soon, so we are going to wind our way out of the city and toward 24 Sussex Drive, home of our Prime Minister.  He invited us to tea, but it was getting late, and we had other things to see.  We strolled down Sussex, and came to the residence of the Governor General.  This entire strip of parkway, from the mint to 24 Sussex, and all around the neighbour hood is the home of several of the embassies of several countries of the world.

24 Sussex Drive, Gatehouse

Last stop, the residence of the Papal Nuncio to Canada.

Tomorrow…Montreal.

Saturday, August 28th, Ottawa

Yesterday was a big day.  We headed with our mammal friends, into Ottawa.  We toured the Rideau Canal, and three streets nearby.  The arboretum was where we stopped for a picnic lunch, is a “tree museum” with over 150 species of trees that create a sloping park with winding paths down to the water.

 
Ottawa is a stunningly beautiful city.

Heading downtown, we stopped at the unbelievably beautiful St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  We stopped at the ByWard (named for John By, and important historical guy) market for ice-cream and beaver tails before heading up to the parliament buildings.  Exploring the parliament buildings and grounds on a glorious late summer day was invigorating and an excellent place to climb statues and burn off some energy.

Our tour of the inside of the Parliament Buildings included the House of Commons, the Senate and the Parliament Library.  Chilling to stand in this place that has so influenced the decisions and events that have shaped Canada’s past and present.  Sad to tell, but just as we stepped inside for our tour of the Parliament, my camera battery died, I have not a picture to share with you.  So, a conspiracy, think you?   hmmm.  Anyway, use your imagination.  Or, come to Ottawa.  But here is the out of doors.  A very small portion of the out of doors, featuring baby Rosebud.

We sat outdoors at an Irish pub and restaurant for supper, had a well deserved glass of an Argentinian merlot.  Other big people had a beer.  The eight minors traveling with us ranging in age from one to seventeen drank a variety of drinks, including but not limited to:  breast milk, water, ginger ale and apple juice.  But their beverages were of little consequence to me.

We climbed a peak that rises opposite the Parliament Buildings, just at dusk.  This peak sports a bronze statue of Samuel de Champlain. And, if you don't know who he is...For Shame.  From this auspicious viewpoint, we watched the sunset.  Truly breathtaking overlooking the Ottawa River, downtown Ottawa and the city of Hull, Quebec across the river.  Once again, your imagination will be required.  Or, google "sunset" and I am certain you will view something lovely.

And then, the mean average highlight of the entire day and evening was a trip back to the lawn at Parliament Hill to watch the spectacular light and sound show, Mozaika, featured on the Parliament buildings.  The show itself is an incredible melee of Canadian history and culture, talent and achievements, conflicts and triumphs.  This was a brilliant end to a perfect day.

Sleepy children were pack into cars, and a few were carried in, sleeping the their longed for beds.   

Pictures coming from Sparky's camera tomorrow.

Mammals for Friends

Oh, we are in the Ottawa area staying with our dear mammal friends.  Of all the friends I miss that have moved to Ottawa in the past year, these are the ones I miss the most.  We stayed up until two in the morning, which was dumb.

Tomorrow we will overextend ourselves touring the Capitol. 

Friday, August 26th. Leaving the Bay.

Yes, we left the booming metropolis of Barry's Bay and the comfort of the Hilton, Metro.  It is on to Ottawa.  But not without a stop along the way to visit long, lost relatives in Petawawa, Ontario.  Note to those who have always been wary of Ontario outback vacations, we saw a lot of beautiful countryside.

Not ten minutes into our big trip to Ottawa, we stopped at the church in Wilno, Canada's oldest Polish settlement by the way, Ontario.   Is is the feast day today of Our Lady of Czestochowa, and this is a church dedicated to her. Wilno knows how to build a beautiful church.

Highway 17 guided us through the landscape of gently rolling farms and countryside. We visited the rest rooms in such featured Canadian towns such as Pembroke(a town famed for being the prettiest town in Canada), Cobden (population 1,000.  Imagine, exactly 1,000.  Unchanging.  This city council has the birth to death ratio down to a fine art) and Arnprior (main feature appeared to be the massive hydro-electric thingy).  An excellent idea would be for places which house public restrooms to post town histories and feature sheets for those just passing through for potty stops.

I'm serious!  I want to know more about you small towns without having to spend a lot of time there.  Really.

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom

We are at Scout's school today.  There is much highway between Ottawa and Barry's Bay.  It's a lovely drive and I'm sure there is some history here as well.  But what truly caught my eye today was road signs which I will upload or download tomorrow, or maybe both.

We are driving a very cute minivan which we be our home away from home for the next month.  The good news is, it's red so it matches my camera case, my purse and my shoes. Coincidence?  I think not.


Pictured above is the Hilton at the Metro, 
Barry's Bay, Ontario.

This is our proprietor.  He runs a smooth operation that moves seamlessly from meals to socializing to spiritual enrichment to music spanning a wide variety of listening preferences, from Puff the Magic Dragon to Gregorian Chant.  Tours of the Bay leave every hour whenever he feels like it every day of the week when he feels like it.
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Wednesday, August 24th.

We arrived safely in the Ottawa airport.  I love airports.  They are so noisy and busy.  Rosebud is overjoyed to be here and insists on carrying all of her luggage.  I think her joy is being freed from spending 5 or 6 hours in an 18 inch space.  It makes you be grateful for being able to move about freely.

So I have decided that if I have to ever choose between a good night's sleep and a good breakfast, I will always choose a good night's sleep.  This morning I had a good breakfast.

I just took my Alice to her flight to Florida.  Where there are hurricane warnings, snakes and spiders.  I'm sure she'll be fine.  We got a lecture about beef jerky at the airport.  We will never, ever, ever pack beef jerky on an international flight again.  Believe me, I'm convinced.

We love you!  We'll miss you, cutie pie. 

Tuesday, August, 23rd., Thanks, Jeeves.

This is Jeeves and Nan.  They drive us around and make us coffee.  This morning we pressed them into service at 4:45 a.m. to get us to the airport.  Good work, Jeeves and Nan!   Don’t think for one moment that your willing servitude goes unnoticed. 

At the moment, we are flying over the province of Saskatchewan, which outstanding feature is flatness.  I suddenly understand why men thought you could fall off the edge of the earth.  I can see it.

I can look down and see the prairie lakes in much the same way that one might look up and see shapes in the clouds.  A can-can girl.  The letter “A.”   A butterfly.  An amoeba.   Lowly worm.  A parasauralaphus.  After about one hour, flying is really boring.

The pilot must be pretty bored, too because he is standing facing us, the passengers ,and talking with his staff.

Good Example

I think its important to be a good example to children.  So, if I want them to be the kind of people to not get all in a big frantic mess when the are getting ready for a holiday, then I have to model that for them.

So, in light of the desire to be a good model, I went for my pre-holiday pedicure today. Sparkly Raspberry. Then Alice and I went for tea.  Then, I uh....laid in the sun again.  Then we went out for dinner to some mammal friends.  Then I checked all those things off my list.

Tomorrow we go to Mass.

Monday we pack, load the van and I clean the bathrooms.

In case the burglars need to use the facilities.  

Safety First

Today I packed our first aid supplies.  Among other things.  Princess bandaids for the girls.  Steri strips for the boys.  Advil for me and Sparky.  I'll pack my French phrase husband at the last minute. In fact, I think he can drive, too.  The boys are busy getting ready for our trip by playing 12 games of Stratego per day and kicking the soccer ball around in between.  They'll heave everything into their suitcases about 8 p.m. Monday evening, just before bed.

The big girls have been meticulously packing and re-packing, actually and in their minds for weeks now.  One must be prepared for every possible social scenario.  The boys are far less concerned with presentation.  A wrinkled shirt and a pair of jeans without holes will transcend most fashion mores. But not the professor.  He is meticulously dressed and his hair is trendy.  He packs a mean suitcase.

Not Green

I'm not very green.  I like a tangible hard copy of everything I paid a lot of money for.  For this reason, and for my intense distrust of anything that lives it's life on a computer, I make a hard copy of all airline tickets, car reservations, insurance papers, etc.  that one might need on a holiday.  I got a one inch binder, labeled it Big Trip, filled it with plastic sleeves and loose leaf paper (which by the way, the need for has not changed due to technology) and put all our paper stuff in it.  It gives me great comfort.

Rosebud, following my poor example of paper wastefulness, found a small Canada map that she said was a map of Boston.  She suggested we tape it to the dashboard of our rental van when we pick it up in Ottawa so that we will know how to get around in Boston.  This unhelpful piece of paper will, very likely, get taped to the van.  Because of the profound joy that Rosebud will find in being Helpful.

Note to self:  Do some geography with Rosebud this year.

Getting All Ready

So, we just got back from camp, and now we are kicking into high gear for our month long trip to a lot of places.  Confirmed plans are that we fly to Ottawa from the west coast on the 23rd of August and we fly home on the 24th of September.  Loose plan, Ottawa, Barry's Bay, Ontario, Ottawa again, Montreal and points east to Quebec City.  Then on to Boston and some other places, hoping to squeeze a little Connecticut and maybe Rhode Island in there,  Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Some random places in Virginia.  From somewhere in Virgina we will head north through Pennsylvania back to Ottawa.

Itinerary subject to random and erratic change without notice or apology.

So, when I get ready for a trip, the first thing I do is clean my house.  Then, when I am utterly satisfied that any burglar would be impressed by my order and cleanliness upon breaking in, I start packing.  I make a list for the kids of what they need to pack, with clear parameters about how many of each item.  For the non-readers, at this point in life that is only Baby Rosebud, I draw pictures of the items to pack and a number beside them. This is very funny because I draw badly.  She has to come to me repeatedly and say, Mama, what are these? And then I say, Oh, Rosebud, that is a pair of pajamas.  Then she says, Mama, it looks more like a jaguar standing on its hind feet.  And then I say, well, honey, in context, it would be unlikely that I would ask you to pack a jaguar on our Big Trip.  And then she says, Good Point. 

And then, get this.  I don't check their bags.  I think, well, live and learn.  They do pretty well. And, if there are any major glitches I understand there are stores in both Ontario, Quebec and the New England states.

If Rosebud could make her own list, though, it would be twenty seven pretty dresses, each with a matching pair of underpants.  Sparkly shoes and her fake Minnie mouse cell phone. 
Im. Pract. Ic. Al.