September 9, 2017: Notre-Dame Basilica and Montreal Tour
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At noontime today we began our travel up to Montreal, there to meet up with the other five folks. Nancy and Karl took an Air Canada flight from DFW a bit before our own flight on American. Prudence, Ron, and Guy flew on Delta Airlines through Atlanta, and they will be the last to arrive. (Ever since our abortive flight home from Dublin, Ireland, years ago on American, everyone but Fred and I, locked in as we are with our elite status, has sworn off American, although I consider transferring in Atlanta a steep price to pay for avoiding American Airlines.

Traveling to Montreal

Fred and I were fortunate enough that Greg was free to take us to the airport, well in advance of our 12:30 flight to Montreal.

On our flight to Montreal, we were on a small plane- run by American Eagle. I wondered why it wasn't a larger one, but perhaps the flights in the middle of the day, which are not frequented by many business travelers, don't have high enough traffic to justify a larger aircraft.

In any event, the trip up to Montreal was very pleasant, and the flying weather idea. On our descent into Montreal, I took a few pictures out the window; the view in these pictures looks east, and prominent in the second and third images is Mont Royal- a high hill in the middle of the city that offers great views of most of Montreal.

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Fred and I made our way through customs pretty quickly, and followed the signs down to baggage claim. There, we found Karl and Nancy already waiting with their luggage, and ours came soon after we arrived. Ron, Prudence, and Guy would arrive in about an hour, and that would make seven of us- too many to fit into a single cab. So we concluded that Fred would go with Karl and Nancy on to the hotel, while I would wait here at baggage claim for the others to arrive.

I sat down near the bottom of the escalator where I wouldn't miss the San Antonio contingent, and sure enough, about an hour later, I spotted Guy coming down the escalator (he's the person at right; I was a bit late in reacting and getting this shot). Ron and Prudence were a few minutes behind, but we eventually got all their bags and then got in the slow-moving line out of baggage claim (where we had to turn in our customs forms). We found a taxi large enough for us and all our luggage, and we were off to the William Gray hotel (following the route I've marked on the map above, left).

Nancy's Birthday Dinner

Today is Nancy's birthday, and Karl had found a nice restaurant about two miles south of our hotel, so we took a couple of taxis south to Chez Sophie. The taxis dropped us off a few minutes before our reservation time, and our table was waiting. On the way in to our table, I took three pictures that summarize what the restaurant looks like:

Chez Sophie

Restaurant Interior

Our Table

In case you haven't met everyone before, going around the table clockwise from left is Fred, Guy, Nancy (talking to the waiter), Prudence, Ron, and Karl. I, of course, am taking the picture. We had a very pleasant, very enjoyable meal, and Nancy got all her birthday cards from us.

Walking Back to the Hotel William Gray

After dinner, Fred, Guy, and I decided to walk back to the William Gray, knowing from our taxi ride down here that it was entirely doable, and also that the street the restaurant was on was the same street that went right up to Rue St. Vincent, where the William Gray would be a half-block to our right. It was a pleasant walk in the cool evening, and after a bit more than a mile we came to Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica.

The Notre-Dame Basilica

The basilica is going to be on one of our tours this week, so I'll postpone talking about it, but I did want to get a nighttime picture of it lit up with its blue lighting. Across the street is the Place d'Armes, one of the squares here in Old Montreal.

In Place d'Armes

This square will also be on one of our tours, but here you can see the fountain at the base of the statue of Paul de Chomedey, the founder of Montreal.

Walking the last few blocks to Rue St. Vincent, we passed two interesting stores- one containing Christmas stuff (I suppose it is open year-round with Christmas things, as September 8th is a bit early for typical Christmas decorations, and another store that was a bit more eclectic:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

We arrived back at the William Gray just a few minutes before Karl, Nancy, and Prudence arrived; Ron, apparently, had walked part way back so he could smoke a cigar. We chatted in the lobby a while before heading off to our rooms.

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	September 9, 2017: Notre-Dame Basilica and Montreal Tour
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