Trip to Montréal : A Walk in Old Town and the Docks plus the Rehearsal Dinner

We had our morning free, so once Henry had gone to day care and Brad had gone to work, Stephanie gave us a guided tour of Old Town Montreal and the dock area. There were several firsts for us and Ewan as we made our way to the Old Town:

1) Our first escalator with the stroller. It was a downwards one, and surprisingly daunting at first. Fortunately Stephanie was a dab hand and expertly demonstrated with Charlie in his stroller how to walk on to the moving steps and then balance the back wheels on the step in front of the one on which you are standing and then hit the ground running when you get to the bottom.

2) Our first underground/metro train ride with a stroller. There are no elevators and several flights of steps (Although nothing like the deep ones they have in London), so there was a lot of carrying the stroller. Ewan seemed to enjoy the train rides (translated; he fell asleep for most of them). We have all the more respect for disabled people and other families using the subway now.

3) The upwards moving escalator: Take a run up with the stroller and jam front wheels into step in front and then hold handles so it stays level as the step beneath the rear wheels falls away. This one was easier than the downwards escalator, but we were glad that we were with someone who knew what they were doing the first time. In fact we soon stopped using elevators for the rest of the trip if we had the choice between them or an escalator.

Once at our destination we took in plenty of sights. One of the major stops was Chapelle de Notre Dame de Bon-Secours, a very famous local church that is a shrine and place of prayer for the city's sailors and their families. It is actially shaped somewhat like a boat and at the rear bears a resemblance to the windows and enclosed decks of the officers quarters at the rear of a 18th century sail ship.
















The pictures above are of us all in Place Jacques Cartier, the large public square at the heart of the old city. The square is lined with restaurants and cafes and apparently at weekends you can catch the show of a street performer or two. We ran out of battery for our camera after this point which was a bit of a bummer, so no more photos of this part of our trip. But we did continue to the dock region and after lunch in a nice cafe walked along the Saint Lawrence River.
We made our way home through the city center and stopped at The Catherdral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World. This church is particularly famous because it is a 1/16 scale replica of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in Rome (click on any of the blue underlined links to learn more of the correct history of these sights).

Once we were home there was just enough time for a quick freshen-up and change and we were off to Katia & Adrian's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It was nice for Jen and I to watch the rehearsal as it brought back memories of our own wedding and the planning. The wedding was going to be very interesting because although Adrian and Katia are British and Canadian citizens respectivly, there was the meeting of two quite different cultures from their family heritages; Chinese/Malaysian and Russian. There was plenty to work out. The order that everyone entered the room, who was going to escort who, where everyone would stand, when the readings would be read and then how they were going to do the Chinease tea ceremony that they planned for the end of the ceremony. they got it all sorted in the end, and then it was off to Katia's parents apartment for the rehearsal dinner.

The dinner was a buffet of all kinds of Russian delights, lots of it seafood and various spiced and cold meats. There was also a LOT of vodka! It was a very pleasant evening and Katia's father made several nice speeches and even broke out the Balalaika at one point.

We created another blog for all Adrian and Katia's Photos. You can see more of the rehearsal dinner there.

It must be said though that Ewan was quite the star that night, and there was not too much parenting to be done for Mom and Dad because he was in the arms of most of Katia's Russian aunts for the evening. He really loved russion lullabies and songs! He also flirted outrageously with some of Katia's friends including Joanne, her maid of honor. Pictured is one of the few times Dad had to do much as we could not quite persuade anyone that he was cute enough for them to change his diaper for us too!

More from our Montreal trip soon....