Our hotel is well named (Auberge Les Bons Matins) given its extensive breakfast and attentive service, and we had a great start to the morning indeed. First stop was McGill University, where we were signed up for the official campus tour. Both kids liked the campus and the location. The biggest surprise was the admissions process, which is based solely on grades and test scores without any essays or supplemental letters.

Ben and Susannah left the campus tour a bit early because we had scheduled a visit to the McPherson Collection and Rutherford Museum, housed in the Physics building. This turned out to be an hour-long personalized tour given by a tremendously knowledgeable and generous professor, who explained several of Rutherford’s key experiments, provided insights into Rutherford’s life, and showcased a number of old scientific instruments.

Heads newly-filled, Ben and Susannah headed for Parc Mont Royal to exercise their bodies. The terrain is hilly but the paths are very inviting, featuring Olmsted’s signature meandering paths and captivating views. Meanwhile Rowan and Nick checked out local bookstores.

We all reconvened and headed downtown to Old Montreal, walking through streets and along stone piers at the waterside. After some free exploration (including a vegan milkshake for Susannah!!), we were headed for a rendezvous with an afternoon show. Held in a pyramidal tent erected on Clocktower Pier, this was a multimedia extravaganza conceived by one of the founders of Cirque de Soleil. The experience is somewhat hard to describe, but Nick suggests that if you imagine a fascinating hour-long medley of abstract screensavers set to pulsing New Age music and laser lights, you won’t be that far off. Or Susannah suggests Fantasia crossed with 80s German Disco set to Pink Floyd.

Montreal features quite a bit of public art and high-end graffiti. One bit that caught our eye was the bright color adorning what would otherwise have been a quite spartan Brutalist wall in the pedestrian tunnel Paris approaching the Champs des Mars station.

We had purchased 24-hour metro passes so we could easily travel to different neighborhoods within Montreal. Susannah specifically wanted to visit the Jean-Talon market, a large covered farmers market near the Little Italy area. We arrived near closing time but that didn’t deter us from sampling various fruits and devouring two little baskets of blueberries and raspberries.

One especially nice treat on this visit was the chance to meet up with our cousin Evan, who has just moved to Montreal to start a new job. We got to see his new apartment and try out a microbrewery restaurant around the corner. (Dinner included lamb burger, pulled duck, and two kinds of stout.) After dinner, we hopped back on the metro to our place to get some much needed sleep.

Early next morning, Susannah got one more use out of our 24-hour metro passes and travelled to the Ile Ste-Helene to go for a run, see the Biosphere (designed by Buckminster Fuller), and catch more views of the city across the St Lawrence River.

After breakfast, Nick headed to the Musee des Beaux Arts for a little culture – the featured exhibit was a retrospective show of Thierry Mugler’s fashion work. Meanwhile, Susannah and the kids explored Montreal’s underground city and the more affordable fashions for sale in the many stores lining the tunnels. Built so as to allow Montrealites to traverse the city without going outside in the winter, the underground network is more than 30 km in length. We only travelled a little of it, but we did manage to get from one main shopping center back to our hotel traveling much of the way underground. And the kids acquired Canadian jeans in the process. 🙂

Back at the hotel, we had just a few minutes to catch our breath on the charming back porch before piling in the car to depart the city. Onto the next adventure!