To get away from the cold of Chicago we headed to Montreal for the weekend! Well actually I was working in Canada the following week and so Biz and I decided to go early. It did warm our hearts though as, despite being even colder than Chicago, old town Montreal is beautiful and very reminiscient of some of the European towns that we have been to and have fond memories of. Indeed I have since heard that for those Americans who don't have the time or money to visit Europe, a trip to Montreal is considered the next best thing.
It was bitterly cold (Igloofest, an ice themed outdoor music festival, was in full swing) so possibly not the best time to sightsee the city - we walked outside for 20 minutes or so at a time and then ducked in somewhere to thaw out before going outside again. It provided plenty of opportunity to drinks lots of hot chocolate and beer which wasn't so bad! We managed to visit the local Notre Dame Basilica - it has an amazing interior. It turns out the cathedral was designed by an Irish architect - James O'Donnell (an Irish protestant from New York who converted to Catholicism)- back around 1824.
The food was great, a strong french influence of course, and generally Montreal was a nice change of scenery - speaking the 'cupla focal' of french was a challenge but well worth the effort.
It was bitterly cold (Igloofest, an ice themed outdoor music festival, was in full swing) so possibly not the best time to sightsee the city - we walked outside for 20 minutes or so at a time and then ducked in somewhere to thaw out before going outside again. It provided plenty of opportunity to drinks lots of hot chocolate and beer which wasn't so bad! We managed to visit the local Notre Dame Basilica - it has an amazing interior. It turns out the cathedral was designed by an Irish architect - James O'Donnell (an Irish protestant from New York who converted to Catholicism)- back around 1824.
The food was great, a strong french influence of course, and generally Montreal was a nice change of scenery - speaking the 'cupla focal' of french was a challenge but well worth the effort.
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