Quebec is Definitely a Foreign Country

Quebec is Definitely a Foreign Country

• 6.22.2009

I love to see the temple.

It's exactly an hour away from our home in Chazy. The temple is small and simple but beautiful. I'm very grateful to have one so close!

Bron and I woke up early on Saturday morning to make it to the 9:00 session in the Montreal Temple...in French! The temple president took a tally of how many people preferred French, English, or Spanish for the session and decided on French. For those of us who don't speak a lick of French, he handed out headphones. I'm grateful for those too! (Bron listened to part of the session in Russian. Cool, huh?) But what's even more crazy is that we were the witness couple. How does that work? I donno, but it did. Very smoothly, in fact. We ended up having a very good morning there in the temple.

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After the temple, it was off to conquer Montreal! On our drive up it was nothing but countryside and farms for miles until suddenly we hit the big city. Everything was in French! Quebec is the only Canadian province that officially speaks French, and they're proud of it. I had fun picking up on foreign subtleties like using commas instead of decimal points between numbers and the $ sign coming after the price. I now recognize the French word for "Sale", though I doubt I can pronounce it correctly. Bron just thinks this knowledge is dangerous. haha

We parked the car near the Botanical Gardens and took the Metro into downtown. Bron loves public transportation--no stress finding parking or dealing with traffic. Whew! And it's a good thing Bron knew what he was doing because I would've gotten us lost.

We emerged from the metro into downtown. We were definitely not in the country anymore. We both haven't seen tall buildings like that in years! And I haven't seen shopping like that in a long time either! There was every department store imaginable at my fingertips. It was a hyperventilating kind of exciting!

We stopped for lunch in China Town. Poor Bron. He thought he was going to eat fried won tons and sweet and sour chicken, but I knew better. We ate real Chinese style. The waitress brought out boiling pots where we dipped and cooked our own noodles, meat, veggies, and other unknown etibles. I loved it! The mix of heat, smells, and tastes were all familiar to me. It totally brought back memories of my trip to China.

Ultimately, we kept on walking towards Old Montreal. Amazing! I think Montreal may be my favorite city yet. There is so much to do and so much to see! We walked down the streets towards the wharf and meanered through various art exhibits and stores. My favorite store was the one with the real fur coats. I'd buy one if I could afford it, but $900 dollars is a little steep for our budget. Maybe someday. They're toasty warm and very fashionable.

Then there was the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal. The bells were clanging noisily all afternoon! There were so many weddings! The cathedral is modeled after Notre-Dame in Paris, but with less detail. However, the inside spares nothing. It commands reverence. The inside is floor to ceiling intricate details and rich color. It's breathtaking.

Thanks Montreal for allowing us to enjoy your beauty and atmosphere. We had a really fun and relaxing day. We'll meet again soon. I'm sure.