M:

The plan was this: Up for breakfast and if it wasn't raining to try for a cycle tour. Given the uncertainty of the weather, we hadn't booked, because that may have committed us to a wet, cold, miserable and expensive ride or a warm and expensive cancellation. Everyone else had obviously had the same degree of confidence in the weather - which was windy and cold, but not too wet as it turned out. In any case, since no one else had obviously booked, there was no sign of action at 0830 at the bike shop, so we had a wander along the Vieux Porte and then retreated to the hotel until 10, when things generally opened.

The next plan was to make the day a museum day. This one actually worked - so the first stop was Centre d'Histoire de Montreal - a museum of cultural history of Montreal in a converted fire station.

While it didn't have a great many actual artefacts, it did provide a slice of life at different times in the city's evolution from 1535. I hadn't realised quite what an important hub Montreal was in its early years. For me the most interesting display was the treatment of the clearing of several historic parts of the city between 1950 and 1970 - Goose Village, Red Light (no prize for guessing), Faubourg a M'lasse (the molasses port) which displaced 10,000 Montrealers. Wonderful documentary interviews and photos. Oh - nearly forgot to mention. We scored our first seniors ticket here - for over 55s! (This was offered to us, we did not ask.)

This took a couple of hours so we were ready for lunch. I had been encouraged to try poutine, so I did. I had no idea what it would be. Not very complicated: chips, cheese curds and gravy. MMMMM.MM! Health food of a nation. For more detail go here. Anne weakened and had chips, but cancelled them out with a salad. Wimp.

Next stop was the wonderful museum at Pointe a Calliere. It is a museum literally built over and around an archeological dig. It began with a sound and light show that projects in and around parts of the dig - with some wonderful effects. The hi-tech use of audio-visuals enhances a close encounter with the remains of a cemetery and a few hundred years of aboriginal remains, buildings and city walls. One of the things that struck me here was the fact that places like Louisiana had been settled out of Montreal, and that French influence was about 5 times greater than English at some stages of North America's history.

Our legs were getting a bit tired by then. Anne decided to take a break, and I decided to try to find the area called Mile End, which sounded in the write-ups to be a bit like Newtown. It was a good 25 minutes walk further on than our hotel - and yes, it was a bit like Newtown used to be at least, right down to the part where I had to walk past all the seedy porno cinemas and strip clubs. Probably not really worth the walk - the suburb I mean - couldn't comment on the strip clubs!

We spent a bit of the day in and around China Town, so I'll let Anne carry on with a bit about that.

A: China Town was only a couple of blocks from our wonderfully located hotel and so we had a very short walk to wander about there. This seemed to me quite similar to any other China Town I have been in with lots of bright items on sale, the familiar music and large numbers of people. Mick had spotted a Vietnamese restaurant, as opposed to a Chinese one, on his earlier meanderings and so we went in and had one of the most delicious meals I have ever had. The place was humming- our tried and true method of choosing a good one being that it is full of locals of the same ethnic origin played out once again. There were two people at a table that could seat four near us, and the ever smiling waiter had to ask them to move up so he could seat another couple next to them. The place is My Canh at 1086 Boul Sainte- Laurent.