Rhapsody in Blue: "The Bells of Notre Dame"

Today we learned more about the history of Montreal. We started by going to La Pointe à Callière, an archaeological museum over the birthplace of Montreal. The first part of the museum was this really cool three-panelled projector screen above some of the ruins of the first settlers of Montreal (including the first catholic cemetery). We all put on headphones and chose the language we wanted to hear. It was an awesome overview of Montreal’s entire history to present day. Then we went below and saw more of the ruins firsthand. We also got to go to the top of the building and see the view of the city. There was also an underground tunnel and an entire exhibit on the history of wine. It was pretty interesting to see some of the artifacts and stories about ancient practices with wine.

original ruins - part of a Catholic cemetery

time capsules to be read in 100 years

Alex with a Gallic Soldier

top of an enormous krater for a Gallic Princess

We went to a little restaurant to eat – it wasn’t as good as we would have liked, but it did have poutine. I have decided that poutine must be authentic Canadian cuisine because I’ve never heard of it before. It’s French fries covered in gravy and mozerella cheese – doesn’t taste as bad as it sounds – but I think I prefer chili cheese fries.

Then we went to Notre Dame de Bon Secours, which took the cake for today. It was absolutely breathtaking. The amount of detail and immensity of scale really makes you appreciate the workmanship. Montreal is nicknamed the “City of 100 Steeples” and that’s really not an exaggeration (there are several churches just in our vicinity). The main chapel had huge paintings for the Stations of the Cross and this really cool staircase for the oratory. The altar was mesmerizing and had statues of the apostles and images from the Old Testament. In the back was a smaller chapel where everything gleamed gold and it had this large abstract piece of art. It is really worth the visit.

one of the Stations of the Cross inside the main Chapel

the Altar

the oratory

the organ

abstract art at the altar of the mini chapel behind the main one

A Station of the Cross in the mini Chapel

Finally, we went to Chateau Ramezay, the original house of the Governor. It was cool to see the different rooms and some of the Native American outfits. It was a very nice house, but kind of felt like I was back in Williamsburg because it was colonial. I do have to say though, Ramezay paid for it's construction in full from his own money.