Saying Goodbye to Montreal

On the way to Ile-Sainte-Helene

View of Old Port from Ile-Sainte-Helene

Bike path on Ile-Ste-Helene

Monument to Horatio Nelson, who fought and died at the Batter of Trafalgar.

Fountain at Rue Notre Dame

Had dinner here on 7/12

John tending to Rachael

Rue Notre-Dame

Cathedral of Notre Dame

Street musician

Holly says:

On Monday I ventured to the islands of Ile-Sainte-Helene and Ile-Notre Dame via ferry and bus. The Casino de Montreal is on Ile-Notre Dame. While I played at the casino, John tended to some boat duties. I didn't have any luck at the casino, but I spent most of the day on the two islands. When I got back to the boat, John was still working on hooking up the new antenna, so I took a walk around the neighborhood to get a few more photos. We had dinner last night at The Keg, a steakhouse that was recommended by a French Canadian we met when we shared a lock with him on the way here. Today we spent some time exploring the neighborhoods around the port.

John says:

Monday was productive as we have reached the half-way point in our trip and the boat and all of the ship systems had to be checked out. I adjusted the timing and idle of each engine, adjusted the packing on each shaft, cheked the oil, checked the coolant of each engine, the fluid level of each transmission, etc., etc, ... The old tug proved worthy of the trip and continues to function as projected which means the boat requires constant maintenance. All in all we have made it this far with due diligence and a cooperating vessel.

We finally found a great French restaurant based on a recommendation from our waitress last night at The Keg. It was worthy of Montreal and of course it was our last day here. We also had authentic French cuisine for lunch, which was Poutine (french fries doused with beef gravy and fresh cheese), a very filling meal, but not healthy or actually enticing. That said, I had Italian sausage on my poutine and Holly had smoked meat on hers. We can't really understand why it's so popular. Murphy's Law continued with a downpour that drenched us while we were having that lunch in a courtyard. But I digress...

The Old Port of Montreal is definitely worth a visit. We plan to leave the comfort of the old port of Montreal and move on to Sorel today and then prepare for the trip down the Richelieu river and Chambly Canal to Lake Champlain.