It was a slightly overcast but warm day in Montreal, that was the perfect weather for a day of sightseeing. We drove from St Jean sur Richelieu to the REM train station at Brossard which took us to the Édouard-Montpetit Metro Station where we took the time to view the mosaic murals titled “Le Mont Habité by Haitian artist Manuel Mathieu. He created 5 murals in the deepest metro station in Canada underneath Mont Royal. They were stunning. These images were inspired by the geology of the mountain.

Our next stop was Gare Centrale in downtown Montreal which led us to the streetscape of Montreal. We took a moment to catch our breath at the Boulangerie Ange with a quick coffee and snack. Feeling sufficiently fortified, we entered the Palais des Congres for the annual Salon des Metiers D’Arts du Quebec (SMAQ). This is the Quebec equivalent of the Annual Butterdome Craft sale back home. It was wonderful to see so many handcrafted works of art. We’ve been to the show many times and it is good to see it rebuilding after COVID.

We continued our downtown exploration with a visit to St. Patrick’s Basilica. This beautiful Gothic Revival church was built between 1843-47 to meet the needs of the Irish population flowing into Montreal to escape the potato famine in Ireland. It got upgraded to a minor Basilica in 1989 by Pope John Paul II. It is now a National Historic Landmark and is the oldest English speaking church in Canada. This was the home parish of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the founding fathers of Confederation and his pew is still identifiable. The church was lovely.

We headed back to Uncle Mark’s home just as the temperature started to drop. It was good to get home before the rain turned things icy. The temperature was above freezing all day and it started to rain as we left downtown. We felt blessed to not be dealing with the Alberta Clipper that brought -20C temperatures and tons of snow to Edmonton.