Montreal is the french extension of France and was intended to be a colony under french political (actually religious) control. The island was awarded colonization where the french could expand to the new world without leaving the customs and language of France. Indeed, they have kept the french language and the Provence of Quebec even attempted once to secede from mainstream Canada.
Forget all you have heard about the french being difficult people. We had no such experience while visiting...at least in french Montreal.
This is a skyline of Montreal downtown; A very busy city with many educational institutions ranging from music to architecture. Anyway, I digress.
We started by staying a couple of nights in Burlington, VT. This city rests on the shores of Lake Champlain, a 120 mile long lake, separating Vermont and New York, that was a critical strategic "highway" for commerce and military transport. In fact, Lake Champlain is the home of the United States Navy. Fierce battles were fought during the American Revolution and French American war for control of this valuable resource. Steam ships were first put to use on Lake Champlain and used for commerce shipping from Canada all the way to Manhattan.
Living in this area, it is such a joy to have breakfast lakeside.
We took a tourist ride on a boat around a portion of the lake.
The University of Vermont is in Burlington and school started the day we arrived. What a ZOO! The downtown has a street set aside for outdoor dining and general shopping, no vehicle traffic. This is great for people watching and watching the street performers. We had a great Italian meal on this street!!
Watching the sun set over the lake was a favorite activity.
Leaving Burlington, we searched for the holy grail of ice cream. Behold...Ben and Jerry's original ice cream factory!! Yummmmmm. We took a tour and ate the flavor of the day. Lots of fun. Of course neither Ben nor Jerry are active in the company anymore. They sold the company several years ago and only participate in some activities. Set for life, they now do...whatever...and live in Burlington, VT.
We arrived at Montreal and walked our little (well sorta little) butts off. We went to the church, Notre Dame (Our Lady), which was built to accommodate the increased population as Montreal grew. The church was built in the style of the Notre Dame in France.
There are many fountains and statues throughout the city.
Susan gets the real feel of Montreal!
In 1967 Montreal hosted a world expo. The "Biosphere" is a remnant of that event. In 1967 this sphere had the plastic cover over the dome (burned completely during a fire) and the world's longest escalator. There was even a monorail used to transport folks around the expo. And, there are also remnants of the Olympics held there in 1976.
We rented an apartment while in Montreal and enjoyed some vino and cheese one evening.
Diversity abounds in Montreal and even has a small china town.
Street art is very common and we stopped walking long enough to hear a classical trio perform.
We had to come back, finally, so we went through Lake Placid, NY.
A great little town and it's amazing that this little town could support an Olympic event...not once, but twice!
Now Lake Placid is used to lure NY city refugees and serves as a world-wide training center for Olympic athletes. Of course the main claim to fame is the ice rink which is home to the miracle on ice hockey team win against the Russians in 1980.
The ice rink where it all happened. You could almost hear and sense the excitement still lingering in the air at the arena.
Suz was just a little early for the next game!
We had a great time, but as always, it's great to be home.
