Arrived an hour or so late in Montreal since we had a late start from Quebec City. Once during the night the ship rolled left and then rolled right... And we saw something go by very close and very fast... Not sure what that was! We had a lovely porter at the port, and decided to all go together in a taxi to pick up the rental car. Good decision. I had thought maybe I would walk to the rental place and then drive back and pick up everyone. It would have been quite a walk, and I think difficult to even pick folks up! And we scored - had reserved a full size car but ended up with a nice big minivan.
We drove straight to the St Joseph's Oratory and quickly decided to make it our only Montreal tourist destination. We explored until about 3:30, then checked into our room on the grounds, freshened up and headed back up the hill for 4:30 mass in the basilica. It was a special once a year mass for the Knights of Columbus con celebrated by 2 cardinals plus a gaggle of priests. Did I mention it was in French? And the Knights had plumage/capes of all different colors - the normal white/red, green, yellow, purple... Not sure what they all mean. It was visually and aurally stunning :)
We went in search of food, and found an Irish pub - McGouls. Good stuff - single malt scotch, snakebites, rum+coke! fish+chips, pout ills++
Finishing the night, we are playing cribbage at the John XXIII Pavilion at the St Joseph's Oratory.
