July 10 Montreal

4:00AM. Really!! I mean I know cleanliness is next to Godliness. 4:00AM. Really!! There was a street sweeper right under our window, vacuum running full capacity at 4:00AM. Have to admit, Old Montreal, unlike the Latin Quarter is CLEAN. Mind you at our expense.

Since I'm up anyways, and as I promised I would, thought you might be interested in being updated on our winetasting from last night. The French wine won. Hands down. At $13.55/Lt. it is probably a cuvée speciale from the Rothschild's private reserved collection. Wish we had a few dozen bottles of Two Buck Chuck to compare it to. At $13.55/Lt. we might have to cancel the rest of our holidays and come home.

Ordered a Taxi for 10:30AM tomorrow to take us to the train station. Left around 12:30. Toured Notre Dame. It is definitely one of the most beautiful basilica interiors I have seen.

When we got there there were perhaps half a dozen people in front of us. After the tour, 10-15 minutes, when we came out, the lineup extended all the way down the stairs, I would say 100 people. Went for a walk in the areas of Old Montreal we haven't been in. Rita kept looking at the outside menus, looking for smoked beef sandwich or poutine. She didn't find any restaurant she liked. Ended up on McGill street and in front of the fish and chip restaurant the tour bus guide said was the best in Montreal, The Brit & Chips.

Rita had Blue Cod I had ordinary Cod. Rita asked the waitress if they had Mushy Peas? The waitress said they did, and seemed very excited to flog some off to Rita. Rita declined, and explained we were in London and had seen Mushy Peas advertised.

 Those tour guides must be paid off by the restaurants. It is nothing special, but much much better than Swartz's. Walked around for a while, then came back to our apartment. At least the rain held off during our walk.

Our holiday is halfway over. 3 cities down 3 to go. Tomorrow, Quebec City.