#15: Visit Notre Dame Basilica / #2: Explore Old Montreal

Yesterday, SW and I went all out and had ourselves a tourist day around Montreal. It seems like a funny idea, but you don't realize how much you missed when you get caught up in your routine. Yes, I've been to old Montreal a few times, but it was always quick and I never knew much about it. To the point that I've been calling it Old Port for years, when Old Port is actually the area of Old Montreal where the actual port is. With the boats. Oops!

We left very early to beat the heat, and we ended up getting lost in old Montreal for about four hours. It was amazing. First we visited Notre Dame Basilica. I visited Italy in high school, so I've seen my fair share of gorgeous churches, but Notre Dame still took my breath away. The amount of detail, the colors, the grandeur of it all! Amazing. Here's in front of and inside Notre Dame:

After that we just walked and walked and walked some more. Some of the streets in Old Montreal are still cobblestone, which kinda feels like an odd foot massage. Eventually we got hungry, and settled down on a patio to have brunch. On the street beside our patio, we discovered a Just for Laughs gag was being filmed! The gag involved getting a couple, getting the guy to put on a bra while the lady was distracted. After, they would walk up the street, where a "security guard" was doing scans. There he would reveal how the guy had a bra on, leaving the lady confused. We saw two of them get caught, it was kinda cool to see it live!

After that we walked some more, got hungry again, and had Beaver tails (don't know what a Beaver Tail is?). We sat down and I began feeding cute birds bits of mine. And then SW learned a valuable life lesson: sharing is caring. Otherwise giant birds will attack you.
She didn't feed the birds, so a big one flew right on her beaver tail, grabbed some, and then continued hovering over us. Scared us both a bit. Poor SW had to throw out her beaver tail, scared of bird diseases. I wish someone had gotten the whole thing on tape.

We ventured back around Notre Dame, only to discover a big protesting dance party going on. It was cool for a while, but when the music ended and they started talking about their "social cause," it was time to leave.

All in all, we had a really good day. Sore feet but happy faces!