A Day to Explore, eh?

Have you gotten tired of me using that (eh) at the end of every blog title?  Good - neither have I.  Maybe I'll use it at the end of every blog title until we leave, eh?  Jason (unexpectedly) had the day off yesterday so we went exploring.  Allll  day looonngg.  My feet hurt by the time we got back last night.  A few things were on the agenda for the day:  Basilique Notre Dame, Parc du Mont-Royal and watching the hockey game somewhere on Crescent Street.  Basically, Jason led me around on 3... yes, 3 walking tours of the city.  I'm glad I hadn't ventured out that far yet.  First, we stayed close and ate lunch at a sandwich shop that both of our guide books recommended.  It must be THAT good, right?  Wrong.  We paid $10 for a sandwich that was just "okay" and it was too over crowded for the space, I almost had a little bit of claustrophobia going on and normally that doesn't bother me.
With our bellies full of "just okay" sandwiches, we went down the street to the Notre Dame Basilica.  This was the first church we had gone into that charged admission.  $5 just to get in the door.  I understand it was for "upkeep" but they have to be bringing in the money!  It was very, very  beautiful.  It had three floors although we were only allowed on the ground level.  It was ornately decorated in lots of blues and golds.  Later, we took the subway, which was actually on wheels (still underground though) and walked around downtown Montreal.  Lots of shops and old buildings that tell the history of the city.
 

  After walking around for awhile, we stopped for a snack, although we weren't really that hungry.  This was supposed to be our stop for supper, but Jason didn't plan accordingly.   Poutine consists of french fries smothered with gravy and topped with cheese curds.  Yes, you read that right.  La Banquise is a restaurant here famous for their 25 different types of Poutine.  They should be proud of thinking of food items to put on top of fries and gravy.  This Poutine dish originated in rural Quebec and is a staple here in Montreal.  I ordered the Poutine Vege that came with green peppers, onions and mushrooms and Jason ordered Poutine Kamikaze - sausage, hot peppers and tabasco.  Neither of us ate it all and we were shocked that a regular order is that large.  (we could chose from regular or large).  Poutine is italicized in every book that I read.  I just figured I'd continue that here, for your pleasure, or annoyance.   

We climbed a big hill and walked through the park leading up to it, but I'll keep this short as I see that I've already typed a chapter to a novel.  Later in the day, we went to Rue Crescent , aka party street.  The hockey quarterfinals were being televised and did I mention earlier they are REALLY into their hockey?  We tried to choose a low-key pub to watch it and be apart of the mayhem.  Everywhere was packed, but we found a place that wasn't too crowded and settled in.  They won - thank goodness.  It was complete chaos after the game.  Jason had the idea of setting a meeting point in case we got lost.  That was smart - but we didn't get separated.  People were climbing trees and lamp posts, yelling and jumping.  I can't even describe it.  Traffic was terrible - good thing we were walking.  The picture above is a bit blurry, but I actually like how it turned out.  You get the idea.  I think I just surpassed the limit the type.  Not really, but perhaps this is the longest blog yet.