Montreal

We had a lovely dinner (steak, which Murray cooked on the barbque in the snow). After dinner we had a spa. John (foolishly) braved the elements and made a snow angel quickly before hopping back into the hot tub very quickly.

In the morning we had a leisurely breakfast. The sun was shining beautifully, and everything looked lovely & crisp. It was around 0 degrees. We wandered around the property taking photos of the icicles hanging from the house, the cardinal bird, and the snow. Murray took us over the road to his mother's house. She is away so unfortunately we did not get to meet her. Behind her house (the old farmhouse) are the barns in which Murray (& his father before him) kept their Jersey cows during the winter. A huge space, all mechanised, now unused.

After lunch we drove into Montreal. We visited St. Joseph's Oratory, a huge church on Mount Royal. In fact there are a number of large churches on the site. We had to go up three very long steep escalators to get to the top church. This is used for State functions. It is a very modern looking interior.

From there we went to the other side of Mount Royal, and parked the car. Walked around past large groups of children sleging and people skiing (on dusk) to the observation site, from where we could see all over central Montreal. By the time we returned to the car is was dark. We drove into the area of Westmount, the upmarket suburb for English speaking Montrealers. We called in to see Marilyn & Murray's daughter Megan and her partner Devon in their lovely apartment, before driving through the city to the St John's Basilica. Megan was amazed at the similarities between John & Marray! Unfortunately the Basicila was closed for a multi-media presentation, so we were unable to go inside.

There is a real push to have everything in French here, and the local "English" Canadians are reducing in number, as many shift away to the English parts of Canada. All the signs are in French, and shop staff tend to only speak in French.

We walked around a few streets in this area of old Montreal, past quaint little shops all decorated for Christmas. Then we drove to another area and had dinner at a very nice restaurant, l'Acadamie. After that it was a one hour drive back home, and soon to bed.

31st January: This morning it is cloudy, 4 degrees outside so positively tropical! We have just had breakfast, and the boys have gone off to the grocery store. Marilyn is preparing for guests tonight - we are of course behine NZ! There are 8 people coming for a pot-luck dinner to celebrate New Year, so we will get to meet some of their friends.

This afternoon we will go into the town of Huntington, which is their nearest town.