Our First International Trip: Montreal!

We were so excited to take a weekend and go on our first international trip as a family- to Montreal! It's only a 3 hour drive for us, so we drove in Friday night and got to see all the lights of the city as we came in. When we were driving in we hadn't yet realized this was also the same night as the attacks in Paris and when we were driving into the city there was a huge spotlight shining from the tallest building downtown. Looking back I realize that may have either been as a symbol of their recognition, or perhaps some sort of security precaution, but either way it was interesting to be in a french city at that time. 

And it was definitely a dominantly french city. It was a little crazy driving straight into the heart of the city where all the signs are french and the roads are fast and twisty- but despite the GPS failing, we made it to our hotel- which we loved! It was right downtown and was basically an apartment with a bedroom, living area, and a small full kitchen with a table area. I wish I had taken a picture- but it was perfect for us and an amazing price too! This was the view from our personal balcony!

We had all Saturday to explore, so after eating some breakfast in our room, we set to head out. We took one step out of the hotel and the freezing wind whipped us and Luke and I took a look at each other and knew this was crazy for us to be walking our 3 young children around in the cold- but we decided to make the best of it!

We were able to figure out how to use the metro, which was right down the street and relatively easy (we only got mixed up a few times with everything in french!) but it was a fun ride for the kids and got us out of the cold for a bit. We still did some walking around, but luckily it warmed up a little and we were able to enjoy some sights and older buildings. 

We went to this really cute Christmas shop where the boys loved looking at all the displays and we were able to get a little Christmas shopping done too. 

We walked down lots of cobblestone alleys with shops but I enjoyed seeing the fall colors on the trees and walking along the water.

After awhile we walked down the newer side of downtown with all the mall type shops. I know it's not quite the same, but it reminded us of walking downtown NYC with lots of people out shopping and walking up and down the busy sidewalks. It was quite a bit of walking for the boys though. They were troopers but after awhile they got bored and wanted to go back to the hotel- here's a view of it as we walked up to the outside of our hotel.

After a quick little rest we changed and headed over to see the newly renovated Montreal temple, which was actually the purpose of our trip. We had the opportunity before it was dedicated to take a tour with the kids and hoped that it would be a memorable experience for them. I'm not sure they remember much but it was still neat to feel the spirit of the temple as a family.

Afterwards we were able to find a place for dinner (we actually got Mexican food!) and then headed back to the hotel. We were tired after a long day! The next morning we went for a little walk and then came to find this most amazing view of the whole city- I couldn't even capture the whole city in one picture! It was my favorite part of the trip!

You can get an idea between the pictures how spread out and huge the city is! 

Last stop on our way out of the city was driving by this enormous Cathedral. Of course we didn't realize when we pulled in that it was Sunday and everyone was leaving church, so it was a little crowded! So we didn't go in, but it was beautiful to look at!

Finally we were ready to get out of the heart of the city, drove through a more suburb area to pick up some Canadian chocolate from the grocery store (an absolute must!) and soon we were back at the US border and not far from home! It was neat that we could leave the country so easily but yet feel so far away- it was a fun, interesting, and memorable weekend trip!