Monday, July 19th

Today was our first full day in Montreal. We started off trying to find some drugs for Beth. She had tried to get her Ritalin prescription filled in Rhode Island before we left, but she was foiled by Dr. Bandola's office. They told her to stop by after 1:00 to pick up the prescription. When she did, there was a sign saying the office was closed for the rest of the day. We called the doctor to see if they could fax or overnight the prescription, but they could not help us. They promised to mail the prescription but we never received it. We went to the concierge to help us find a drugstore. She whipped out a map of the local area that included the location of the nearest Jean Coutu pharmacy. Jean Coutu, we would find out, is Canada's CVS or Walgreen's or Brooks. We went there and Mom talked to the pharmacist. He would not be able to fill the prescription from Beth's doctor. Beth would need to see a doctor in Canada and have that doctor prescribe the drugs. Beth decided she would just grin and bear it. She is good at that.

We went to the nearest Metro station (Peel) and picked up weekly passes for each of us. We made good use of these passes over the next week.

We stopped at Tim Horton's for breakfast. Mom and I did a pretty good job of ordering breakfast, partly in English and partly in Francais. I had one of those prized Iced Capuccinos. Then we headed for Vieux Montreal, the historic district.

The subway stations are more interesting in Montreal than the ones in Boston. This is Champ De Mar station in Vieux Montreal.

We walked around Vieux Montreal for a while, then went in search of lunch.

We grabbed some lunch at the Science Museum and brought it over to this picnic area across the street.

We walked along the water. This is the view of Parc Jean Drapeau, an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence that contains an amusement park, a casino, a race track, the beach, and the Biosphere, a zoo-type attraction that you can see in the background.

On the way back to the hotel, Beth snapped a photo of the impressive Notre Dame Cathedral. It was difficult to get a picture of it since it is so tall and surrounded by other tall buildings.

We headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. Beth picked out tonight's dining establishment:

This Italian restaurant was located a few blocks from our hotel. We headed over there around 5:00, which is really early for the Montreal dining scene. When we got to the restaurant, it was pretty empty. We sat outdoors on the deck overlooking the street, and had the place to ourselves. Our waitress was Italian and didn't speak much English, but she still provided us with good service. We had an excellent Italian meal while discussing possible renovations to the Narragansett house, complete with schematics drawn on napkins.