Today was one of those days where you reach your breaking point. For us, it usually occurs about mid-vacation- especially on a vacation that involves a lot of moving around from one destination to the next every day or two. Everyone gets tired and the moment calls for a break. Today was that day!

We trekked to Mount Royal via metro and by foot. Shane wanted to bike through the park so we rented Bixi bikes – the public bikes you can rent from just about any street station. Our card could only hold four bikes, so Lily and Shane biked together, which wasn’t a very easy task for either of them. (Being a family of five does pose logistical issues from time to time) After walking our bikes up a steep incline to get to the trail, we took a left and coasted down hill back to the road and near the campus of McGill with no pathway to the park that we could find. After much debate, we returned the bikes and hopped the bus to the top. A smart idea given the bike situation and the 80+ degree temperatures.

The Mount Royal park is beautifully lush this time of year with tree covered trails going in all directions. We hiked to the summit area and enjoyed a spectacular view of Montreal.

After an ice cream treat, we made our way back to the hotel to relax for a bit. The wear and tear of the road requiring we put our feet up or swim in the pool and let the body and mind recuperate from the last week on the road before taking off to the Old City for dinner.

~Gina

Today was spent walking (a lot of walking) around Montréal. We visited a couple of places today.

We woke up this morning and hopped on the train to Mont Royal. I definitely recommend visiting Mont Royal if you stay in Montréal.

We stopped at a cafe for breakfast. Now it was about 11:30am, so it ended up being more like lunch. We walked around the city looking for some places to rent bikes. We had some troubles getting the bikes, but we finally got them. We biked around a park for a bit then, we got lost trying to get to the summit of Mont Royal. We stopped at certain places to take pictures of statues or monuments.

After walking for a while uphill with our bikes, we eventually decided to return the rental bikes and take the bus up to Mont Royal because there was so much uphill riding to do. The bus ride was about five minutes.

When we arrived at the top of the “mountain” (it was actually a hill) we visited the cemetery (it was a huge cemetery, probably the biggest one I have ever seen).

Then we took a hike to the tippity top to see the thing we have been trying to get to for hours. An INCREDIBLE view of the city of Montréal. Something you must see!

We stayed up here for about twenty minutes before hiking back down.

We took the bus back down to the city. Walked a bit more. Hopped on the train and went back to our hotel to relax.

After an hour, we got ready and went on another Smithie Adventure to the “old city”. We took the train there, walked around, and looked for a place to eat. We stopped at several places but all the places either were booked solid, had food we were hungry for, or only took parties of 18 or more people (never heard that before). We eventually found a place called Bocata. The Bocata had phenomenal food. I had Lobster Carbonara Tagliatelle which in French is: Tagliatelle Carbonara & Homard. It is a pasta dish with lobster and a nice creamy sauce. I recommend this restaurant!

After dinner we walked around but stopped by the replica of the Notre Dame. It is beautiful.

A man was playing music on his guitar so we sat on a bench and listened for a bit. He was playing a “Mama Mia” song. We tipped him and it was funny because most of the money is his tipping container was American money rather than Canadian money.

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We took some selfies some family ones and some ridiculous ones.

That was what went down today, a lot of walking (Lily and Mommy even reached their 20,000 step goal today). Today was amazing day and an amazing experience. One place I believe everyone shall see.

-Julia