Unlike yesterday, a glorious day was promised on awakening after a reasonable night’s sleep.

As neither of us fancied a full cooked breakfast, we tried the “Marché Artisan” – the chichi shop/café that we’d sampled on arrival at this hotel, just for a coffee and croissant. Nobody behind the counter really seemed to know what they were doing, but we eventually escaped with what we needed, and certainly saved money.

I had A Plan. Unusual, I know, but we (sort of) managed to stick to it. So, we caught the hop-on-hop-off bus to the Bonsecours Market down near the St. Lawrence waterfront, as we didn’t get there yesterday, being delayed, as one is, by the desire for a beer (or two).

There is a chapel here, dedicated to sailors across the world. Model boats hang from the ceiling in memory of those who have died at sea. It was both pretty and moving.

As I subscribe monthly to Wikipedia, I have no hesitation in publishing a link to an interesting exhibition and storyboard attached to this place: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Bourgeoys_Museum_(Montreal).

We then went to look at Bonsecours Market itself. It’s full of glitzy shops and tourist tat, but this plaque outside it caught my attention. Hope you can read it OK. It’s worth a try. Very interesting.

Next part of The Plan was to visit an area called The Village, which had looked interesting on yesterday’s bus tour. We hopped on the bus and hopped off at the appropriate stop. On the way, we passed the Allen Building which was a telegraph office in the early 20th century. This was famous for being the first station to pick up the distress signal from The Titanic when it was sinking in 1912.

The Village was disappointing, in all truth. A bit seedy and nothing holding one’s attention. However, it provided a good orientation walk to the Boulevard St. Laurent, which back in the day divided the British in the west of the city from the French in the East. Rumour has it that they get on better now….

Apart from that, in the northern reaches of this boulevard, our hotel concierge had told us that there was a wealth of street art. Much more Jean’s bag than mine, but hey, it was in The Plan…..

Longish walk in sunshine – agreeable to me, but not so much for Jean. Got there in the end, but the art wasn’t as ubiquitous as we’d been led to believe. A few samples follow.

Don’t ask me to explain any of this, as I haven’t got a clue.

More importantly, found a pub which provided an agreeable sandwich for Jean and beer/wine for both of us.

Shock horror – a diversion from The Plan. Jean had discovered a website (what to see when you’ve only limited time in Montreal), which pointed us to the St Louis Square. We decided to try it, as it wasn’t far.

On the way we passed through some nice looking residential areas.

St Louis Square was enchanting.

A most worthwhile diversion from The Plan.

Back on track, we caught the hop-on-hop-off bus (yes, again!) which took us up Mont Royal again in much better weather than yesterday.

Back to the hotel after this marathon to prepare for our previously booked table at a bistro called Les Enfants Terribles. I’m sure you will remember that the hotel concierge had tried to book us in for last night, but it was full. I’d managed to book online for tonight – just.

No idea why it’s called The Awful Children, but it was a very short walk from the hotel and a very long ascent up to the 44th floor of a local skyscraper.

Great vibe and fantastic views of the city.

God, I’m going to miss this place.

The food wasn’t anything like as posh as I was expecting, but it was absolutely fine and remarkably reasonably priced. A great way to finish our visit to Montreal. I wish we’d had more time here, but move on we must.

Final nightcap at the terrace bar in the hotel.

We depart to Québec City tomorrow. Packing to be done and a 3-hour drive in prospect.

See you tomorrow.