Even in large urban cities, it's fun to seek the outdoors. Another place that I'd read a lot about was Mont Royal, the "mountain" after which Montreal is named. Topping out at less than 1000 feet, it's really hardly more than a hill but it's high enough to provide some peace and quiet, with great views of the city.
I told you the fashion choices were a lot worse today. I had to switch to running shoes because the walking shoes were not providing adequate cushion and support for all the miles I'd been covering. It got even worse when the temperature continued to rise, and I finally had to roll my pants up over my knees. It was not pretty.
The views, on the other hand, were quite lovely. Once we made it to the top. I can't even accept any blame for the route that we took to try to get up to the top and back down this mountain. There seemed to be endless trail options and not a single map, trail marker, blaze, or sign. We'd choose the uphill path, only to take a turn and start back downhill. It was endlessly frustrating, and really tested our patience with ourselves and with each other. We managed to maintain our senses of humor and felt like we emerged victorious when we finally made it out at the bottom.
We had heard rave reviews of the pies at Rockaberry, so we planned our entry to and exit from the park to allow for a pie break around lunch time. We had lunch, but whatever was pales in comparison to these pie masterpieces. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but the pies were huge mounds of deliciousness. We got an apple crumble pie and some sort of chocolate brownie pie concoction. I'm not usually a big pie fan, but these were quite tasty..especially after our long morning stroll!
Next on the agenda was St. Joseph's Oratory. Brought into existence in the through the hard work of a local Quebecois, Brother Andre, the basilica became a pilgrimage site for those with a variety of handicaps or disabilities.
Brother Andre was later canonized as Saint Andre Bessette, with miracles of healing attributed to him. The process of his canonization is a fascinating story. Today, pilgrims climb the stairs on their knees to reach the basilica. You can see in the picture below that the center of the staircase is reserved specifically for pilgrims. It's a long way up on foot, so I can hardly imagine the devotion of the pilgrims who ascend on their knees.
We may get an extra day in purgatory for our sacrilege, but I was really amused with Thomas's pouty face and crossed arms.
Impressive mosaic details...
We all know James isn't short, so you can get some idea of the scale when you see him in the bottom corner of the picture...
There is also a quiet garden with the stations of the cross. The stations are large scale sculptures, the adults are around 9 feet tall. The gardens were one of my favorite parts of the Oratory. The setting and style of the sculptures combined with a beautiful evening and quiet setting were pleasant really brought forth the meaning of the stations.
We hadn't planned on watching sunset from the Oratory, but the timing was too good to pass up. We passed a pleasant hour watching people come and go as the sun sunk below the Montreal horizon.
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