Congratulations to Peter and Chellee they just had a little boy, Javan Dee Taylor. We love you guys and are glad you are all doing well.

we made it home Chance is in bed and I am here and Scott's plane should be touching down anytime. His flight getting in is late and with us driving all the way from Fort Myers today he has to take a taxi to get home but he shoul dbe here by 11pm. I will post more detail soon, after I get some sleep. I know I was just on vacation but after driving 12 hours on Sat/Sun and then driving 12 hours today I need some more sleep again.

photo used in story

One of the photos I took while on vacation in Montreal is being used in a news story by NowPublic.com. They requested to use it after I posted it on my flickr account. You can see the story here. Here is the picture too, it is really not one of my best pictures but whatever.

Going Home

I am on my way back to New Orleans today. Scott is staying on until Wednesday so he drove me to Burlington, VT today and now I am at JFK where I have a three hour layover. Since my plane does not begin boarding for another 2 hours and they have free wi-fi I thought I would make an update. Friday I spent most of the day touring the city on the Metro to get back to places I had seen through the week that would be good for shopping. I did not have the money or the want to do much shopping but I wanted to get a few special things for people back home so I went all over exploring the quirky areas of town to get a few good things. Also, on Friday I went back to the library and took their self-guided audio tour. It was free and if you love books or libraries it was well worth the time. The Quebec National Archives has the largest collection of French books in the french speaking world and in the 1970's a law was passed that every time published in Quebec had to be giving in douplicate for free to this library so they could have one copy to circulate and one to archive. It has 6 floors with one dedicated entirly to children. If we lived here I would definately have a card to this library. The stairs down to the Children's floor are shorter for shorter legs with a lower handrail and they have viewing areas where children and watch educational children's movies (picture # 1). It was pretty cool. Picture # 2 is of a display that as far as I could tell is for the French Incredible Hulk or something similer.

Wondering around today

Today I got a day pass to the Metro and went all over. This first picture is some art in a Metro station. The Metro here is much easy to understand than the Subway in New York. It is very simple by comparison, the hard part is knowing which direction to walk once you get up on the street level again. Plus there are lots of under ground tunnels with shops in them that go on for blocks which is nice but it took me a while to learn I could use them to get out of the cold. First I went to the library which doesn't sound that interesting to many people but it is the Quebec National Archives it is huge and wonderful and they have their own tour of the library which I might take tomorrow. Then I walked up and down one of the little streets even though it was freezing outside, It was so pretty outside I couldn't bear to hide indoors. The second picture is of some staircases that I took while walking around. These type of staircases are unique to the Montreal area. I am not sure of their history but I have heard that they were made illegal for a while because people thought they were ugly but now they are legal again. I think they are pretty cool looking myself and the black metal reminds me of New Orleans. Then after walking around for a while I made my way over to the Redpath Museum which is a free museum associated with McGill University. It was very nice. Actually after seeing it they could easily charge for visitors to see their collection. It was three stories each one filled with fossils and other items. the third picture is 'Sara' a Triceratops skull. I love dinosaurs so I had a wonderful time looking through the collection at this museum. It was nice having the time to look through everything. I saw lots of "do not touch" items Chance would love to grab, a museum like this is a few years away for him yet but hopefully he will enjoy them then. The snow was off and on all day, it was not nice when I had to walk into the wind but it was well worth it, getting to see all of these cool things today. I have never been out in snow like this before. I have played in it when I was little but never actually walking to get somewhere. It is a whole new experience for me but I am having a good time. The last picture is a bus stop on the same block as our hotel.

Snow

There is snow falling it is supposed to fall all day and into tomorrow. Leaving the Montreal area with 20 centimeters of snow which is about 7.8 inches. Scott went off to work today, he says where the company is located is sort of out of the way in an industrial area that is an up and coming artsy area but that it does not look like a place where snow plows go through regularly so hopefully he can get out to make it back to the hotel tonight. It is supposed to be 22 degrees today and tomorrow then drop off to 9 degrees on Friday, that's Fahrenheit by the way. As I look out the window the snow is really starting to come down now much more determined than the fluffy flakes that were falling when I was down stairs eating breakfast. I still haven't decided if I am going to brave the elements or not. I am not sure if there is anywhere that I wanted to go that is worth getting out in this weather. There is a Metro station just next door so I could go a lot of places. If I wanted I could just ride the Metro around town. There are many choices, I just have to make one. For now I am hanging out in the hotel drinking my coffee.

Santas

check out the Santas


Right Here.

Notre- Dame Basilica

I can't even begin to bring this location justice. I doubt I can put into words the way you feel when you walk into the Notre-Dame Basilica. Or at least the way I felt. I gave my recommended 5.00$ donation, I chatted for a minute with the people tending the door. They were very nice and very interested in New Orleans and what I thought about Montreal both places having a French History seemed to give us a common ground and I was a bit sad I do not know more about the French history in New Orleans.
The basilica is beautiful beyond words. It was built in 1829 on a site that had held mass since 1642. They now hold mass twice every day and four times on Sunday. Since I did not have anywhere to go or any pressing time limits I sat down in a pew for a while. Reading the pamphlet they gave me at the door, listening to the sounds of the old building and watching the people. Not a single one of my pictures represent the place accurately in any way. My eyes had tears in them as I walked around looking at all the painting and carvings. If a church is supposed to be a temple to honor God he could not be disappointed with this one. It seems as though each inch of wall space that is not holding a piece of art is covered in ornately carved wood. Windows of stained glass fill the the space with a soft light adding all the more to the ambiance. Buildings like this hold something wonderful that I can not explain. I am very glad I had the opportunity to spend time here. Picture #1 - the Altar and front of the basilica from the pew where I sat, #2 - confessionals and altar in the background, #3 - organ in the Chapel of Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur (a second chapel behind the first) and #4 - a wood carved statue of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, founder of the Congregation of Notre-Dame.
I will be posting all the pictures I took on Flickr but I suggest you go to the Basilica's website for a better look and more information.

In Montreal

I arrived in Burlington, VT yesterday without any problems. Scott was there to pick me up about an hour later since he had to work Monday. I had a good time wondering around the airport (it is very small) and calling my Mom to check on Chance (who is doing wonderful) for want may be the last time this week. Since I won't be using my cell phone in Canada as it will cost many many dollars (America or Canadian either way) to make calls on it from here. We drove through the countryside. It was very pretty. then we crossed the boarder and drove through the countryside some more. It is about two hours from Burlington to Montreal. Everything is so stark because of the season. Usually I think of stark as a bad thing but this is beautiful full. There is a light snow over everything, the leaves have fallen off of the trees long ago leaving just the tree itself nothing more or extra to get in the way. I am sure if you live here this is one of those things that you don't notice after a while but to me it really is pretty. Our hotel is in a perfect location right between downtown and Old Montreal which is a lot like the French Quarter. So, it is easy for Scott to get the car out and drive to work which isn't too far away and it is easy for me to walk all through town. Also we are right on one of the Metro lines so I can get to a lot of places that way too. It isn't a really long complicated line like the subways in New York either so I am not too scared about getting lost. Also all the walking around in New Orleans has really helped me walking here because I look for landmarks more than I used to, also everything doesn't look the same the way it did to me when I first moved to New Orleans. I am also posting on the Montreal metroblogging site while I am here so you can check that out too. Picture # 1 - Barn in Vermont, #2 - Canadian boarder, # 3 - Barn in Canada, # 4 - Montreal skyline.

Montreal here we come....oh wait.

On Friday we got up bright and early. Packed everyone into the car and took off toward Fort Myers. We made only a couple stops to let Chance and Deedle run around and let us all stretch our legs. Then it was back in the car. Since we left so early we were at my Mom's house with time left to play and get ready for bed on time. It was like Christmas all over again fro Chance. One of Mom's friends who has a 4 year old and a 3 year old had visited that day and brought with her a whole SUV full of toys that her little ones don't play with any more. When we arrived the living room was full of cars big and small, riding toys and a parking garage. He took right to the parking garage and didn't need any help figuring out that the cars driving in it. I didn't take any pictures of that but I am sure Mom will get plenty of pictures over the week that we are gone. Saturday morning Scott and I got up had a bite to eat and then headed out back toward New Orleans. Chance was a very good boy and did not cry at all when we left.

Now we will get the the store that goes with the pictures. About 30 minutes after we left the temperature light came on in the Mini first yellow then turning red we immediately pulled over. The coolant reservoir was almost empty so we added water and called the closest Mini dealer which is in Orlando they told us we can try to get it home just stop and add water when the light comes on. So off we went, the first time we made it 200 miles before the light came on, the next time 100 miles and the next time we called the tow truck. Fortunately Mini Coopers come with a great AAA roadside assistance program so they towed if for free, unfortunately they will only tow it to the closest Mini dealership which by that time was in Jacksonville, Florida but fortunately again because that is over 100 miles from our house they will tow it all the way back to New Orleans for free after the repairs are done. So it all works out in the end. They will also reimburse us for any food, lodging, gas and car rental incurred by the breakdown which is awesome. We were able to get a rental car using Scott's free rental days that he has racked up by renting cars for work. The rental car we got was a Toyota FJ Cruiser. I always thought those things looked 'cute' from the outside but let me tell you going from driving a Mini to one of those was crazy. It is HUGE!! I mean it is large just for the sake of being large my feet didn't even touch the floor under the dash and I am 5'8''. I am glad we got to drive one it was fun but I wouldn't want one for my own.

Scott flew out this morning and arrived in Montreal safe and sound. Here is a picture he just sent to me from his Iphone. It looks nice. I can't wait to meet up with him tomorrow. I fly out early in the morning so I have to get to bed and up early at 3am. I will write more to you all as soon as I can.