We headed to Old Montreal this morning starting off near Place d’Armes.  There was a huge BMO there with a beautiful marble interior which was perfect because we needed to change some money. 

When we arrived at the campground yesterday, they informed us that they only take cash or debit.  When I tried my debit card, it didn’t go through and the lady told me it was because it was an American card.  Very strange because I’ve used cards internationally before but she said we could pay tomorrow. 

Back at BMO, we stood in line and then worked with a clerk for over 40 minutes trying to get my mom’s account pulled up so she could exchange some money until the boss came over and explained that BMO Canada is a completely separate system from BMO USA and she could not change money there.  In the end, we went to an ATM and took out the money we needed with a $3.50 convenience fee.

The next few pictures are in Place d’Armes.  This is where their Notre Dame cathedral is located. 

When the bank was taking longer than expected, we told the others to go ahead and explore without us and we would catch up.  After we finished with the bank, we walked to where the others were at the port. 

There was a playground there and the big kid swing set didn’t have any swings on it so the kids pretended to swing on them:

Then we walked to Chinatown because Joey was about to starve to death which would be a shame because of the surcharges involved in transporting a body across the border. 

Here we are entering Chinatown!

Hunger was getting the best of us and with a group of 9, it was hard to choose a place to eat, so we split up from the Yatzecks to grab some grub.  Nova and Esme practiced using chopsticks.

Nova ordered skewered shrimp; Esme had skewered chicken.  My mom and I shared some pork pot stickers and shrimp wontons.  We ordered a basket of fries for the table and they came with mayo on them.  Esme still found a few underneath that were un-mayoed and ate those. 

The food here was a little out of their comfort-zone but the girls both ate their lunch.  They’re starting to grow out of their food hangups, finally!  Later at the campsite later, Nova tried a lychee and both girls tried grapefruit for the first time, too.

The Yatzecks decided to go back to the campsite but we couldn’t leave until we got bakery!  Esme wanted an authentic baguette and the rest of us got treats even though we had just eaten lunch. 

We decided we wanted to check out Old Montreal a little closer so we walked back over there.  Nova was a little disappointed that it was mostly tourist gift shops with Canada shirts and gifts so we looked for a toy shop and a candy shop.  The best walkable options were a store called “Le Petit Duck Shoppe” which sold rubber duckies and a dragon-beard candy shop.  We went to the duck shop first and the lowest priced rubber ducky was 20$ CAD which was out of our price range so off to the candy shop we went. 

This was the view to the west on our walk…

Future home of the Yatzecks post for today

And this was the view to the north.  A storm was rolling in!

We stopped at a McDonald’s for a drink and waited out the storm which passed over us about 30 minutes later.  The candy shop was in Chinatown so we took a second picture of the day there.

There were mixed reviews for the dragon candy which had a peanut mixture inside (the only flavor they sell).  I thought it tasted like Chick-o-Stick or the inside of a Butterfinger.  Nova didn’t care much for it and Esme was pretty upset that it had peanuts in it because she hates peanuts/peanut butter. 

We made our way back to the car and but I stopped to watch a guy make noodles by hand and decided I needed to buy some to bring back to the camper to share.  Also, we have to mention Nova’s outfit today.  She picked this out at home on a shopping trip.  It’s Nike and her most prized possession right now.

Here are my noodles being hand-made to order. 

This shows the noodle choices.  You get to choose your noodle thickness, anything from typical ramen thickness to 1.5 inch ribbon-like noodles.

This was the meal I chose: beef broth, sliced roasted beef, green onion and cilantro.  I got a large and about 5 of us shared it back at the campsite.

We did some trip planning tonight because we still needed to book the next two campgrounds and then Melissa and I had a book club meeting to discuss the first third of the book we are reading, Daughters of the Dust which is about the Gullah Geechee of the Sea Islands off the Carolina coast. 

Yatzeck’s blog post for today