Montreal 2005

You often hear people call Montreal one of the world's most stunning cities, and in no way do i disagree with them! Montreal is absolutely outstanding with its breathtaking architectural landmarks and its bustling, yet respectful, city life. I took a three day trip there my sophomore year in high school and those few days brought experiences that will stay with me for the rest of my life. 

I can't exactly remember 

where this building was or its significance, but this was one of the first places we explored. This absolutely beautiful stone building sat on the top of a huge hill (what we may consider a small mountain around here) where it overlooked all of Montreal. To get an idea for the size of this building, look at the base of the right hand pillar. See the little round thing? Well that little round thing was larger than I am!!! (and despite what my sister says, I'm not TOO teeny). To get to the spot where I took this picture, I had to go inside the hill, take several elevators up the inside, climb a flight of stairs into the building, walk outside, climb back down all 5 flights of stairs, and balance on a railing, so please feel free to appreciate the effort =) From half way up this hill you have a perfect view of the Montreal Olympic Stadium. We didn't get close to the stadium, but I found a picture that shows it close up, along with the one I took on top of the hill. 

Isn't it so cool!?!?! I wish we had stadiums like that around here too. It wasn't until two days later that we found out what it was. We stood there staring out at it for the longest time puzzled as to what it was for. I still don't know why they built it like that. Im sure somebody does. But it was sure a sight to behold.

Now this I put it just to prove that Canadians (though I love our North American neighbors) are completely crazy sometimes. I mean, Caffeine Free Mountain Dew??? Now that's just wrong! but everywhere I looked

 in Montreal, not a single vending machine had regular Mountain Dew... Man, was I caffeine deprived that weekend!!! 

But I can honestly say that this was my favorite part of the trip. Now, I'm not usually into churches, being pagan and all, but I appreciate flawless beauty when I see it.

Montreal has more churches in one city than any city in North America, but none compare to what was inside the Notre-Dame De Montreal Basilica. From the outside it looks rather dull; high walls made of gray stone with angels set into the walls. So when I was told that we'd be spending an hour inside the building I prepared myself for a boring ride. But when I walked inside, what I saw was so breathtaking that I quite literally began to cry. Never in my life had I been inside or near anything of such architectural beauty. I could have spent days in the church just looking atthe spiraling, wood-carved stair cases and the stain glass windows... not to mention both of the organs that were about the size of my house!!! At one point someone started playing a few notes on the organ and I felt like my insides were melting. haha. There was an entire room painted gold too. These pictures are my favorites out of the ones I took. It was hard choosing favorites.