Montreal: Day 2

Since it was Sunday, I did sleep in a little more, but not too late.  I had things I wanted to see. I took my shower, got dressed and headed toward Old Montreal. After getting turned around a little, I finally came across a Starbucks, had an iced latte, and used their Wi-Fi. Once I got my bearings and realized that the Notre-Dame Basilica was just around the corner, I went to see the church. The church's Gothic Revival architecture is among the most dramatic in the world: its interior is grand and colorful; the ceiling is colored deep blue and decorated with golden stars; and the rest of the sanctuary is a polychrome of blues, azures, reds, purples, silver, and gold. It is filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues. Unusual for a church, the stained glass windows along the walls of the sanctuary do not depict biblical scenes, but rather scenes from the religious history of Montreal.

After Notre-Dame, I went to Pointe-à-Callière Museum, the Museum of Archaeology and History. I came across a tent set-up that said at the top, “Museum of Archaeology and History.” So I went up to the two ladies at the tent and asked where it was and they pointed across the street to people standing in line. I immediately got in line. Sunday was Montreal Museum Day, when 36 of the 41 museums are free to enter. The line for the Museum of Archaeology and History was about 20 minutes long and then once inside there was a line for either the movie about the history of Montreal or the exhibits. The movie had a 30-60 minute wait, while the exhibits had a 10-20 minute wait, so I chose the shorter wait time and decided not to see the film.  The museum was quite interesting.  I loved how at one point they had models of the old city at various stages under glass in the floor.  It showed were you were standing in the model and the major features of the city at the time.  I really enjoyed the archaeology and history.

When I left there, I decided to go have brunch. I had the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever had and their English breakfast: fried eggs, home-style potatoes, baked beans, bacon, sausage, and blood pudding. I left the blood pudding alone and ate most of the rest. The Bloody Mary was by far the best part about brunch. Then I headed back to the hotel. I’d already decided that the museums would be too crowded, so I went back to my hotel to take a nap and get ready for my evening at the sauna. I did finally learn to navigate the Metro system, which saved my feet a lot of worry.

Oasis Sauna was nice, but I’m not sure it was for me. As you go in, you pay for a room or a locker (I got a room), and they hand you a towel and a key. I went up to my room, undressed, put on the towel, and wrapped the key around my wrist, then went to explore the place. The sauna is two stories. The second floor has rooms, a dark room, and glory holes. My room was on the second floor.  The first floor had rooms, showers, a hot tub, wet and dry sauna, and a snack bar. I walked around some, got in the hot tub and sauna, and mainly just watched. I ended up getting a lot more action from the private dance the night before. There is a possibility that I would try it again, but I’m not sure.  There were a lot of hot guys there. I think what it boils down to is that you have to be in good shape with a nice dick or you have to be fairly aggressive. I’m not in great shape nor am I very aggressive, so I didn’t get any action though I saw some people getting plenty of action.

After the sauna, I headed back to the hotel and had a late dinner there because most things were closing by the time I left the sauna. At the hotel, I had a light supper of shellfish bisque with a glass of white wine. For dessert, I had a caramel mousse that was to die for. The caramel mousse was inside a round cake that had been hollowed out. It was so delicious, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. After supper, I went up to my room and packed up so I was mostly ready to head home when I woke the next morning.