"The Charbor Chronicles": Pictures From the Family Holiday Season Trip to Montréal, Québec 1988-89

My family and I are Franco-Americans. A lot of Americans, when they recognize that our family name is French, will ask me, perhaps naturally, if I am of French Canadian stock.

No, we were outright from France. We all are French citizens, although everyone but my father has dual citizenship as Americans, as well.

Yet it seems almost strange to me that we as a family did not really discover the benefits of at least fairly regular trips to Canada, and particularly to Québec province. After all, we were in relative close proximity to a large French-speaking land, one that was reminiscent of France, yet had it's own unique, distinctive feel. One worth exploring. It made sense to simply hop in a car and go to that land, sometimes even just for an extended weekend. And that is just what we began to do, after this winter trip to Montréal in very late 1988, and into New Year's Day of 1989.

To be sure, we had gone to Canada before as a family. The first time was just before I was born, in the summer of 1974, when my grandmother on my father's side was visiting. The second time was when my grandparents on my mom's side drove my brother and me up to Montréal in the summer of 1983. But those were limited trips on some level, and did not spark frequent trips to Canada. That would come later.

There came a point in time when we as family truly began to discover Québec, and from which point, one or all of us would go with a fair degree of frequency. And that point was when we decided to spend a week in Montréal during the winter holiday break of 1988-89.

My parents explained to me years later that they were doing fairly well, financially, which explained the escort to LaGuardia Airport (and back on the return trip), which must have cost a small fortune. And the airplane tickets to Montréal. When we would learn later in 1989 that Montréal was basically a six hour drive, we would drive each time thereafter. But for that first family trip, we did not know.

As a family, with one full week in Montréal, we really got to know the city pretty well. We stayed at the Manoir Le Moyne, which was a fairly fancy hotel at the time, and is now, I believe, a private, presumably fairly fancy apartment complex. But it was on the Boulevard de Maisonneuve. Just in case anyone reading this is interested and does not already know, Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve, was the founder of the village of Fort Ville-Marie, which would eventually become the modern city of Montréal. The city, by the way, is named after the hill, which he named Mont Royal. Just a short little history lesson.

During our visit, we were quite taken by some things. There seemed to be a distinctly Old World feel to Montréal, and we of course enjoyed the Francophone culture. It is not exactly like France or anything. Indeed, French Canada has it's own unique, and I might add uniquely pleasant, culture. We began to discover this during that trip. I remember being very impressed with the cobblestone streets and old, stone homes dating back centuries in Vieux-Montréal (old Montreal). I also remember feeling impressed by the Château Ramezay, and the Hôtel de Ville de Montréal, which is right across the street. I believe we were all wowed by the gorgeous interior of the Basilique Notre-Dame (Notre Dame Basilica), which is probably one of the most beautiful churches in North America. Ironically, it was during this trip to a New World city where I probably personally finally began to appreciate the beauty and historical richness of Old World buildings, and the generally pleasant feel of European cities, even though I had experienced Europe firsthand (but had been too young to really appreciate it).

While Vieux-Montréal was my personal favorite part of Montréal, we were impressed with other places, as well. We visited Mont Royal park, and took in a view of the city. I loved Mary Queen of the World Cathedral. We all enjoyed the Métro which, like Paris, had train cars with rubber wheels, which made it quieter. Even the way the trains looked felt more reminiscent of Paris. There were good meals (that was where we discovered viande fumée (smoked meat) and, I believe, poutine (although that might have come in later trips). We frequented the nearby Rue Sainte Catherine, and I distinctly remember eating someplace across from the old Forum, where the iconic Canadiens de Montréal/Montreal Canadiens played at the time, just as a crowd was emptying from a game that was played there.

It was a wonderful trip, and the weather was, I believe, unusually mild, which made the entire week even more accommodating. Winters in Montréal can be quite brutal. So that week could have played out differently. Yet, everything about that week felt pleasant, and the mild weather really helped.

For whatever the reason, it seemed that we kept seeing images of the Château Frontenac in Québec City. This was before the internet, of course. But whenever we saw pictures of that smaller city, it looked like it had an even more dramatic Old World feel and charm to it. We all wanted to go, and that was probably what clinched a return trip to Canada, and specifically to Québec province, in the summer of 1989. We would return back as a family again in 1991. Since then, we have all gone up there numerous times, to boot.

In any case, all of that would come later. But for this particular post, I wanted to revisit that first family trip to Montréal during the holiday week of 1988-89. We arrived, I think, on Christmas Eve, or possibly on Christmas Day itself. And we left on New Year's Day of 1989. Recently, I discovered pictures from that trip, and thought it would be nice to share them. So, here they are:

This is the picture with the most family members in it. My brother is the one closest to the camera, but with his head turned away from it. My mom is either next to him or possibly even in front of him, wearing the beige overcoat. And there I am behind them, with my red winter jacket, and a Washington Redskins hat (not sure why I had that). As you can tell, this was the age of monstrous boat cars, which were all of the rage in the eighties in North America. I believe that this picture was taken on the Rue Sherbrooke.

My mother and my brother. Not sure where we are in the city at this point.

My brother.

My brother is closest to the camera, with my mom right behind him. I believe that this is the Rue Sherbrooke again.

We visited the Mark Chagall exhibit at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal/ Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Above, there is a picture of my brother in front of the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal/ Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, either just before or just after visiting the Mark Chagall exhibit.

A picture of the KPMG Tower, which at the time was known as either the Maison des Coopérants (the original name of the tall building with the pinkish tint in the background), or it may have been known as the Place de la Cathédrale, a name that it would acquire later. This is, probably, my favorite skyscraper in Montréal. It is right behind the Christ Church Cathedral.

Gargoyles in Montréal:

Some other pictures from the trip:

In addition, I thought I would add some pictures of Montréal taken during other trips. In particular, these following pictures were taken during much more recent visits to that city, this time with my son and my brother. It seemed appropriate to add these pictures of the Montréal to make this little blog remembering our experiences there just that much more complete.

These following pictures were taken during two separate autumn trips, in 2018 and 2019.

Enjoy!

As mentioned earlier in my previous post, we spent a day in Montreal.

We left Port Henry not long after first arriving, mostly in the interest of time.

So, we wasted little time.

The border crossing was not too long, and we then headed straight for Montreal. We hit a little bit of traffic upon reaching Vieux Montreal (the Old Town), but found a decent parking spot near the old section of town.

While this was hardly the first time visiting Montreal, it was the first time visiting Vieux Montreal with a portable camera. So, I finally got some pictures of parts of the city that we have long been familiar with.

Vieux Montreal has some of the same Old World charm that Vieux Quebec has, although it is a bit smaller and less dramatic. Still, it is quite attractive and fun to visit.

The oldest attraction is the Notre Dame de Victoire, with a huge statue in the back that welcomed sailors in the old days. The largest landmark of the old district of Montreal is the Basilique de Notre Dame, which has one of the most incredibly beautiful interiors of any of church in North America.

There is also the Chateau Ramsey, which is just across the street from the Hotel de Ville. There is the Marche Bonsecours. And there are outdoor cafes along cobblestone streets and old stone homes.

We ate at a Lebanese restaurant, which had merguez, a kind of spicy sausage from Morocco that a few Lebanese places in Quebec province have, for some reason.

At the end of the night, we traveled to the Stade Olympique and the surrounding Olympic Village, remembering how incredibly expensive the games proved to be. Only in 2006 did the city of Montreal finally finish paying debts accrued from those 1976 Summer Olympic Games.

While the games proved too costly for the city of Montreal, the Stade Olympique, and the Tour Olympique, are striking in appearance.

There are other places to see in Montreal as well, although we did not get to visit all of them during such a short trip.

Still, these are pictures from some of the places which we did visit.

Enjoy!