Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, QC

Heading to one of the Montreal finger island to visit the famed Habitat 67, the amusing stacked box homes for a cool $1.8M for a 3,839 sqft luxury apartment. Oh, but don't forget to add the co-ownership fee which runs $55.6K additionally and the monthly contribution of $4.6K. Beside clay tennis court with available instructor, the occupants can also enjoy river surfing on St. Lawrence River constant waves which one local surfer told us "We make do with what we have!" and with a timid smile and he quickly paddle out to one of the rapids.

Habitat 67 (top pictures) and lone surfer on Saint Lawrence river (bottom)

Notre-Dame Basilica is one of the most dramatic Roman Catholic church in the world, so standing there in the hot sun and smiling with anticipation, we patiently await for our scheduled time. Finally shuffling through its Gothic entrance after throng of other tourists, we practically stop dead in our tracks. The amazing multitude of deep rich colored altarpiece, withering high nave vaults decorated in deep blue hue and simmering golden stars, and intricate wooden carvings pulpit and saints suddenly seem so real and seems to beckon one silent and demanding respect with one kneeled knee.

Various Saints statues adorn The Crucifixion

Saints Peter and Paul statues underneath the pulpit

After a good dose of cappuccino and freshly baked croissants at a local boulanger, we headed to Montreal Botanical Garden and Insectarium to see hundred years old trees and some exotic insects. While examine the diminutive thorny elaeagnus bonsai, we were shocked to learn this tree is 105 years old, we realized that this moss covered root with it's crackling trunk, has live through Wright Brother's first flight, Hindenburg crashes,  America enters WW2, Hiroshima atomic bomb, first man in space, Martin Luther King speech, JFK assassination, Beatlemania, first man on the moon, etc. then to our astonishment we found even older bonsai, the Azalea, tipping the age scale at 210 years old.

Montreal Botanical Garden

Close-up of the 210 years old Azalea bonsai

Moss covered a 105 years old Alaeagnus bonsai

Side step over to the Insectarium, we entered the largest insect museum in North America. The bi-level museum appears small in dimension but big enough to housed more than 160,000 insects and animals (mainly creepy crawlers) under one roof. We were attracted to a shiny and colorful beetles and we are not the only ones... other cultures have been stringing certain kind of scarab beetle species into bright green necklace for centuries. And there one such a necklace in the Montreal Insectarium.

Just one case of beetles amongst thousand more cases of insects in the museum

Climbing more than 280 stone steps, we enter Saint Joseph's Oratory from Chemin Queen Mary beautiful side door. During summertime, there is also 99 wooden steps if one wishing to climb the church on their knees. The enormous cavity of the church almost took our breath away and not because of climbing stone steps earlier. It's the 195ft inner dome, 210ft wide, and 341ft length is a sight to behold. The huge sacred space that can easily house 15-story building was as serene and peaceful as simple wooden Christ statue quietly observing his flock farther down below. In various sections, one can find several relics such as the preserved heart of Saint Brother Andre (founder of the oratory), cloth containing the Saint's dried blood, and other artifacts. Out to the right side of the  Oratory, one can find a music instrument consisted of 56 bronze bells which made up of Oratory Carillon and to our surprise actually play by a titular carillonist, and not a machine. 

St. Joseph's Oratory view from Queen Mary boulevard

The 32ft organ made in Germany in 1958 and has been restored in 2012

There is a small sacred chamber behind the Station of the Cross

Being surrounded everything in French; from street signs, to everyday language, to shop names and its corresponding advertisements, to even food names and menu... Somehow we have been tele-transport to somewhere in Paris and not in Canada anymore. Our Caleche driver (beautifully bilingual) adamantly stressed that France has changed to newer French and that French Quebec is THE old French. No problem, on with crash course on "Bonjour, Madame!", "Comment allez-vous?", "Bien", "Est-ce que je peux parler anglais?", "Merci", "Au revoir" or occasionally "Bonne journee!"

Location visited and corresponding GPS:

Habitat 67 - 45°29'59.8"N 73°32'36.9"W
Notre-Dame Basilica- 45°30'15.7"N 73°33'22.3"W
Montreal Botanical Garden & Insectarium - 45°33'35.9"N 73°33'46.6"W
Saint Joseph's Oratory - 45°29'31.3"N 73°37'00.7"W

References:

- Architecture specifications are from respective attraction literature, it's websites, and Wikipedia
- Attraction coordinates are from Goggle map in Degrees, minutes, and seconds (DMS)