Sonya's Blog - Day 58 - St. Joseph's Oratory and Visiting Family

Sonya’s Blog - Day 58 - August 19th - St. Joseph’s Oratory and visiting

Today we were going to visit Blake’s cousins who live in Montreal, Donna and Bill and their kids Ashley and Liam. We were not going over to their house until the afternoon so we thought we would head to St. Joseph’s Oratory in the morning to check it out. It is a massive church that is on Mount Royal Mountain. Once we got there we saw that the church is built at the top of the mountain and there are hundred of steps leading up to the main entrance. There are stone steps and then in the middle are wooden steps that are for anyone that wants to pray going up the steps. So you would stop on each one and say your hail Mary or do your genuflection or whatever it is you want to do and then you would go to the next one and the next and so on until you have prayed at all 277 steps (Isaac counted them) and then you may be worthy enough to worship at the church. What I would like to know is if you wanted to make mass, what time would you need to start on the steps at in order to be on time? Picture of the steps:

There were great views from the lookouts and at the top of the steps and the church was massive and impressive.

They are also expanding St. Joseph’s because it’s not big enough or something? Not sure, I thought it was pretty big.

We had to take shifts checking out the oratory because we had La Kizmé with us (that is Kizmet en français) and she was not welcome in the church. So Isaac and Blake went first and then Natasha and I went. It took a really long time as a result and we were all hungry at the end so we headed over to a nearby cafe to have a bite to eat. The cafe was called Duc de la Lorraine and it was pretty chic and they had yummy looking stuff. We were able to sit on the patio and have La Kizmé tied up beside the fence area. It was very hot, but I had lots of water for Kizmet and she was in the shade. We all had really good meals and then bought a mousse cake to take with us to Donna and Bills.

We finally got on the road and then tried to navigate our way out of the area, while simutaneously trying to find a gas station that had diesel and avoiding the construction as Cote La Neiges was shut down for about 10 blocks and that was the street we needed. We finally managed to find our way and get some gas, but traffic was brutal and it was only 2 in the afternoon. We finally made it to Donna and Bills and there was much rejoicing. They have a pool in the backyard so after a quick visit the kids were ready to take a swim. Donna and Bill have a very sweet dog named Bailey who is about 3 times larger than Kizmet, but twice as scared. Now Kizmet is not a brave or aggressive dog, but next to Bailey she seemed quite bold. They got along really well, but KIzmet really wanted to play and she just kept scaring Bailey. Donna and Bill were kind enough to make us supper and we had a yummy meal of burgers and salad and then we had the cake that we had brought, but they also had an ice cream cake so we had that as well. During desert we were inside because the bugs started to come out and that was when Kizmet stole Bailey’s brand new squeaky chicken and laid down in Bailey’s bed. Well Bailey was going to have none of that and they battled a little for dominance, not sure who won. After that they wanted to play, but only inside where there really wasn’t room for it. They were pretty funny.

It was time for us to head on our way as it was a 40 minute drive back to our campground and it was getting late. Bill, Donna and the kids had just been to New York and they had lots of great things to tell us about their trip. They gifted us some chocolate treats and a bag for Natasha. They also gave our kids lovely cards with some spending money for their trip. I guess that Blake’s Dad forgot his smoked meat when he was there last time so we were offered that as well. We are going back on Sunday for one more visit before we take off for Québec City, so we will pick that up as well. Wow, is that going to be tasty, thanks Jeff! I will call you when I am eating it, so tasty!

Sonya

#StJosephs #Montreal #Family