We are finally back into regular rotation of finding things to explore and it feels wonderful. In full disclosure, the kids are pretty excited about most things that we do whether it's running errands, chilling at home, playing with friends or checking out something new in the city, but I think there is an extra spark in their eyes when I tell them we are going to go exploring. They get ready the quickest when they know there is an adventure on the horizon.
We recently went and checked out St. Joseph's Oratory. We see it daily as it sits built into the side of Mount Royal. It's pretty hard to miss. The kids had been asking what the building was so I figured that I would capitalize on that interest and take them on up there. It was a brilliant idea. The kids loved it.
We had the perfect weather for the day too. Couldn't have gotten better. But in the kids' eyes, it could get better, because they discovered the World's Largest selection of Stairs to Climb! At least they were pretty certain it was the most amount of stairs that they have ever seen. I wish I got a picture of all the stairs from the very base (I didn't) because there are a lot of stairs. The kids agreed, and were quite relieved, to discover that the stairs were not as steep as Germany stairs because, in the words of Atticus, "that would be so much tougher to climb. But that's okay, because we can do tough things. Though I am happy with these stairs, too.". Love those kids.
And love how cute they look even sitting on bird poop covered stairs. Just check out those smiles. They were in love with those stairs.
We also went inside and explore the chapels in there. It was nice, though I think I was expecting something a little more grand especially when the outside is as grand as it is. In any case, the kids loved the stairs and we enjoyed checking out each new vantage point and seeing how far across Montreal we could see. It was pretty neat to learn a bit about the history of the building as well.
More stairs.
When we made it to the very top floor, the kids quite enjoyed the chapel there, but were more intrigued with looking out the stained glass doors to see the view of Montreal just a little bit tinted. We did actually stop in to listen to a service. It was in french, but the kids still had plenty of questions afterwards. It was great to see them so reverent and respectful of the building and the people there. That is something that we work really hard to in still in them. I hope it sticks. They're good kids.
We were a little sad that the gardens were closed when we were there (perhaps due to the crazy wind storm we had just had!) but the kids were just as happy with watching the workers head up in the crane to perform some maintenance on the building.
The original church. It's grown a bit since then.
The exposed rock face inside was actually very cool. It had been made into a small worship chapel as well.
We really enjoyed our visit. As we were leaving the kids declared that it was very nice of them to let us visit their church. I couldn't agree more.
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