Moving again???

Yes, more moving....After several days in the Sister Missionaries' vacant apartment and the Cannons' family gone, we moved back into the Mission Home for 3 days. Then our Senior CES Couple - the Nobles - went home. So we moved from the Mission Home into their vacated apartment. At least it still had all the furniture and dishes etc. They live on the 11th floor of this building.

It has a gorgeous view of St. Joseph's Cathedral out of the large living room windows:

We stayed here one week to finish our training of the Conways. Then, since the apartment was being vacated, we have to move all the furniture to the mission storage unit. (The NEW CES couple will be moving into the apartment building where the other senior couples live. Luckily we had several young missionaries to help us:

Elders Jaquier, Dalton, Smedley and Tam relaxing on one of the 3 couches that came out of that apartment!
We HAD to take a picture of the old and new CASH COUNT... outgoing Elder Mahaffey and incoming Elder Conway:

So... we are finally on our way back  to our home in Cornwall after 3 1/2 months and SIX moves!!  Our poor bodies are ready for our own bed and a little less hectic daily schedule! But, I will have to say, we truly loved working in the office!  Getting to know so many missionaries and feel of their wonderful spirit made it an unforgettable experience!

A very busy Sunday

Since we've been  working in the Mission Office, the President has asked us to attend the Kirkland Ward. It is about 30 minutes away from our apt. bldg. It has been wonderful to meet many new people. It is a much larger ward than Cornwall. These are two of the fantastic elders serving there:

Elder Williams and Elder Teuira. As we will be leaving soon and heading back to Cornwall, E. Williams wanted a picture, so I HAD to take one too.

Then, that night, we were back at the Mission Home for another Bienvenue Dinner to welcome our replacements in the office - Elder & Sister Conway - from Tooele, Utah - and the new couple taking over the Center for Young Adults in Quebec City - Elder & Sister Saintonge - that are from here.

We always have fun after dinner. President will ask us to go around room and introduce ourselves and then he always has something fun he wants us to tell about. Tonight it was our favorite scripture and why.

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful group of Senior Couples that we love!

What a busy day!

Since coming to Montreal we have moved several times.  First we came to train for serving in the office with the Giles, before they went home. We lived in their building in a vacant apt. we were preparing for another Senior couple to come- The Allens. (putting together lots of IKEA furniture!). Then, when the Giles left, we moved into their old apt. on the 16th floor.  When our replacements finally arrived - The Conways from Tooele, UT - they moved into the 16th floor apt.  We were supposed to go & live at the mission home while we trained them, but, of course, nothing is every easy!  President & Sister Cannon were having 10 members of their family come that week, so we had to move into an empty missionary apt. we were preparing for a set of sisters. We took our Aero beds-
(blow up mattresses) and our luggage and were off again to move into a totally bare apt.  Today we were at the Mission Storage Unit moving some furniture in and out. It is in a large Jewish section of town. (Right beside the storage building is the BEST Jewish bakery in the world!!!) It was Saturday - their Shabbat- Sabbath) and we noticed a large number of the men leaving their services. I have been so intrigued with some of their clothing as we have watched them coming & going- so I thought I would get a picture of them.  I saw one elderly gentleman walking alone, so I came up to him & said, Excuse me... wanting to get him to explain about their wonderful round bear-skin hats. He totally ignored me & kept walking. Not to be deterred, I said again, Excuse me, sir....  Nothing... he didn't look up, or at me, but just kept walking. These are very orthodox Jews & it dawned on me then, that women are not highly regarded among them & they would never speak to a Gentile woman!  But, I wanted a picture of their clothing...rats!  So, I decided to hide behind a huge bush and as they walked
past, I took several pictures, surreptitiously!  (I know, I know...

I am so intrigued by these bear-skin hats. They are called Shtreimels (Schtray-ml) and they are very expensive! Usually upwards of $1000. and only married men wear them. I don't know if they are hot, but they wear them winter and summer.

The Jewish religion requires the men to have their head covered, so some just wear regular black hats, and the young ones usually only wear the yarmulkes.

All have beards and most have the side curls - very Hasidic. 

After getting all the furniture moved, we decided we needed some lunch. The missionaries told us that the best burgers in town were at Burger de Ville.  It's a place similar to Fuddruckers in that you build your own burger with whatever you want on it. They were certainly right... It was great!!

It took alot to get Elder LeVitre to NOT go to his favorite place...McDonalds !!! AAGGHH!!  But
after eating, he decided it was pretty good! ha!
Since we couldn't get into the next apt. until after 5pm, we decided we would take the rest of the day and go sightseeing down in Old Town section of Montreal.  It is downtown, right on the St.Lawrence River. We parked right across from the Hotel de Ville:

The Hotel de Ville really isn't a hotel at all... It is City Hall. We dropped in to pick up a couple of city lapel pins... called epinglettes. The missionaries here all collect a pin from each city where they serve. Some cities charge for them, some give them away.  Here is the pin from Montreal:

The most famous street in all of Montreal:

The walkway down to the river is lined with restaurants.

with, of course... a little of the US thrown in....

All of the restaurants have inside & outside eating... and always alot of flowers!

 

Hotel Nelson is this amazing restaurant that has been reconverted from on old 1804 hotel. It was named after a patriot of the Rebellion of 1837 and the ninth mayor of Montreal. It is wonderful inside:

As you go down this street and turn the corner, you come to Rue des Artists, or Artists' Alley:

We were VERY tempted to buy a beautiful scene of Montreal.... It was very expensive, though,... and
as Roger says... We'll just have to haul it home!... (so romantic, that man of mine!)

 

It was a fun day. Still, we like Quebec's old city more. Montreal has not done as much to preserve their old section of the city as Quebec. What you cannot see in all these pictures are the tall smoked glass & steel skyscrapers right across the street.  It sort of ruins that old world charm.