Museums, getting locked out, and the Jazz Festival

During our second full day in Montreal, we decided to take advantage of our museum passes and check out a few places by our hotel in the morning before heading out to Montreal's International Jazz Festival in the evening.

We started our morning with clear skies and sunshine as we walked a few blocks to the Museum of Architecture. It was a beautiful building that was part new construction, and part old mansion. We looked at the exhibits, and then went on a guided tour, in which we learned more about the history of Montreal. We learned that our hotel was in a district once known as the "Square Mile" where all the richest people in Canada once resided. Unfortunately, most of the old houses were destroyed for new buildings. They also had some beautiful grounds that we walked around after our tour.

Dalan and me trying to get a picture of the view of the city, instead it turned out to be more of a picture of the off ramp!

Dalan showing off his incredible strength!

Look, how tough he is!

Next, we walked back to our hotel on the way to our next stop. As we got to our room we could not get the door open. We tried several times, but it was clear that the top latch was hooked from the inside. You know, the top chain link type latch in hotel rooms that you can only lock from the inside. Yep, that locked. We went down to the front desk, and they called maintenance. The maintenance man had a tool to unlock it, so it must happen on occasion, but it still took him over fifteen minutes to get in the room, and that was with him basically breaking it off the door.

Then, we walked up to the Museum of Fine Arts. It had a really interesting exhibit on the use of nature in the 19th and 20th century in American and Canadian Art. We saw lots of really beautiful paintings and it was neat to see how the influence of nature and man have affected art over the last two hundred years. I got a little silly while we were in the museum, not inappropriate, but silly. One of the problems was that the museums was so quiet and my shoes were still wet from the day before, and would not stop squeaking. At one point, I mimed oiling them, and Dalan was a little embarrassed. I don't think anyone even noticed. They also had a display on furniture, and I kid you not, there was at least 20 different chairs in one room.

Dalan and a cow outside the museum!

I had to sucker punch the cow as per tradition for seeing animals in Canada.

That evening we headed down to the International Jazz Festival. Ben Harper was playing that night for free. The Jazz Festival is a big deal every year in Montreal, and big names from all over play shows, and a lot of them are free. Stevie Wonder opened the festival, and Ben Harper was closing it. I love Ben Harper and was so excited. Dalan, on the other hand, not so excited. Although, he was excited to check out the festival. We got down there looked at the booths, got some food, and then found a spot over at the Ben Harper stage, which was already packed, and listened to a Cuban Jazz band preform. They were very good. The concert got more and more jammed packed. AND IT STARTED TO RAIN AFTER A DAY OF CLEAR SKIES RIGHT AS BEN HARPER CAME ONTO TO STAGE!!!!!!! Go figure. It was only a light to a moderate rain, and we never had to put on our ponchos, but at least we had them with us. Ben Harper played for two hours, and it was an excellent show. We were worried that getting on the metro might be difficult after the show, but they had everything super organized and we got home without any problems.

Dalan at the Jazz Fest. with a creeper in the background.

Waiting and listening the the Cuban jazz band.

Dalan's patience is wearing thin with all the picture taking!

Giant Dalan! I was still sitting waiting for Ben Harper, Dalan had stood up as the crowd got thicker!

Self portrait to the sweet sounds of Mr. Ben Harper!

This is how far away we were from the stage, despite getting there hours early!

Cute picture one of our fellow concert goers took for us, so we did not have to take another self portrait. My hood is up due to the rain, you can also see the rain drops all over the backpack!