Montreal -- Day 4
Tuesday:
Got up nice and early today.
First stop was St Patrick's. At first I thought it was closed up, and I contented my self with several outside shots, but when I was getting ready to leave, a couple with a camera came out! Sweet! So I got several great shots. My tripod still suffered from not having a secure grip (resulting in some slightly crooked pictures, but I'm certain it won't bother anyone casually viewing them).
Next was Marie-Reine-du-Monde. The
mad_dokktor said it wasn't a very pretty church. I'm now certain that the
mad_dokktor is insane. It's beautiful, but it is definitely an intimidating structure (it's got LATIN writing all over the walls, for starters), and it doesn't feel as welcoming as St Patrick's, but it is certainly not ugly.
After getting my shots at the Cathedral, I walked down to Square Victoria. Unfortunately, most of the fountains were not switched on, but I got a couple of shots of the French-donated entrance to the Metro. I still think the lamps look like the periscope/weapon on the Martian space craft in the 1950's War of the Worlds film.
Next, I stopped at the Centre d'histoire de Montréal. Bit of a disappointment. They were renovating their building, so there were no temporary exhibits, just the permanent collection, which I saw last year. I stayed as long as I deemed polite (since the person at the desk seemed so pleased to see a guest), and left for my next destination...
Pointe-à-Callière. This was a really good stop. First of all, there was a temporary exhibit about pirates. Arrrr. And there is nothing funnier in the world than a French museum employee saying "pirates", especially when he's been forced to dress like one. No photos allowed in the pirate exhibition, the scurvy bilge rats. This museum is also built on the ruins of the original Pointe, and there was a multi-media presentation projected directly over a portion of the ruins that protrude from the floor. After the presentation, you can go down into the ruins, and look at all the old walls, and the artifacts that were dug up while excavating them (including my personal favourite, the cap from a bottle of Labatt's 50). After I was done looking around, I went out the so-called exit (a sortie, en Français) only to find myself trapped in an art gallery and enormous gift shop. I think I circled for 10 minutes trying to find my way out. When I finally got out the door, I realized I had left my museum guide somewhere in the Pointe (probably in the multimedia presentation), but I decided against going back to look for it (I didn't want to be keelhauled by over-eager French pirates if I was found trying to re-enter the museum).
I decided to go to my next destination (which fortunately was marked on my regular map), and try my luck there. The Château Ramezay Museum is a rather unimposing structure compared to all the other huge buildings in the immediate area, but there were quite a few visitors, so I hoped I could get a new copy of the museum guide I had lost. I asked the woman at the reception/gift shop (a dead ringer for ubernerd09 , if ubernerd09 ever took it into her head to dress in a French-Canadian-peasant period costume), and she looked around but found nothing. She told me to go ahead and take the tour, and when it brought me back to the gift shop, she'd tell me if she had found anything. The Château was very interesting, and I got some great photos, but most importantly, when I finished the tour, the greeter had a new copy of the guide for me! Hurrah! I went for a tour in the gardens out back (also lovely), and then went on to my next destination.
The Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum was much more interesting than I thought it would be. I was going to take the tour in French (since that was the language scheduled), but since it was late in the day during the week, I ended up being the only person on the tour, so the guide (also in period costume) switched to English, and took me to the new archaeological dig under the church, and gave me a very good history of the place. I was interested, but also a little frustrated that there wasn't someone else for him to focus on (it's difficult to take photos when someone is doing his best in English to make certain you can understand him), so I didn't get any shots of the tour itself. However, you are allowed after the tour to roam around the building, so I went up to the bell tower and got some great shots. My tour guide was awesome (and really made me wish I was 10 years younger). I would have taken more photos in the chapel, but I was supposed to meet the
mad_dokktor for dinner on Rue Ste-Catherine, and I had to hustle. I'll go back next year, I guess.
After dinner, I was ready to fall asleep at the restaurant table, so we went home. But now, I can't sleep. Figures.
Got up nice and early today.
First stop was St Patrick's. At first I thought it was closed up, and I contented my self with several outside shots, but when I was getting ready to leave, a couple with a camera came out! Sweet! So I got several great shots. My tripod still suffered from not having a secure grip (resulting in some slightly crooked pictures, but I'm certain it won't bother anyone casually viewing them).
Next was Marie-Reine-du-Monde. The
mad_dokktor said it wasn't a very pretty church. I'm now certain that the
mad_dokktor is insane. It's beautiful, but it is definitely an intimidating structure (it's got LATIN writing all over the walls, for starters), and it doesn't feel as welcoming as St Patrick's, but it is certainly not ugly.
After getting my shots at the Cathedral, I walked down to Square Victoria. Unfortunately, most of the fountains were not switched on, but I got a couple of shots of the French-donated entrance to the Metro. I still think the lamps look like the periscope/weapon on the Martian space craft in the 1950's War of the Worlds film.
Next, I stopped at the Centre d'histoire de Montréal. Bit of a disappointment. They were renovating their building, so there were no temporary exhibits, just the permanent collection, which I saw last year. I stayed as long as I deemed polite (since the person at the desk seemed so pleased to see a guest), and left for my next destination...
Pointe-à-Callière. This was a really good stop. First of all, there was a temporary exhibit about pirates. Arrrr. And there is nothing funnier in the world than a French museum employee saying "pirates", especially when he's been forced to dress like one. No photos allowed in the pirate exhibition, the scurvy bilge rats. This museum is also built on the ruins of the original Pointe, and there was a multi-media presentation projected directly over a portion of the ruins that protrude from the floor. After the presentation, you can go down into the ruins, and look at all the old walls, and the artifacts that were dug up while excavating them (including my personal favourite, the cap from a bottle of Labatt's 50). After I was done looking around, I went out the so-called exit (a sortie, en Français) only to find myself trapped in an art gallery and enormous gift shop. I think I circled for 10 minutes trying to find my way out. When I finally got out the door, I realized I had left my museum guide somewhere in the Pointe (probably in the multimedia presentation), but I decided against going back to look for it (I didn't want to be keelhauled by over-eager French pirates if I was found trying to re-enter the museum).
I decided to go to my next destination (which fortunately was marked on my regular map), and try my luck there. The Château Ramezay Museum is a rather unimposing structure compared to all the other huge buildings in the immediate area, but there were quite a few visitors, so I hoped I could get a new copy of the museum guide I had lost. I asked the woman at the reception/gift shop (a dead ringer for ubernerd09 , if ubernerd09 ever took it into her head to dress in a French-Canadian-peasant period costume), and she looked around but found nothing. She told me to go ahead and take the tour, and when it brought me back to the gift shop, she'd tell me if she had found anything. The Château was very interesting, and I got some great photos, but most importantly, when I finished the tour, the greeter had a new copy of the guide for me! Hurrah! I went for a tour in the gardens out back (also lovely), and then went on to my next destination.
The Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum was much more interesting than I thought it would be. I was going to take the tour in French (since that was the language scheduled), but since it was late in the day during the week, I ended up being the only person on the tour, so the guide (also in period costume) switched to English, and took me to the new archaeological dig under the church, and gave me a very good history of the place. I was interested, but also a little frustrated that there wasn't someone else for him to focus on (it's difficult to take photos when someone is doing his best in English to make certain you can understand him), so I didn't get any shots of the tour itself. However, you are allowed after the tour to roam around the building, so I went up to the bell tower and got some great shots. My tour guide was awesome (and really made me wish I was 10 years younger). I would have taken more photos in the chapel, but I was supposed to meet the
mad_dokktor for dinner on Rue Ste-Catherine, and I had to hustle. I'll go back next year, I guess.
After dinner, I was ready to fall asleep at the restaurant table, so we went home. But now, I can't sleep. Figures.