Montreal Vacation (big post)
This whole thing was erased in a freak accident the first time... here's try number two :-/
These photos will seem to be in a funny order, because I walked around everywhere and only occasionally took photos. Maybe it's because I didn't want to be snapping pictures constantly like a tourist. Pretending not to be a tourist is kind of a futile thing, and pointless because you'll never see the people again, but it still makes you sort of happy to be walking around as if you really belong somewhere, without a big map and a camera.
Sunday
On Sunday I went around by myself. I started by going fairly far west on Sherbrook street, then heading south until I reached the canal.
These are two photos taken from the Canal de Lachine.
Now two of the Canal itself.
From the canal, I walked north.
This is the Cathedral Marie-Reine-du-Monde, which is also a basilica, so maybe it should be called Cathedral-Basilica or something. Its name means Mary Queen of the World. Apparently, it was built as a one quarter size replica of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, which is amazing when you are next to it because it's hard to imagine something four times as large! I went here on two occasions hoping to get photos of the interior, but both times there were masses in progress, so I didn't go in.
This next picture is of Place Ville-Marie. The two low buildings on either side are entrances to the "Underground City," which is a large network of subterranean malls, offices, stations and theaters. During the winter some Montréal residents (Montréalers?) can go from their apartments to their jobs wearing a t shirt, because they travel exclusively in the "Underground City."
I went across on Sainte-Catherine street, past two anglican churches. Then I went south on Saint-Alexander. I went in Saint Patrick's Basilica, the anglophone Roman Catholic basilica. It was really beautiful, with paintings of the saints in niches all around and booming distant ceilings. There were fewer than 7 people inside. I didn't take any pictures inside because there were people praying and I thought it would be disrespectful. I said as much of the divine mercy as I could remember which wasn't a lot. Didn't take any pictures of the exterior either, just because I forgot to, I guess.
Next, I went down into the old part of the city, called Vieux-Montréal (Old Montreal.) The first thing I went to there was the Place d'Armes, which is right in front of Notre-Dame basilica. There were so many asian tourists there... goodness.
This statue is in Place d'Armes, but I forgot who it depicts.
And here is the famous Notre-Dame. The inside is really spectacular, but I didn't take any pictures again because of the people praying and such, even though there were a million other tourists inside snapping away. Go to the wikipedia page HERE to see photos of the interior.
Then, here are some more pictures from the old city.
Saint-Paul street
Rue de la Commune seen from the old port.
looking the other direction (east) on Rue de la Commune
Place Jacques-Cartier, looking north.
At the top of Place Jacques-Cartier. This building might be Hôtel de ville de Montréal.
I walked northwards on Saint-Laurent Boulevard next. These next photos are taken from that bridge thing, where the street crosses the rail lines or whatever they are.
You can see that we're approaching Chinatown because the Holiday Inn has little pagodas.
The south gate to Chinatown. The white lions were donated by Taiwan.
I continued on Saint-Laurent all the way up to Prince Arthur street and then zigged and zagged back to the hotel on Sherbrook & Peel. I went past
vampiresoflove's apartment, how crazy is that? It wasn't the last time, either. There's a supermarket there that we went to a few times.
Monday
On monday I went with my family (mom, dad, sister, uncle, cousin) to the Botanical Gardens, Insectarium and Biodome.
Here's the famous Olympic Stadium!
Entrance to the Botanical Gardens
Pictures from inside the greenhouses.
Little Bonsai trees in a Chinese garden dubbed in English "Garden of Weedlessness."
Outside Gardens...
The Chinese Garden was really amazing. The whole thing was built in China and then shipped to Québec. It's the largest authentic Chinese Garden in the world outside of China, I think.
This picture's composition is a little funny with the big inclined tower sticking up!
One of the features of a Chinese Garden is the fake mountain. This one was 30 feet tall, I think.
Sara and Katie in the shade.
The Aquatic Gardens.
This is, I believe, my only photo from inside the Insectarium, which is a real shame... there were some pretty cool things in there!
Anyway, leaf bugs hitching a ride on another leaf bug.
The Japanese Garden.
One section was a Zen Garden.
These Koi were in such shallow water that they actually stuck out.
Here's a video of the fish interacting with the ducks....hahaha.
The Biodôme was a big structure which had 4 distinct habitats or environments inside it.
There was Arctic:
Tropical:
Aquatic:
And also Woodlands, which I guess I don't have any pictures of.
Tuesday
Tuesday I went out by myself again. Set out to Mount Royal. Met a old Chinese tourist who was really talkative and wanted to discuss everything and anything. He was a slow climber, though, and I lost him on the slopes :-p
On the 'summit' of Mount Royal there's a big chateau and plaza where you can see a beautiful panorama of the city.
This cross looks pretty unattractive up close, but at night it's illuminated and can be seen from all over the city, since it's up on the "mountain."
I don't have pictures from a great deal of tuesday! I walked up north by Fairmount Avenue and Saint-Viateur Avenue. There are a lot of Orthodox Jews who live up there on Parc. I went into a convenience store and asked est-ce que vous vendez des stylos? and the shopkeeper literally looked at me and said "huh?" Man, way to ruin my little confidence. I know I got that sentence right. I guess the guy only spoke Hebrew and English, or Yiddish and English.
Took the subway down to the old town again and walked around Chinatown. Went to two museums: Centre d'histoire de Montréal, and Pointe-à-Callière Musée d'archéologie et d'histoire de Montréal. (We had gotten tourist passes that let us ride the subway and go to museums as much as we wanted within three days.)
I took the subway back, getting on at Champ-de-Mars. These are two photos taken from there.
Wednesday
What did I even do on Wednesday? I can hardly remember...
Oh yeah, I went to the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (fine arts museum) on Sherbrook. Then my dad took me to some little shop to get poutine (wikipedia link). He had been to this same little restaurant earlier and was enthusiastic about it. It was pretty good. I saw a guy outside the window who looked just like my cousin's neighbor Jesse Fine-Gagné. The kid's dad looked just like Jesse Fine-Gagné's dad too. I saw both of them on Thursday, too, in a totally different part of the city. weird.
I didn't do too much else on Wednesday...
Thursday
In the morning we went to a market.
After that we took the subway over to the Oratoire Saint-Joseph, or Saint-Joseph's Oratory. It's really amazing.
The central set of stairs is for pilgrims who ascend on their knees, saying a prayer on every step. You can see one woman doing that in this picture.
There were gardens to the left which had stone tableaux of the stations of the cross.
Brother André's original little chapel was up there too, with crutches from people who had been miraculously healed.
I walked back through rich neighborhoods along Roslyn avenue and Parcs King George and Westmount. It rained and I listened to the Clientele as I walked back through older parts of the city.
Well, that's all of it! I hope you enjoyed this. It took forever, especially since I had to do most of it twice, haha.