Montreal Fun!! - Montreal, Canada
Montreal, Canada
We woke up on our air mattress after one of the best sleeps ever! We cant explain how this is possible but its true. The house was quiet as Rish had left already to go to play street hockey for the morning. Our plans were to explore the Old Town for the morning and then meet Rish back at his flat in the afternoon after he had finished hockey. We enjoyed our included breakfast at hotel Rish and then set out for the day. There was a significant chill in the air and the sky was quite overcast but thankfully there was no rain. Hotel Rish, also known as Rish's bachelor pad or apartment, is located smack bang in the centre of downton Montreal directly across from Chinatown and is within easy walking distance from Old Town Montreal or as the Quebecian French call it, Vieux Montreal. All rugged up, we started walking uphill towards our first stop of the day, the Basilique Notre-Dame. The Basilique Notre-Dame is situated on the historical square of Place D'Armes and takes its name as well as its design from its more famous cousin, The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Basilique was commissioned to be designed by architect and protestant James O'Donnell from New York City with the intention to be the largest church north of Mexico. The Basilica was completed in a gothic revival style and was opened in 1829 with the ability to hold 3200 worshippers at one time. The Basilica houses a large collection of finely crafted artworks including vibrant coloured stained glass windows, an intricate pulpit and an elaborately carved altar piece. We didnt go inside but apparently there are gilt stars which hang from the vaulted ceilings and the altar is backlit with evening sky blues. The largest bell on the continent, Gros Bourdon calls the Basilica its home, as does the Casavant organ with its 7000 pipes, which is a main feature at the Christmas Mass. Whilst admiring this immense stone structure from outside in the square we did hear the mighty Gros Bourdon ring out at the turn of the hour. The exterior has been well maintained and the stone has been restored to its original light stone grey complexion. The gothic revival style means that the church lacks the gargoyles and other rash architectural features such as ornate spires, but I didnt mind that at all. This more subtle gothic style seemed to be more in sync with the feel of the Old Town. Whilst sitting in Place D'Armes we took note of the other amazing buildings that made up this famous square, including the city's oldest bank and first skyscraper. The square got its name from the bloody battles that took place on this site between the first nationals and the religious settlers over who would govern the land of wht we now call Montreal. In the centre of the recently renovated square stood a large sculpture of the city's founder, Paul Chomedy de Maisonneuve. As per most statues of this nature it was very inspiring and imposing in size. On the north side of the square was Montreal's first skyscraper, The New York Life Insurance Building, constructed in red sandstone in 1888. The Aldred Building next door was constructed of limestone in 1931 and was designed to reflect the famous Empire State Building in NYC. On the west side of the square was the building for Canada's first permanent bank, The Bank of Montreal. The Bank of Montreal which continues to function as a working bank to this day, was built in 1847 and was modelled after the Pantheon in Rome with its immense colonnaded edifice and domed ceiling. Since it was the weekend we were unable to take a peek inside but apparently the interior has 32 marble columns and coffered 20m ceiling in Italian renaissance style. The grandeur of this building means it could very easily be mistaken for a city hall or another notable government building rather than a bank. It is very impressive. On the southern edge of the square there were a few tacky tourist carriage rides available for hire but the thing I liked most on this side were the two quirky bronze statues at either corner. Since we cant read French we couldnt actually establish the purpose of the statues but they were just interesting to look at. On one corner was a man holding a pug and wearing a pointing nose mask, whilst on the other corner there was a woman holding a poodle with the exact same nose mask. The statues were a direct contrast from the rest of the structures which framed the square and yet they stood inconspicuously on the fringes of the square, probably often going unnoticed. I think that such integration of new and old is impressive. After soaking up Place D'Armes for a good 45 minutes we decided to move on and explore more of the old town with the help of our Lonely Planet suggested walking tour. Before we left the square we took a moment to admire the building to the right of the Basilica (if you are facing the entrance), the Vieux Seminaire de St Sulpice. In 1663 the Catholic order of the Sulpicians were given the rights to land of the entire Island of Montreal and built their seminary in 1684. The Sulpicians were also the people responsible for commissioning the Basilica to be built. The seminary has been in continuous use since its construction and therefore the grounds are off limits to visitors. The clock in the facade was a gift from King Louis XIV and is believed to be the oldest working clock in North America. We brief stopped by the gate to the grounds so we could gaze at the clock and the lovely manicured gardens but we then moved on shortly after. We proceded down Rue Notre Dame Ouest and worked our way through the streets until we reached Palace Royale. This was the spot where the settlers first landed and where they established there first fort, Ville Marie. There was a definate need for a fort in this location when the settlers first arrived due to lengthy and consistent battles with the native Iroquois. This square in the western sector of Old Town Montreal is now the paved forecourt to the 1836 neoclassical Old Customs House. This square/forecourt was used as the city's main marketplace during the 17th and 18th century. We were now closer to the water and Im not sure if it was actual or just psychological but it felt much cooler all of the sudden. We decided to seek refuge and warm up in a coffee shop overlooking the Customs House. As we sipped our hot beverages and stared out the windows. We remarked how all custom houses seem to have the same distinguishable building structure or design...have you ever noticed that? Anyway we managed to order our coffees in our broken French because the lovely girl at the counter quickly reverted to English, probably more for her sake than ours Im sure. After our short rest we took off again outside. We decided to ditch our walking tour and instead just explore ...freestyle. We figured we could refer to the book as we stumbled across anything of interest. We crossed the road and began to walk along the old port promenade. We passed the first quay, Quai Alexandra which is the eastern most pier along the canal. On the south side of this pier there is an abandoned 17 storey tall concrete silo which is a reminder Montreal's former glory as a major grain port. As we headed north we passed another quay/pier called Quay Jacques Cartier which is considered the focal point of the old port. There were an array of restaurants along with an open air stage and a handicraft shopping centre situated along the pier. We also noticed many colourful posters advertising various stage shows, temorary exhibits and events in this area over the summer period. There is also a big top tent located at this pier which is home to the world famous Cirque du Soleil. Unfortunately we missed out on seeing a performance because the summer season had ended for the year. Across the road along Rue de La Commune, aka The common, we could see the former warehouses and factory buildings had been rejuvenated and transformed into trendy hotels, restaurants and upscale condos. The exteriors have been left relatively unchanged but the raw industrial look of the past has diminished slightly. Inside most of these buildings you can still see remanents of the original stone walls of these vintage buildings. As we reached the northern most end of the Old port we were in need of a washroom. This need encouraged us to explore the area of Parc du Bassin Bonsecours, a large grassy expanse along a waterway which was accessed via a number of footbridges that criss crossed over the canals. Unfortunately with summer almost over and winter not quite upon us the washrooms were closed. In the residual lake there were rows of paddleboats bobbing in the water, gathering leaves as they took a well earned rest after a busy summer. Apparently this area is also popular for remote controlled sail boats in the summer and of course ice skating in the winter. Since we had no luck locating a washroom we quickly moved on. We left the promenade and crossed over towards Rue de La Commune. As I looked back to take my last glimpse of the Old Port I noticed a magnificient white clock tower on the Eastern edge of the port. The clocktower was the Tour de L'Houloge, built to commemorate the sailors and shipment who were lost whilst fighting in the World Wars. Visitors can climb the tower to get views over Old Montreal and the surrounding port and islands but we decided to give it a miss due to the low lying cloud. I turned back as we began to re-enter the Old town on our way to Marche Bonsecours on our left we spotted the outstanding Chapelle Notre Dame de Bonsecours on our right immediately opposite the Marche. The Chapelle is known in english as the Sailors Church and it got this name because sailors use to leave behind lamps in the shape of ships in thanksgiving for a safe journey. The building is striking and stands out amongst the other buildings that surround it as it has a large dome and sizeable, intriguing statues of saints along its facade. We reached Rue de La Commune and entered Marche Bonsecours from Rue St Paul. A number of restaurants occupied basement rooms in the Marche and were complementary to the various boutique stores which occupied this street....gave the husbands somewhere to go whilst the wives shopped. The The sprawling neoclassical building Marche Bonsecours, was first opened n 1847 and it has served many purposes over the years including a farmers market (hence the name marche), a theatre, Montreal's town hall from 1852 to 1878 and now an upscale shopping centre and exhibition space supporting art, culture and design. After visiting the washrooms (initial purpose for popping inside) we strolled through the gallery of shops, browsing through the different pieces of artwork, handicrafts and leather goods. As expected anything we liked was well out of our price range so we left empty handed and continued to walk down Rue St Paul. Rue St Paul is a quaint, narrow cobblestone street which takes the prize as the city's oldest street. It once was a highway for horse driven carts laden with goods which were being transported down to the Old Port. It is now lined with handicraft and souvenir stores as well as many delightful eateries which gives the street a wonderful atmosphere and makes it a pleasure to wander. The beautiful lamps accesorised with vibrant flower pots make the street also very picturesque. Within only a few minutes Rue St Paul had led us directly to Place Jacques Cartier, the livliest spot in the whole of Old Town Montreal. In the centre of this slightly inclined square there are huge flower pots and small wooden stalls selling either snack foods or jewellery from local designers. Dotted amongst these you will also find an occasional sample of local street art which adds further exuberence to the square. Around the fringes of the square street artists and musicians entertain the crowds and provide auditory delight to this fun community space. As you walk up the square you notice tiny alley like streets extending away from the square including one such alley which is filled with venders selling artworks known as artist alley. At the top of the square there is a noticeable column with a man perched on top of it. The column strikes an uncanning resemblance to that of Nelsons Column in Trafalgar Square in London. Funnily enough it turns out this is Colonne Nelson, a monument of Admiral Nelson commemorating the defeat of Napoleon at Trafalgar. Now as you can imagine this monument doesnt sit well with the devote French supporters and thus they have made many attempts to have it removed but with obviously no success. To conteract this monument they instead constructed their own statue of a French Admiral, JeanVauquelin, in the square directly across the road (and next to the famous Hotel de Ville) in the aptly named Place Vauquelin. The statues seem to purposely face each other like a Western Style fight em to the death challenge is always about to ensue. As I said, the famed Hotel De Ville sits across the road from Place Jacques Cartier and is Montreal's Town Hall. This impressive building was built between 1872-1878 and rebuilt again I 1926 following a fire. This building is more than just an administrative building but rather a venue of historical importance. Charles De Gaulle stood on the balcony of this very building and cried the profound words ' Vive le Quebec libres' to the crowd below. This phrase, long live a free Quebec' fuelled the fire of Quebecois (or as I refer to them Quebecians..cause I didnt know better until now) separatism and strained relations with Ottawa ever since. We finished our time in Old Town Montreal by visiting a few impressive and notable buildings on Canada's wall street of the 1930s, Rue St Jacques (known as St James St at the time). The first building we stopped to admire was the Guardian Trust Building built in 1902. Above the entrance you will find a helmeted woman guarding the entry. On the second floor exterior fresco you will find mermaids and lions providing a second line of defence. Further down the road we stopped at the Molson Bank Building. This building which resembles a Royal Palace more than a bank was part of the Molson Brewery Company dynasty back in the day. In the doorway you will find a bust of tne founder and his two sons. The last and supposedly most glamorous historical building for the morning was the Royal Bank Building. When built in 1928 at 22 stories high this was the tallest building in the city. The exterior is not significantly more remarkable than those around it but the interior is amazing and has been designed to replicate a Floretine Palace. After our long walk through the old town it was almost time for us to go back to the apartment and meet Rish. We were also getting quite hungry which was so surprise as it was almost 2pm, a good 4 or so hours after we ate breakfast. On our journey back to the apartment we popped into the supermarket and grabbed some ingredients to make gourmet sandwiches at Rish's apartment. A new favourite of ours is turkey. Not a meat often used in Australia but so tasty and it works so well with some many different flavours. We got back to the apartment and Rish was still not home so we made our lunch and parked ourselves on his comfortable L shaped black leather couch and waited for his return. About an hour later Rish returned home after two games of hockey..one ice and one street game. Despite a late night last night and an early morning he was full of energy after his hockey. To say Rish lives and breaths hockey would be an understatement. RISH IS HOCKEY. It was a shame we wouldnt be around to watch a hockey game with him as the season didnt start till October. Another hour passed where we reminisced about the tour we all met on two years ago. Rish played his trip photos on his huge Tv and we laughed at the stupid hangover movie references and the boys obsession with Trondheim. A pact was made by the boys for a Trondheim reunion in 2020 ( although only 9 years after it sounded better than 2021) whilst I shook my head in pity. After seeing a thousand photos of waterfalls and fjords we switched the photos off and instead watched some funny skits and sport on tv. Ro and I had thought we wanted to go out in the afternoon to see the Olympic site and the Grand Prix track on the man made island but once we were comfortable on the couch, we were more than happy to do that tomorrow and to instead simply enjoy hanging out with our friend. We had been going non stop for so long and we knew the road trip around the Maritimes in the coming week was going to be hectic.... Chilling was what the doctor had ordered. So we lounged around until 7pm and then got ourselves ready for a fun night out. All dressed up we started the night by heading up Mont Royal to get views of the city lit up at night. The trip up to the top took longer than expected as there were some protests taking place which had blocked the most direct route. On the way we stopped by a gigantic church on a hill called St Josephs Oratory. Now that it was dark the church had been magnificiently illuminated making it look so much more imposing and impressive in the night skyline another interesting feature of the church was the staircase from street level up to the church on the hill which was specifically designated for people to crawl up to the church on their hands and knees. It was a long way and would definately be a true sign of devotion to the church and your faith. After a few selfies we proceded to the top of Mont Royal to the observation point. This observation point provided us with views of the North East side of the city. The olympic stadium with its prominent tower and viewing platform which is sort of in the shape of a massive ski jump or slippery dip, were lit up in a vibrant blue hue. The olympic stadium was built for the 1976 Olympic games and is currently in need of some extensive repairs which according to Rish , is causing a lot of talk around town due to the cost associated with such repairs and the potential ongoing use of the structure. Whilst admiring the views of the city I asked Rish if they get much wildlife in the park. Rish replied 'actually... Thats strange'. You could then see him looking around the viewing platform and into the surrounding bushes until finally he said ' oh, there they are....racoons'. I spun around super excited and rushed over to the open grassy area where you could see a small crowd of people and a few camera flashes. Oooooo there was about 7 or 8 racoons of varying sizes foraging for food on the grass. There was a couple feeding the racoons despite signs requesting people not to feed the animals, so there were one or two bigger racoons coming up close to the park benches. One racoon actually stood on its hind legs and reached up to her hands to inspect it for food. In this incident he only found an Iphone so he scurried off quite quickly after he made this realisation. Time was getting away from us and we needed to go to ensure we were still able to get dinner at a restaurant as the kitchens closed at about 9.30pm or 10pm. So we rushed back to the car and sped (not literally) back down the hill to the trendy, restaurant filled suburb of Plateau to grab some dinner. We decided upon a tasty Greek feast at one of Rish's favourite restaurants. We started with our mixed entree plate with dolmades, trio of dips, spinach and feta parcels and of course olives. We then proceded to each devour a meaty souvlaki plate which we washed down with a lovely Argetinian red wine. With our belts about to burst we forfeited dessert. We were extremely satisfied with the food but the service was to be desired, especially since they didnt fulfil his request for a sweet and attractive lady guest to join our party....I mean that isnt a tall order at all right? We headed back to the apartment to drop the car off and to head to our drinks. Rish had booked us tickets to an after party for the TED convention which was being held near his place. The Ted convention is a series of lectures and exhibits presented by inspiring and innovative personalities. Rish was recommended by a friend to attend the after party as they are usually really interesting and full of very intriguing, creative people. Rish was also keen to check out the venue, the Science and Technology dome. We said...Why not, our whole trip is about trying and experiencing new things...we're in. We parked the car and then walked diagonally across the road to the venue..when he said it was near his place he wasnt kidding. We went upstairs to the top floor of the building and out onto the outside deck. It was freezing....especially when in a dress and tights but it was much quieter and gave us the opportunity to talk to each other and to some randoms. There wasnt as big of a crowd as we had expected and unfortunately Rish's friend failed to show up which is always annoying, but we still enjoyed ourselves watching the light installations on the surrounding buildings and chatting. Towards the end of the evening they changed the music from techno to retro such as the 80s and 90s so I was in my element. I used the excuse of the cool air to justify my need to chair dance to the daggy (but terrific) music. The party started to wrap up so we headed back across the road to the comforts of Rish's apartment. On reflection we probably needed to arrive to the party a bit earlier but we had enjoyed seeing the racoons and having dinner so we just didnt care. Having gotten over being tired and ready for bed we decided to watch a movie however in discussing which movie to watch we ended up getting distracted and instead discussed our favourite movies or watched trailers of upcoming movies we were dying to see. By 3am our tiredness had returned simultaneously and we all agreed it was time for bed. We all agreed to a sleep in until just before 11.30am when we were going to hit Chinatown up for some delicious yum cha. Hmmm....dumplingzzzzzzz