Montreal Day Three - Parc Jean-Drapeau

Woke up a lil later this morning than yesterday and only managed to make it out of the hostel at about 9:30ish. Obviously had hit a bit closer to peak hour as the metro was much more crowded this morning... (evidence of the ‘overcrowding’ that the Montrealians apparently complain about!).

Parc Jean-Drapeau was largely built and hosted the 1967 World Expo and actually consists of two islands on the St. Lawerence River - île Sainte-Hélène and île Notre-Dame. It’s named after an ex-mayor of Montréal, Jean Drapeau, who was the main initiator of the Expo 67 exposition themed “Man and his World”.

Upon leaving the Jean-Drapeau metro station deposited me on île Sainte-Hélène and I was greeted with the sight of bright blue skies and a lovely water fountain. By following the ‘crowd’ (the five people in front of me) I ended up heading out towards the Biosphère which is located in the geodesic dome that was originally built for Expo 67 as the US pavilion. The Biosphère is now an environmental museum. It cost about $12 (I think) for entry and had an interactive section all about water, another are about the water ecosystems of the Great Lakes-Saint Lawerance River regions, a section about Richard Buckminster Fuller and a fully solar powered house. The solar powered house was kinda cool – it use glass panels for walls, had underfloor heating and also had plants on the outside which were apparently good for air quality and insulation!!

The Biosphère and Me working the water pumps

After the Biosphère I decided to head to île Notre Dame and the Casino de Montréal for lunch. I had actually had to catch a bus to get there as it was too far to walk – and totally made a fool of myself by asking the bus driver for a ticket!! Apparently your meant to use your metro ticket/transfer slip – how was I meant to know?? However the bus driver let me on for free so it worked out in the end. When I got to the casion I could not believe just how many poker machines there were! There were hundreds!! No Thousands!! I had a few spare coins in my pockets so I decided I try to see if I could find a lil slot machine action. I cashed about $5 into 25c coins (I even got the coin bucket to put them in!!) and went hunting for the cheapest machines I could find – the 5c machines. Unfortunately the 5c machines were exactly the same as the machines we have at home... which is totally boring! Eventually I did find a couple of the One Armed Bandits (Old school slot machines) and pretty much lost the entire $5 in about 2 minutes!! After that I headed to the top level for lunch. I had the choice between Nuance (fine cuisine) and... well... the buffet! Considering the weight of my wallet I decided the buffet would be the best course of action!! There was quite a large choice and I was a bit adventurous (I even got escargot!!) and by the end of it I was very VERY full!! The best thing was the whole thing cost me less than $20!! Bargain!!

View down from the top level of Casino de Montréal and Food, Glorious Food!

In all honesty, all the slot machines were kinda depressing so I hopped the bus back to île Sainte-Hélène and decided to see if I could find La Ronde Amusement Park. Of course I got completely lost – crossed the St. Lawerence River and ended up BACK on île Notre-Dame not too far from the casino!! As I was crossing back I overheard the people saying the La Ronde was now closed during the weekdays as it was no longer summer... and of course once I finally got close enough to see it I determined they were correct. It was quite obviously closed!

The St. Lawerence Rive, Blending in with the trees & a very silent (and closed) La Ronde.

Only I had determined that La Ronde was definitely closed I followed the trail down to a nice little pond and bridge. I crossed over the bridge and there were a few dragonflies hanging around so I had a bit of an experiment with my camera. Over the bridge there were a few squirrels that looked like they were collecting nuts for the winter ahead. There were also a few groundhogs around that were so very cute! As I followed the trail along I also managed to come across a chipmunk!! I tried to take a photo but it was WAY too quick for me, however I decided to leave me camera out just in case I saw another one... and sure enough about 10 m up the trail there was another chipmunk... and this time I managed to get at least one shot before it disappeared!!

Dragonfly, Groundhog, Chipmunk

After walking the trail I decided to head into Downtown, mainly to find a bank as I’ve had a lil trouble getting money out... well the main trouble being that I couldn’t GET ANY!! Anyways I head to Centre Eaton and found the nearest Bank ATM that would take a Visa card and thankfully... THANKFULLY... it dispensed me some crisp $20 notes! Canadian money is actually very very pretty with lots of nice colours. Though I will admit I am still having slight problems with the coins... they all look so similar... and some of them are so small!

After that I actually headed back to the hostel as I wasn’t really feeling too crash hot. Spent most of the afternoon having a bit of a lay down and catching up on email/work. I originally decided that after such a massive lunch and since I was not feeling my best that I would skip lunch, but by about 10 pm I was feeling better and I could hear my stomach rumbling! I decided that I would head up Rue Mackay and grab some Maccas... mainly because I wanted to see what it was like here in North America! However as I headed up the street I realised there was some massive outdoor concert going on. So I headed up into the crowd and watched the band (that were singing in French) for a bit before going to Mr. Sub (the Canadian version of subway?) to grab something to eat and completely confused the poor girl by asking for some capsicum... which are (of course!!) called green peppers here. After that I was completely bushed and head back to the hostel for bed!

Montreal Day Two - Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal)

So I woke up nice and early this morning at round about 7 am. Went down and had breakfast at the bistro – got the buffet breakfast which included the choices of coffee/tea, juice, some fruit (bananas... YUCK!), yoghurt, cereal, some pastries and the biggest muffins I’ve ever seen! Once breakfast was finished (for the record – got nowhere near finishing the muffin!) I went to tackle Montréal’s Metro system.

I started off my going completely the wrong direction! The closest Metro station to my hostel (Lucien L-Allier) is pretty much down the road... So I decided to go completely around the block... obviously it was not what I originally intended. To be honest, while I knew the Metro was an underground railway, I was surprised by how far down it actually was!! I had to go down three massive escalators to get to the station. Once there I managed to purchase some tickets... 12 tickets to be exact! You can buy 6 Metro tickets for $12, you can also get 1/2/3 fares. I must admit I originally though the 2 fares meant I could use each of my 6 tickets twice... but I got given 12 tickets instead!! While I managed to get the tickets easily enough... I then had a slight problem working out how to get through the barriers... which makes me seem kinda stupid but I assure you it looks a lot harder than it is. After getting some quick instructions from the guy in the ticket booth I was on my way and waiting for the Metro train.

I caught the Metro Place d’Armes station and after a quick squiz at my Lonely Planet Guide decided to see if I could find the Palais des Congres as this is where the conference is being held later on this week. The station is meant pretty much on the same block as the Palais des Congres though it did take a lil while as the entrance seems to be on completely the other side from the station.

Across the road was a lil park area – it actually caught my attention as there was this mist wafting out from it. It took me a minute to realise it was actually SPRINKLERS watering the grass!! As I thought I was meant to be heading that way I crossed the road and saw my first squirrel (the first of many!). I quickly snapped a couple of shots because as soon as he realised I was looking at him, the squirrel quickly disappeared up a near by tree.

Squirrel!!

After my squirrel interlude I finally headed to Place d’Armes and (after many references to my Lonely Planet maps!) I managed to arrive there without getting too lost. Now I’m pretty sure the literal translation of Place d’Armes is something like Place of Arms/Weapons and is apparently names after a bloody battle between early Montréal settlers and Iroquois natives. Obviously quite a popular spot as there was already a busload of American tourists there taking photos even though it was only about 9am in the morning. In the centre of the square stands a fountain known as the Monument Maisonneuver which is dedicated to Montréal’s city founder Paul de Chomedey, who actually came out to evangelise the natives!! There are four bronze panels around the fountain, which apparently depicts important moments in Montréal’s history, and a quote from Paul de Chomedey himself saying “I am determined to go even if every tree on the island into an Iroquois.” Amazing what you can learn while standing near a tour guide!!

Views of the Monument Maisonneuver

The square is also surrounded by some lovely old buildings including the Bank of Montréal (Canada’s first permanent bank), the New York Life Insurance Building (Montréal’s first skyscraper) and the Alfred Building (which apparently emulated the Empire State building... I’ll have to compare it when I get there!)

L to R: The Bank of Montréal, NY Life Insurance Building and the Alfred Building

However, the most impressive buildings (well if you ask me) lie towards the South of the square. First there is the Vieux Séminaire de St-Sulpice which is a seminary originally constructed for the Sulpicians (a Catholic Order), and next to that is the amazing Basilique Notre-Dame.

Outside views of the Vieux Séminaire de St-Sulpice and the Basilique Notre-Dame.

While the exterior itself is impressive enough, the real reason this cathedral is one of Montréal’s most famous tourist attractions would have to be its interior. From memory I believe it cost about $5 dollars to enter but it was definitely worth it. Unfortunately none of my photos really do it any true justice – so you’ll just have to take my word for it... (c’mon surely I’m trust worthy enough!!) I arrived about 5 minutes before the guided tour so I had a quick squiz around before the tour started. The tour (which came at no extra cost) went for about 20-25 minutes and was worth it just to learn more about the history of the cathedral (and Montréal itself).

Views of the main cathedral, one of the stain glass windows, and the private chapel

After leaving Notre-Dame I headed down Rue St-Jacques, a street that was considered to be the Wall St of Canada... in the 1930s!! However there are still some fantastic relics of those great heydays to be seen as you walk along – many of these old building have some great roman columns, statutes of lions/mermaids, and mischievous gargoyles adorning their exteriors.

Lion heads on Guardian Insurance Building, A loot holding gargoyle on the Lewis Building, and the former home of European Gold Reserves and the British Crown Jewel (in WWII) the Sun Life Annex & Old Sun Life Building.

From there I headed down to the Place Royale – this square marks the spot where the first fort, Ville Marie, was erected back in the 17th century. It currently houses the Old Customs House which was built in 1838 and was originally called Vieille Douane. It is now currently a Museum giftshop and connect underground to the Musée d’Archéologie Pointe-á-Calliére, which is a History & Archeology museum. It has a look-out which was the first place I headed to. From here I had a good look at parts of the Old Port area and could see all the way to the Biosphere in Parc Jean-Drapeau, as well as the fascinating, yet kinda ugly, Habitat 67 – a futuristic apartment complex built for the World Expo in 1967.

The Old Customs House & Habitat 67

From there I headed down and saw a multimedia presentation on the history of Montreal from the 1600s to now, which was very interesting however I did hear an American tourist ask the guide about the presentation ‘missing’ a few things, from which I gathered were about the separatist movement... however I’m not 100% sure as I wasn’t really listening. From then I headed down in to the crypt – I actually though this museum was kinda cool as the main exhibition was pretty much an archaeological site showing some of the original remains of the city. They also had a temporary exhibit on New France – or French history in North America – which was also quite interesting as well.

View of a cemetery from the 1600s, and a sewer from the 1800s

After lunch I headed down to the port area where I had lunch in a food court there. This was probably only the second time I’ve really had a language problem as the owners didn’t really seem to know any English, however I managed to use what little French I know to order lunch and pay for it effectively. Beside from this my biggest problem has been that people assume when you answer their ‘Bonjour’ with a ‘Bonjour’ of your own, they naturally assume you’re a French speaker and launch a stream of French at you. Normally the blank look I give them clues them in that I have NO IDEA what they are say... is normally followed up by “Oh – you speak English?” It actually quite interesting listening to them switch back and forth as they speak English with a Canadian accent (obviously!), which you know is a quite close to American and I guess... kinda has a hard quality to it... before switching back to French which seems very light and dainty... it’s almost like two different people are speaking!!

After lunch I headed to the Centre des Sciences de Montréal which has a few interesting exhibits. Highlight was probably the Mindball game where you put on this headband which reads your alpha and theta brain waves... the more you relax, the lower they go, and the more you can move the ball to the other end. I took on one of the guides... who I think let me win!! They also have this MASSIVE interactive video game... however I managed to miss the last English session which meant I didn’t get a chance to have a go L Maybe some other day!

My face imprint and the entrance to Centres des Science de Montréal

After lunch I headed toward the Place Jean-Cartier mainly because I heard there was a statute of Nelson at the top end! Of course this statue is slightly controversial among French Quebecers and there has been numerous attempts to remove the statue (the latest being in 1998) however it currently still stands. Further north there is now another statue, this time of Jean Vauquelin (an obscure French general) to help even the balance!!

Nelson a top his column, Sitting by the fountain in front of the Hotel de Ville (Montréal’s City Hall), and Jean Vauquelin

From here I went and saw the three courthouses and then had a wonder around Château Ramezay which was built for the governor of Montréal in the 18^th century. He apparently ended up broke just trying to maintain it!! While it is currently a museum, I didn’t venture inside – just had a wonder around the ground which apparently is a recreation of an 18^th century horticultural garden. From there I wander down the cobblestone roads of Old Montréal before ending up at the Chapelle Notre-Dame-De Bonsecours, otherwise known as the Sailor’s Church.

The gardens at Château Ramezay, Streets of Ole Montréal, The Old Marketplace, The Sailor’s Church

The interior of the Sailor’s Church, while not as amazing of Basilique Notre-Dame, was still very intricate and impressive. The church also had a museum attached about St Mareguerite Bourgeoys, Montréal’s first teacher and the founder of the Congregation of Notre-Dame nuns. It also had a nice lookout over the Old Port and a crypt showing the foundations of the original church. From here I decided to rest my tired feet in Parc du Bassin-Bonsecours near the lake before heading back to Place Jean-Cartier to have dinner in one of the many restaurants that border the plaza. Being a lil adventurous I decided to have the Monk fish in Madagascar Pepper sauce which was delicious... I even remembered to tip!!

Altar of the Sailor’s Church, Looking out onto Rue de la Commune Est from the look out, the view from Parc du Bassin-Bonsecours.

After dinner I headed back via the Metro to Papineau station as I knew it was near a supermarket and I needed to pick up a few various things. While I was here I decided to wonder down Rue St Catherine as I knew I was currently in The Village. The Village is the home to one of the most exuberant gay communities in the world, however I must admit I was kinda disappointed. Maybe it was cause it was a Wednesday night, or maybe it was because I didn’t really enter into the various bars and clubs I didn’t really find it that exciting. I do think that I saw more gay flags one two building than I think I’ve seen anywhere in Sydney & there were also lots of billboards of half naked men offering massages!! There was also a full length one with a hand barely covering everything offering me a 3 for 2... of what I’m not exactly sure... as well... I don’t read French. As I had nowhere else to be I decided to walk all the way down Rue St Catherine to my hostel on Rue Mackay, which is actually a pretty decent walk. It took me through various parts of the city, including UQAM, McGill and the Place-des-Arts.

Flags, Flags, Flags!! and a view of the Place-des-Arts

I must of one stage walked through the more seedier part of town, as for a few blocks there seemed to be an increased amount of clubs offering XXX videos and ‘danse contact’ or (in English) lap dances. There also seemed to be quite a few panhandlers around, while I couldn’t understand what they were saying, I think some things don’t require a language to be understood.

However before long I reached the central downtown shopping area and before long came back to my hostel. I arrived back around bout 10:30... happy but exhausted and ready to do it all again tomorrow!

Montreal Day One - A Very Long September the 9th

So it was an early start for me to get up and get ready in time for my 6am pickup by the airport transfer company. While I thought I would have plenty of time to get up, shower, breakfasted and dressed... it ended with me attempting to do my hair, put on my shoes and get out the door at the same time!!

Trip to the airport was relatively uneventful and we ended up at the airport with plenty of time to spare. In fact I think I was about 4^th cab off the rank when the check in booths finally opened at 7:15ish. Bags checked in I spent the next 3 hours having a coffee, reading a book and doing a bit of window shopping.

Boarded the plane around about 9.20 – originally started out being in one of the side aisle seats next to a couple from new Zealand – however the flight was nowhere near booked out I got moved across to the middle to give everyone a lil bit more room for the 15 hour flight that lay ahead. There was actually another guy on the other side of the bank of seats, however he disappeared after to take off – never to return – and I therefore had the whole three seats to myself! Spent most of the flight watching TV/Movies – I saw Bones, CSI, House, Iron Man, Chronicles of Narina: Prince Caspian, and about 7/8^th of Son of Rambow. I also attempted to sleep by lifting up all the arm rests - but I swear everything I tried we hit turbulence like 5 – 10 minutes later and that was the end of that... or they started to turn the lights on!! However, all in all it wasn’t as bad of a trip as I originally though!

Arrived to Vancouver at approx 7am on the 9^th of September Vancouver time (~ 12am 10^th of Sept in Sydney). For some reason I thought we had actually arrived at 8am... which had me very panicked as this was the boarding time for my next flight. After almost sprinting to the baggage carousel I realised what time it actually was a felt pretty stupid... I also felt like I desperately needed a shower! And in fact my first Canadian purchase was some moisturiser and deodorant!! Managed to get through customs and immigration with no problem before heading off to catch my domestic connection to Montreal.

Walked onto the plane to discover that someone else was sitting in my seat!! Turns out the man from 19A has sat in 20A, so the lady in 20A had sat in 20C... my seat – once worked out a quick exchange was made and there was nothing else to worry about.

The flight was pretty uneventful... spent most of it with my eyes closed... not sleeping (unfortunately) but just resting. Though we did have some great scenery – at one stage there was the carpet of clouds that seemed to stop at the snow capped mountain ranged. While another time we passed overhead miles and miles of flat/farmed land. I kinda wish know I took some photos but I was too tired to be bothered at the time.

We actually arrived into Montreal a lil earlier than expected – around about 4pm on the 9^th local time (~6am on the 10^th in Sydney). At Montreal airport I decided to save money by taking the L’Aéorbus shuttle, which unfortunately ended up dropping me off quite a distance from the hostel I am staying back... so I still ended up having to take a taxi to my hostel!! Though in saying that, it still cost me less than it would of it if I had just taken a taxi from the airport.

Had a few problems in the taxi as he seemed only to speak minimal English... or maybe it was just that I couldn’t hear him over the deafening African music he had blasting out of his stero... but it ended up okay as I got to where I was headed.

Exterior of the Hostel

Booked in around about 6pm absolutely bushed!! The hostel offers a bar tour on Tuesday nights however I decided to skip that for sleep instead. Went down to the bistro in the hostel and had some Quesadillas for dinner – they were pretty good actually (esp. for the price) and came with bean and normal salad. After that retired to my room and tried to stay awake for a few more hours... got till about 9pm (11am on 10^th Sydney time) and then caved in and went to sleep!!

Views of my room