| Montreal |
Wednesday
21.08.10
We decided to visit Old Montreal on our first day. It was easily accessible from our hotel and took us about half an hour to walk there.
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Old Montreal covers an area of about one square kilometre between the St Lawrence River and downtown Montreal. This was the original site of Montreal in 1642, then known as Ville Marie. The name Montreal comes from the mountain Mont Royale, which stands behind the city.
Of course, this part of Canada was originally part of New France and the French influence is still very much seen, with locals speaking more French than English. A great chance to practice our French! |
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Architecture in Old Montreal has been restored to keep the look of the city as it was in the its early days of settlement.
Horse-drawn carriages called caleches trot along the cobbled streets and baskets filled with colourful flowers hang from walls and windows.
Very touristy - very pretty. |
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Above (left to right):
Notre Dame de Bon Secours Chapel
Scottish dancers at City Hall
Notre Dame Basilica
Right:
Ever popular, an artist sketches cartoons of passersby |
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Guy and I went on a cruise on Le Petit Navire, a small wooden clinker boat which tours the harbour of the old town. Cost C$38 each.
The skipper was very knowledgeable and we thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent on the boat. With an electric motor, the boat uses less power than two hairdryers.
He took us out into the St Lawrence River itself and explained that the current there runs from 10-30 mph. Astounding! To show us the strength of the current, he steered the boat into the current and turned off the engine. Yes, we were still motoring along at great speed. The eddies and currents of the St Lawrence are so dangerous, he told us, that any large vessel coming into Montreal harbour has to have a local pilot aboard. |
| In the past, large boats could go no further up river than Montreal so the Lachine Canal with built, with locks to allow smaller ships to travel up to the lakes and bring grain back to store in North America's largest concrete silo (now abandoned and hoping for restoration in some form or another). When the St Lawrence Seway was built, this canal closed down but has now re-opened for tourist boats. |
The Jacques Cartier Bridge crosses the Saint Lawrence River to Montreal Island. Interestingly, it is one of the design influences for the Story Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, where we come from. At the top of each main tower, there is a 15'ornament, resembling the eifel tower.
Contrary to popular belief, France did not provide these finials - they were included in the original plans by Montsarrat Pratley of Montreal and J.B. Strauss of Chicago. |
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| He pointed up to a large cross on Mont Royale. The Mayor of Montreal placed the original cross there to fulfil a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood in 1943. Half of Montreal was drowned in melting ice floes from the river - the river ices up to 5 feet deep in winter. The present illuminated cross was installed in 1924. |
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Habitat 67 was built for Expo 67 over a short period of in 3 months. Designer Moshe Safdie wanted to integrate the diversity of private homes with the economics of an apartment block. These modular concrete shapes have no overlooking windows or balconies.
There are immensely popular and there is a waiting list to purchase any unit. |
| Another wonderful day capped by a truly fantastic dinner at Le Nil Bleu, 3706 Rue St Denis. Ethiopian food at its best. Guy and I chose a 4 assiette selection with lots of ingira. Earlier, we had stopped at a small bar to listen to live jazz and enjoy cheap draught beer before 8pm. I tasted some apricot flavoured beer - very interesting but I couldn't drink a lot of it. |
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Celebrities Hotel
1095 rue saint Denis South (downtown corner Rene-Levesque, Montreal
Tel Toll free 1 888 - 849 96 88
Website: www.celebritieshotelmontreal.com |
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