Sat June 25 - Mon June 27: Montreal

Sat & Sun we toured Montreal by Hop-on, Hop Off bus (because we now speak French we called it the Op-on, Op-off. Lol.).  Aside from the heat, it was a great way to get an overview of the city.  Sat we rode the entire route, and Sun we jumped off at a couple of places to get a more in-depth look.

We both feel we have never seen so much use being made of the public spaces of a city.  There were people playing sand volleyball, canoeing, sailing, biking, running, etc.   There were countless parks and performing art spaces full of people; drum circles, aquatic centers, food trucks - and all the visitors.  So many countries were represented at the various happenings.  We saw groups from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Europe, Latin America, etc. 

They are, as we have mentioned, Festival-Happy.  Coming up festivals will include:  the biggest JazzFest in the world,  more fireworks, Francos (French language music), Film Festival, TransAmeriques (performance art), Go Velo (biking), over 700 street performers, Japan Fest, International Music, Just for Laughs (Comedy), and a boat load of other festivals. 

On Mon we road the LaChine bike path out to the end of the canal.  That bike path is part of a Trans-Canada Trail called The Great Trail.  We only did a tiny piece of its 20,700km, but it seemed, to me, like at least half. LaChine is the original canal that was replaced by the St Lawrence Seaway.  It is named, cheekily, after the boast its founder made that it would go all the way to China.  We have been told that it is super fun to ice skate on in the winter!

After the bike ride we had to sample the famous Montreal bagel.  I didn't know that was a thing - but I would have eaten a flip-flop after that ride. Those triathletes have nothing on us - by the end of our time in Montreal we had ridden 37.5 miles, walked 11.5 miles and taken 2 showers.  That counts as a triathlon in my book!

Please enjoy some Montreal Memories:

Norte-dame de Bon Secours - particularly important to us as she protects mariners - here you can see her blessing the harbor.

Grateful mariners carved little boats to serve as votives.

We really enjoyed the Vieux Port/Old Port area - the original buildings all around the port.  Montreal has done a great job of keeping these intact and vital.  Below the Marche Bonsecours in ye olde days, and now.

 

I made Rick go into a Christmas shop with me - and he was HAPPY TO.  The weekend was in the 90s, and the shop had great AC.  We also spent some time in Montreal's 'underground city', as it was nice and cool.  It's basically a warren of shops, tunnels and the Metro that connects much of the university, shopping and financial areas. Based on these two food-vending machines, I'd never need to go above ground.  During the winter around 500K people use the underground city each day.

Chinatown

Montreal was a summer Olympic City, and much of that infrastructure is still used.

Montreal has a rather overwhelming commitment to public art.  There are statues everywhere, and the giant wall murals are repainted every year with new themes.

This seems like a house perfectly suited for social distancing...

On Sunday we went to a Vespers Organ Concert.  I'm not a church person, but there is no better place to really appreciate an organ, and it was wonderful.

A big sailboat from Quebec City came in beside us, and while Rick and its owner spoke Franglish, I admired this furry sailor. Rick got lots of good info about an area that has been weighing on him - I just hope he understood it.

Opening salvo of the Fireworks Competition, Sat night.  We were happy to be able to see it from the boat - too crowded everywhere else.

By Monday night we had gone from being charmed by the Cirque du Solel tents, to being super happy they were dark on Monday and it was Q U I E T... Time to move on!