Montreal with Owen – Day 2

After dinner last night, we picked up a few groceries so we were able to have breakfast in the apartment. Then we stopped at a coffee shop on the way  to meet Mehrunnisa at the nearest bike share station. 

This is Owen in front of a Masonic Lodge.

Owen and I had previously set up Bixi accounts. The Bixi bikes are very economical. We were able to buy one-month passes for $20 plus GST. And, unlike Toronto and New York City, the free period is 45 minutes, not 30, before one is charged for extra time. One can reset the clock by docking the bike and taking it out again.

To take out the bike, you will open the app, and scan a QR code on the bike. This generates the code which you type into the stand, which then releases the bike. Here we are ready to go.

The temperature was hovering around freezing. I’m accustomed to riding year round, and have learned how to dress properly to stay warm, but neither Owen nor Mehrunnisa were dressed as warmly as I was. I had gloves and wind mitts; Mehrunnisa had bare hands so I loaned her my wind mitts. Fortunately the sun was strong.

I was focussed on renting the bikes, and forgot to start Strava until we got to Bonaventure Park. Whenever we got close to 45 minutes of riding, we would dock the bikes to reset the clock.

Bonaventure Park was created on the site of the former elevated Bonaventure Expressway. The road is now at grade. There is a playground, public art, exercise, equipment, benches, ping-pong tables, and a bike share station. More than 300 trees and 30,000 shrubs and perennials were planted.

Rochester has also demolished an inner city highway and replaced with a dense urban avenue. I wrote about it here.

There are two of these sculptures, called Dendrites, by Michel de Broin.

There is still an elevated rail line going into the Central Station. Underneath it as a self storage company.

Next we wanted to visit Jean-Drapeau Parc on St Helen’s Island, the site of Expo 67. We had cycling infrastructure the whole way.

We passed Habitat 67,  a famous housing complex, designed by Moshe Safdie for Expo 67.  It was an experimental project that aimed to combine the benefits of suburban homes—like private gardens, fresh air, and privacy—with the density and efficiency of urban apartment living. It is made up of 354 prefabricated concrete modules stacked in irregular patterns to form 148 apartments, each with its own terrace. The modular, Lego-like arrangement creates a visually striking, futuristic look and gives every unit unique layouts and views of the St. Lawrence River.

While it was intended as a prototype for affordable, mass-produced housing, its construction costs were high, and it became more of a landmark and architectural icon than a scalable housing model. Today, Habitat 67 is still occupied, protected as a heritage building, and regarded as one of the most influential examples of brutalist and modular architecture in the world.  

The Concorde Bridge, which accesses the south end of the island, is quite flat and easy to ride across.

This sculpture is via Alexander Calder, and is entitled Trois Disques.

This was the American pavilion at Expo 67 designed by Buckminster Fuller. In 1976, a fire destroyed the acrylic covering, leaving only the steel skeleton. The structure was repurposed and reopened in 1995 as the Montreal Biosphere, an environmental museum, dedicated to ecological and climate issues.

We rode over to Île Notre-Dame, to the Gilles Villaneuve racetrack. It is used for the Canadian F1 and NASCAR races. When not being used for races, it is open for cycling and rollerblading. It’s 4.3 km long. The kids didn’t want to ride the whole thing, so we only rode one small section of it, and then back to the larger island.

We cycled to the north end, to leave by the Jacque Cartier bridge. The ascent to the bridge was challenging on the three speed, bike share bikes, especially for those not used to riding.

There is a protected bi-directional multi-use path on the south side of the bridge. 

There is a viewing area partway across. The views of Montreal are great.

Here we are docking the bikes briefly to reset the clock.

Montreal has many parks, of many sizes, often on former road space.

I love the colour on the Hôtel Le Germain. 

The kids were getting tired and cold, so we rode back to the docking station nearest our apartment. We picked up Chinese food for lunch. After lunch, they just wanted to hang out and visit. They had had enough sightseeing for the day, so I left them there and went out on my own.

These signs were on the bi-directional cycle track on Rue Jeanne-Mance. 

I thought it was very interesting to see a playground partway up this building.

St Catherine Street is closed to cars in this area, but was absolutely packed with people despite the cold temperature.

There was remarkably little motor vehicle traffic in the area. This is a bi-directional cycle track. These lights with curvy poles that looked like eyeballs.

This is a very typical cycle track in Montreal.

I docked the bike at the National Library, and Archives of Quebec (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec -BaNQ. It’s a very interesting and open building. The staircases are very inviting.

There are lots of places to sit and work.

This is the reading room. I was required to put my backpack in a free locker before entering the room.

These are Le Château Apartments. They opened in 1925 and were designed to resemble both French chateaux and Scottish fortified houses.  Mordecai Richler lived here for not than 20 years. They remind me of apartment building in Manhattan.

The Leonard Cohen mural was very close to where we were staying.

I went back to the apartment to get the kids, and we walked to pick up take out dinner.