Montreal with Owen – Day 3

Owen and I walked to the nearest Bixi stand and rode to Pointe-à-callière, Montreal Archaeology and History Complex.  It is a designated national archaeological and historic site, focusing on several centuries of history, from the time of the First Peoples to the present day. 

The modern building incorporates the original building’s triangular footprint into its modern design. It preserved the foundations of the Royal Insurance Building, which once stood on the site. A light show is projected onto the remains. 

The tunnel leads to the remains of a historic sewer collector. This collector, built between 1832 and 1838, originally channeled rainwater and wastewater from the Little River until 1989, when it was decommissioned. The part of the sewer beneath the museum was incorporated into the museum in 1992.

In addition to its impressive underground archaeological remains, the museum also offers the opportunity to explore the city through permanent exhibitions and a multimedia show projected over the remains.

On the top floor is a permanent exhibition about a pirate ship which my teens enjoyed when they were there.

There are also good views of the Port of Montreal, with Habitat 67 in the background.

The Musée du marché Sainte-Anne et du parlement de la province du Canada is a free museum. It is located in an old fire station. Unfortunately it has never  been open when I’ve been there.

The Grand Quay is where cruise ships dock. In 2018 it was given a major makeover with a rooftop park, and observation tower. The tower was supposed to open in 2021. However, as you can see in this picture, it is not complete. This is presumably due to the pandemic.

When we finished at the museum, we went over to explore  the Grand Quay.  It has a green roof and skylight into facility space in the building.

It had has great views over the St. Lawrence towards habitat 67, and looking back at the skyline of the city. 

This is Pointe-à-callière on the left. 

Next, we walked along Rue Commune to Place Jacques Cartier. It is a broad divided street that slopes steeply uphill from the waterfront to Montreal City Hall. The statue is of admiral, Horatio, Nelson.

Even though it was cold, we stopped for ice cream when we saw a Ben and Jerry’s. 

Owen didn’t feel like walking back to the apartment so we walked to a metro stop in the Palais des congrès. I always enjoy seeing the coloured glass on this building.

Montreal has rubber tired metro cars. There are pros and cons, but one of the things I noticed was it was quieter.

We still had a bit of a walk when we got to the metro station closest to the apartment. I wasn’t sure which way to turn when we came out of the station. I had recently used a new Google feature called Live View when I was in New York City which I found very helpful. When I was looking at my phone to figure out the route, I noticed it was available in Montreal, as well. 

We picked up some additional Chinese food to go with our leftovers from the same restaurant as yesterday. Owen decided to stay in for the afternoon and I went off on my own to do more sightseeing.

In 2011 Patti and I came to Montreal by car with our bikes. One of the things we did was ride up Mont-Royal. My recollection was that we found it very challenging and had to stop to catch our breath. I was on my upright bike, but it had many more gears, and was lighter, than the bike share bikes. I decided to ride the bike from the station nearest to the apartment, to a station on Pine Avenue. 

I passed these lovely townhouses on Redpath Street.

You can see by the way the apartment building on the left was built how steep the street is. The building on the right is McGill university.

I recalled this sculpture from when I was here before with Patti. It is by Luc Boyer and entitled Le Retour. 

There was a significant climb from Sherbrooke Street to Pine Avenue. And, when I got there, I couldn’t find a bike share station. I looked in the app and saw that the nearest one was back down the hill on Sherbrooke. So, rather than climbing the stairs as I had planned, I decided to see if I could ride the bike share bike up to the top.

There were many people walking. People were riding on road bikes. A few were on the electric Bixi bikes, but I was the only one I observed on one of the manual Bixi bikes.

The gravel road was available for walking, and biking. Pedestrians could also choose to use the stairs, instead. I made it up to the top, without stopping. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I remembered it being. I do so much more riding now. Despite being 11 years older, I have stronger legs.

This is Beaver Lake at the top of Mont-Royal. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. He also designed Central Park in Manhattan, and created a park and Parkway system in Buffalo.

The pavilion at the lake has changing rooms, washrooms, and a snack bar, as well as other amenities.

The views over the city are wonderful.

The Leonard Cohen mural caught my eye, amid the high-rise buildings.

Mehrunnisa lives on Pine Avenue and I stopped by her place on my way back down. I walked the bike until we got to the nearest bike share station. I was charged just over five dollars for the time I kept it out longer than 45 minutes.

This art deco house caught my attention. I asked Mehrunnisa if she knew anything about it, but she did not. When we got back to the apartment, I googled the address. I found out that it was designed by architect and engineer Ernest Cormier. He designed it for himself in 1930 to 31 and lived there until 1975. Pierre Elliot Trudeau purchased it in 1979, after leaving politics, and lived there until his death in 2000. It is now owned by his son. Alexandre. I teased Mehrunnisa about living only a few doors down from a former Prime Minister’s son all year, and not knowing it.

We got takeout food again, and ate in the apartment.

Mandy‘s was quite cute inside.

Over dinner, we decided on the places that we would visit tomorrow:  Olympic Stadium, but unfortunately not the observation tower, which is closed for renovations, and the Montreal Biodome. Mehrunnisa suggested the Le Plateau neighbourhood for lunch at her favourite poutine restaurant.