Up, up and Away to Montreal

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Trip Start Sep 15, 2008 Trip End Jan 20, 2009 Next
Entry

  Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Thursday, September 18, 2008

As I slowly surfaced from sleep my emerging realisation that day was the big day - go off around the World day - catapulted me into full consciousness.  All this thinking about it and preparation, but up to now it had seemed theoretical; now it was the real thing.
Everything went like clockwork; the taxi arrived early and got us to the coach station in time for john to buy a cappuccino and lunchtime sandwiches.  The trip to Heathrow was comfortable and uneventful and on schedule; baggage drop (I had checked in on-line) fast and even security didn't take long.  Air Canada flight 865 to Montréal on a big comfortable A320 was on time and as OK as a 7 hour flight can be.  From Montréal Pierre Trudeau Airport, our taxi took us quickly the 12 miles to our hotel - Chateau de l'Argoat.  The hotel - carefully selected using Travel Advisor - met expectations and turned out to be 2 minutes from the Latin Quarter in Rue St. Denis.  We ventured in the very first evening and were immediately made aware of the dominance of French culture.  I had told Anne that Montréal was a French city, yet she was surprised how comprehensively French it is, although many other ethnic groups are represented.  After a snack, we fell into bed at about 10.30 (3.30 am for us) and slept soundly until about 6.30.
Day two dawned bright and clear and our early start enabled us to take full advantage of a truly magical morning with the air still, sweet and fresh, the sky clear blue and making the buildings, old and new, glow warm and bright.  A further trip down Rue St. Denis took us to "vieux Montréal" and the "Vieux Port" on the St. Lawrence River, formerly the most important port of entry into North America, it is now converted for leisure with a marina and various attractions, including a stunning view of the skyscraper dominated Montreal skyline.  Vieux Montréal contains the largest number of 17th, 18th and 19th century buildings in North America, which adds greatly to its character.  We meandered back into and through the old town then downtown, enjoying the mix of handsome old and shiny new buildings - literally shiny with their reflective glass curtain walling.  We discovered some truly magnificent churches, mostly Catholic, such as the 'Basilique de Notre Dame' with its breath-taking sky blue and gold interior, competing with the best in Europe.  We also saw many excellent examples of 'Art Deco' architecture, very well preserved.  The city appears to have a civilised pace of life and is not too teeming with cars and people.  There are many young people, a lot of them probably students from the 4 universities, including the 180 year old McGill, Canada's equivalent of Harvard.  I was pleased to see that many of these young people and some older ones are riding bikes.  The city is very cosmopolitan and you see all the racial groups on the planet.  Nevertheless, you are never allowed to forget that it is a French city and the language you should talk is French.
Day 2 also dawned bright and clear, though windy, and we took the metro out to the stadium built for the 1976 Olympic Games and took the funicular up its astounding 168 metre high 'leaning tower', that supports the stadium roof.  This gave us a marvellous panorama of the city and the surrounding countryside.  We then crossed the road to the city's large botanic gardens and this was well worth the visit, especially the very fine Chinese Garden with colourful illuminated 'paper' figures.  I have seen many botanical gardens, but this one still managed to delight me with its quality and extent.  Anne was particularly delighted when a chipmunk ran out from under her feet and later 'posed' briefly for her. This evening torrential rain replaced the fine weather we have been enjoying, as we went out for a Tibetan meal - pleasant, but not outstanding.  Tomorrow we are off to Vermont, hopefully to see some autumn colours higher up in the mountains, so watch this space.  Photos soon.

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Montreal skyline from the old port	Anne enjoys the sunshine at the old port	Disturbed writing a postcard	Art Deco skyscraper
Fine Art Deco dorr lintel	Basilique De Notre Dame Alter piece	Reflections on the 'retro' new Mustang	Skyscrapers reflect skyscrapers
Fine Art Deco Building housing tourist Info p	Up the funicular at the Olympic stadium	The leaning tower of Montreal	Paper figures on the lake at the chinese Gard
More colourful Chinese figures	And more	A tranquol scene in the chinese Garden	Giant Koy carp in the Japanese Garden
insectivarium; uncomfortably large beetle	Amazingly beautiful butterfly	Wouldn't like this in my bed!	Canadian Centre for Architecture

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