I love it when we have someone come to visit - I get to be a tour guide in my new city and learn about cool new places. We had another opportunity to do this when our cousin Stephanie came to visit last month. I gotta warn everyone that might know her - she is not joking when she says she likes to walk! Not that I was counting steps, but I had several days over 20,000 steps! That definitely set some new records for me. So, what all did we do????
Well, we started out with one of my favorite walks along the Lachine Canal, at Parc Rene Levesque.
There are 22 outdoor art installations provided by the Musee de Lachine. It is a nice leisurely walk nestled between the Lachine canal and the Saint Lawrence River. We did have to share the parc with quite a few Canada Geese! A special treat on this day, was catching some local surfers, on our way to the Parc des Rapides in nearby Lasalle. This is so much fun - watching folks try to ride the rapids as long as they can, usually about 1 minute. Some of them are even able to stand up!
Any trip to Montreal requires a visit to the Old Port. This time we stopped for an appetizer at Terrace Nelligan. Apparently this is a well known spot, but totally new to me! It provides a view of the river to the South and a view of Notre-Dame Basilica to the North. It is perfectly situated at 5 stories high and we were lucky to be there on a crystal clear night with just a hint of fall in the air. As we walked along the water, we stumbled upon a light show, coming from Parc Jean-Drapeau, across the river. We later figured out it was a Chinese festival. You never know when you will find something interesting happening around this city - from a random festival parade, to a light show to musicians and acrobats performing in the street.
The Jean Talon market always provides some interesting sights and lots of free samples! This time I saw something called a pink banana squash and this humongous mushroom. In addition to lunch at the market, we also had coffee and pastries in one of Little Italy's most popular bakeries.
The Wheel Club is one of my favorite local "honky tonk" clubs. We danced all night to a band called The Fabulous Flashbacks. They play a great mix of familiar tunes that make it hard to sit down for long. They have quite a following so the place was packed and rocking!
In competing with Denver's collection of art murals, we took off (walking of course) one morning to show Stephanie our neighborhood NDG Alley Cat Gallery.
From there, we walked to Westmount in search of her friend Larry's childhood home, total walk was only 5.5 km. But hey - that was just the first part of the day. A totally surprising find was a spectacular viewing spot from the end of his street. This may be a new walking route for me!
After lunch, we went to the Botanical Gardens,
again, another new adventure for us. We wandered
through some of the gardens (didn't get to see it all)
while it was still light outside.
I was fascinated by these gorgeous flowers that were bigger than my hand.
As it got dark, we entered the Illuminated Garden show. The tour included a trail through the First Nations Gardens and the Japanese Gardens, but the real highlight was the Chinese Gardens. It was filled with so many lights, including a big dragon, fishermen in boats and lots of other animals. There were also 150 year old bonsai trees, musicians and additional exhibits.
Another "must see" is the view of Montreal from the Chalet on Mount Royal. So we walked through the Plateau, ate brunch while enjoying a Klezmer Jazz band, then walked over to the mountain. I had not realized that particular day was the Grand Prix bike race, which ran right past the parc. It was kind of exciting watching the racers fly by. I was amazed how close they ride to each other. Up we went to admire the view. When we headed to the bus stop, we had the stark realization that the buses were NOT running because of the bike race. So... more steps... all the way to St. Joseph's Oratory, for a view of the North side of the Montreal, including the famous Orange Julep ball.
Mixed in among all this walking were several yummy dinners along Av de Monkland, all walking distance from our house.
Another popular sight includes over 180,000 strands of plastic balls that hang overhead, lining the main street of the Gay Village. I love living in a city that can embrace diversity to the point of actually naming part of the city the Gay Village. These iconic rainbow balls have been in place for nine years and are now coming down (to be replaced with a new art installation next year). I was sad to hear that they are being removed, but also sort of interested in buying a strand, since it's such a big part of history now.
We went back to the Old Port to do a tour of the famous Notre-Dame Basilica. We got to go down into the basement and up to the top level and see the 32-foot pipe organ up close. This pipe organ has four keyboards, 92 stops, 7000 pipes and a pedal board. The church was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1989.
We wandered up Crescent Street and got a close up view of the Leonard Cohen mural that was completed after his death. It involved 2 muralists, 13 assistant artists, 240 cans of paint and thousands of hours of work. We Montrealers truly love our Leonard Cohen. In fact, just this week, 3 limited edition Canadian postage stamps were released, celebrating the late laureate in three different phases of his life.
All in all, we had a lovely time visiting with Stephanie, discovering new places and sharing others that have already become favorites. Check back soon for the next blog post which will include our visit from Marilyn and Bill. The fun just never stops!
Comments
Post a Comment