By Via Rail, the next stop on our trip was Montreal. C-c-c-cold! Apparently we hit Monréal just as the first cold snap settled in. Thank goodness the head cold I'd been incubating was beginning to clear up, because I needed all my energy to keep warm as we investigated the city! Far easier to navigate in English, we stumbled around the city, eager to run into new and exciting things!
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| Montreal! Cold, but sunny! |
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| Old Montréal with cobbled streets. This building on the left is, in fact, a mall! |
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| We visited a museum housed in an old fire hall. Here's Mike learning things. |
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| The man who holds the numbers... |
The image above and the next few are from an exhibit I found most interesting.
Lost Neighbourhoods explains that in the 50's and 60's, the city of Montréeal was keen on urban renewal - larger roads, prettier subdivisions.... But where to start? Something would need to be demolished to make way.
Start with the slums. And they did. But they needed to catalogue everything, first. People living in these neighbourhoods had no idea what was coming, but for a time, and interesting man came around with a stack of numbers and a camera...
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| Photos illuminated on a light-board. They were set up in a little corridor on both sides. |
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| #209. I've just thought these images were so unusual for cataloguing purposes - many of which seemed to depict people going about their daily life, completely oblivious to the fact that the place they were standing would be completely flattened some time later. |
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| #33. Woman doing the dishes. |
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| #40. Artist in studio. I don't know if this picture captures the space or the people in them better... |
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| #49. A boy and his father...at work. Businesses weren't immune, either. And the kid looks so happy to have his photo taken! |
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| This also somehow made its way into the collection at the museum. oh dear. |
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| Later, we went for food at 'Schwartz's Montréal Hebrew Delicatessen' for a big, fat, smoked meat sandwich. Tiny deli, but awesome guys behind the bar. |
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| It was delicious. (in this image: remnants of sandwich with mustard and the 1/2 inch piece of bread that was the bottom of the sandwich, coleslaw, and a cherry coke) |
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| Over at Ile Sainte Helene and the Expo '67 grounds, I found a sasquatch snow carving! |
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| ...and Michael found the giant geodisic dome, known today as the Montréal Biosphere which houses a pretty cool environmental conservation centre. (there used to be plexi glass, but it caught fire a long time ago. I had fun imagining a giant ball of flames!) |
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| "ski hill" at the island, too. |
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| The Tour de Levis on the island. I imagined this was the inspiration for old fairy-tales! |
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| Team picture! That's Montréal in the background |
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| They have a Snow Village, though it doesn't compare to the one in Québec. Sure, it's pretty on the inside, but the outside ain't nothing to look at... |
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| Inside, Mike made me sit on the little ice-chair. Throne hog. |
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| Mike's favourite room. |
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| and Mike's favourite ice-chair. |
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| The ice restaurant was pretty cool, though. Don't tell anyone, but it was closed and I snuck in while nobody was looking... |
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| We hiked up Mount Royal one evening! (I made it the whole way despite decreased lung capacity due to lingering headcold - and with thanks to Mike for not leaving me behind! so. many. steps.) |
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| This was actually at the Biosphere - sustainable couture, and this dress is in a fridge because it's made from salmon skin. Oh, but I'd be the talk of any dinner party wearing this! |
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| and for some reason each piece was accompanied by a celebrity energy conservation...thing. This is Rick Mercer's recycled pill bottle. |
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| Dress made from old books! |
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| ...and Strombo's motorcycle battery? |
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| We went kayaking, too. |
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| This picture was in no way staged indoors. |
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| So. Montréal was fun! and cold. This bike was left behind...stuck tight in the ice. I don't know why he bothered to lock it up. |
