Day 36

September 21, 2010

Montreal, Quebec

We boarded our Tour Bus at the campground and departed for Montreal at 8:00 AM. The weather was overcast as we left the campground. After a short distance the freeway became a parking lot. Our Guide, Dennis, said that this was supposed to be “Leave your car at home day”, but, apparently, folks didn’t pay attention.
Our first stop was at the Olympic Stadium, site of the 1976 Olympics. We had some rain sprinklers as we arrived. There is a large leaning tower that is part of the building, that has a Funicular on it. The Funicular had glass windows all around. We rode this to the top of the tower, where we got out and went into the Observation Deck. We had a great 360 deg. View of the city of Montreal. We then descended back down in the Funicular, and boarded our bus.
We then took a short ride over to the Botanical Gardens. We only had 45 minutes there, so most of the group went to the Chinese Garden, and the rest went to the Greenhouses. This Botanical Garden is the 2nd largest in the world. The largest is the Queen’s Garden in London, England. A lot of the flowers are past their prime, but others are just blooming. The Chinese Gardens are having a special display with lanterns and large butterflies, dragons, flowers, and people. They are all lit up at a special showing each evening.
We again boarded our bus for a driving tour of the City of Montreal. Our Guide, Dennis, explained the different areas of the city. The Industrial areas also had housing, which was mostly apartments. Most workers could not afford single family homes. The apartments had exterior stairs and balconies that had cast iron railings. The Industries also brought workers in from the rural areas. Lots of the workers were from France. They have large families, and soon took over from the English and Scots. The city has a unique feature in that they have laws that old building exteriors can not be demolished unless there was a life safety issue if it remained standing. Many old building are rejuvenated into new uses with new interiors and the original exterior. Old industrial buildings have been reborn as Office Suites, or Apartments.
Montreal is an island surrounded by the St. Lawrence River on the South, and the Prairies River on the North. The island is 30 miles long by 6 miles wide, with a population of 150 million people. There are 29 bridges or tunnels that cross the rivers into & out of Montreal. We drove by Chinatown where 50,000 Chinese reside. The symbol of Montreal is the Crab Apple. Montreal is an International city due to the many cultures in the city. We also drove by their equivalent of Wall Street. There are lots of bicycles in the city. There are also several places in the city where you can rent bicycles. The bikes are locked in racks at the side of the street. You can rent in one location and return them to a different location.
We stopped for lunch at a mall that is built under an Anglican Church. The mall was built in the 1980’s. The area was excavated beneath the Church to connect two department stores. The Church still owns the property beneath the Church, and collects monthly rent from the mall. Most of the group went to the underground mall, but a few went to eating places at the street level.
After lunch, we toured more of the city enroute to Mt. Royal, the highest point in the city. There is a large cross atop Mt. Royal, and there is a law that height of no building in Montreal can be taller than the height of the cross. There Is also an observatory on Mt Royal. We had a great view of most of the city from there. We could see Olympic Park, Botanical Gardens, and other areas of the city that we had visited. As we left Mt. Royal, we passed by Jean Moss Park, named for the first nurse in Montreal. She saved the city from floods in the 1500’s by Prayer. The city has never flooded since. There is lots of park land in Montreal due to the foresight of one man. The top industries of Montreal are: 1) Food & Agriculture, 2) New Technology, 3) Textile & Garments, 4) Service – City & Province Governments. There are 17 Consulates, Banking, & Health. We had a photo op at St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Continued our tour of the City. Drove by McGill University. Tim Horton was a former Maple Leaf Hockey player who invested in coffee and donuts. After he died, his family became rich. We toured the Notre-Dame Basilica. At the time we toured the Basilica, there was a light show going on. Different areas of the Basilica had lights that changed colors. Celine Dion was married in the Basilica. Queen Victoria gave large amounts of money to Montreal.
We took a bridge to Saint Helens Island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. There are actually 3 islands. Saint Helens was a natural island. The other two islands were constructed with 220 million tons of imported dirt. This was the sight of the 1967 Worlds Fair. (50 million people attended, the City was expecting 20 million) The island now has three main uses. One island is a Six Flags Amusement Park, One is a Grand Prix Race track, which is 3.4 Kilometers or 2.1 miles in length, which we rode around in the bus, and the third is a Casino, which was the French Pavilion for the Worlds Fair. Saint Helens Island was a military base at one time. It is named after Champlain’s wife. The island was also used as a place for quarantined patients, usually with TB. There were Doctor’s & Nurses on staff. During the 1967 World’s Fair, the Sphere shaped American Pavilion had a space theme. It is now used as a center for learning about water. Most of the pavilions are gone, as they were not designed to stand the severe winters. The waterway on one side of the island was the water course for the Olympic Games. They held shell, kayak, & canoe races here. There are locks for the St. Lawrence Seaway on the opposite side of the island.
Back into the Old City. Founded in 1642. Learned about early Montreal from 1350 to present. The Container ship port has 20,000 employees working there. The old grain elevators are now used as a movie studio. There are new buildings connected to the old buildings, to make them more usable. The City received the International Award for Design from UNESCO for there building preservation.
We went to Museum Pointe-A-Calliere for a display of Ile de Paques. This was an excavation of old foundations of buildings dating back to the earliest days of Montreal. There were 4 layers of buildings built on top of each other. Some were built on top of old graveyards, or out houses.
After the Museum, we walked about 2 short blocks to Restaurant le Bourlinguer for dinner. We had a choice of fish or pork, and Soup or salad. For dessert, we had a cheese and Brie salad and Carrot Cake. After dinner, we walked back to the museum where our bus was parked. It was nice to be in the fresh air after a large dinner. Rode the bus back to the campground at 8:00 PM.