Up to Montreal and Quebec City - September 23rd-October 1st 2006

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September 24th 2006: Centre-Ville (Downtown Montreal)

The one movie is of the ivy on the walls of the Grand Seminaire de Montreal waving in the wind like water in the ocean. With sound, one can hear how much the wind was blowing.

There are movies associated with this collection.


Page 1 of 2.
Click on images below to enlarge:
Downtown
A fairly nice apartment building. (I might've taken a picture of it because my parents liked it.)
A cute street with many restaurants, including one familiar one. As we learned, this type of street is not uncommon -- Montreal is filled with many streets with a high density of restaurants.
Such a narrow steeple!
A main vehicular artery emanating from downtown.
A fairly nice apartment building. (I might've taken a picture of it because my parents liked it.)
A cute street with many restaurants, including one familiar one. As we learned, this type of street is not uncommon -- Montreal is filled with many streets with a high density of restaurants.
Such a narrow steeple!
A main vehicular artery emanating from downtown.
A nice row of stone/brick town houses. Montreal was filled with stone town houses everywhere, though sometimes the style varied.
The stately Vieux Palais de Justice de Montreal (Old Courthouse). We went closer to it during our explorations of old town on another day.
As we approached Chinatown, we spotted this gazebo peeking out of the skyline.
Chinatown's main gate. Chinatown was very small: aside from minor side streets, it lasted roughly two blocks.
A nice row of stone/brick town houses. Montreal was filled with stone town houses everywhere, though sometimes the style varied.
The stately Vieux Palais de Justice de Montreal (Old Courthouse). We went closer to it during our explorations of old town on another day.
As we approached Chinatown, we spotted this gazebo peeking out of the skyline.
Chinatown's main gate. Chinatown was very small: aside from minor side streets, it lasted roughly two blocks.
The fountain in Complexe Desjardins, an indoor mall, often shot water very high and with good accuracy. (No one got wet, as far I could tell.) Excellent for the effect. The mall had a good court. Compared to American food courts, it had many more sandwich joints, nearly all using fresh French bread. We also observed that, unlike America, many stores were closed on Sunday. However, other malls we entered later in the day were entirely open, so maybe only smaller mall's stores are closed on Sundays.
The pool and fountains by the Place des Arts, the main theater complex in Montreal. Five theaters are colocated here.
The step waterfall near the pool.
The Comme si le Temps de la Rue (according to a tourism page, "an untranslatable poetic phrase"), a series of sculptures in a courtyard near the Place des Arts. Personally, I think they look like a cross between humans and trees, though an official page claims they're half-human, half-bird. Until I read it online, I didn't notice the things on the "arms" were actually in the shape of buildings.
The fountain in Complexe Desjardins, an indoor mall, often shot water very high and with good accuracy. (No one got wet, as far I could tell.) Excellent for the effect.
The mall had a good court. Compared to American food courts, it had many more sandwich joints, nearly all using fresh French bread.
We also observed that, unlike America, many stores were closed on Sunday. However, other malls we entered later in the day were entirely open, so maybe only smaller mall's stores are closed on Sundays.
The pool and fountains by the Place des Arts, the main theater complex in Montreal. Five theaters are colocated here.
The step waterfall near the pool.
The Comme si le Temps de la Rue (according to a tourism page, "an untranslatable poetic phrase"), a series of sculptures in a courtyard near the Place des Arts. Personally, I think they look like a cross between humans and trees, though an official page claims they're half-human, half-bird. Until I read it online, I didn't notice the things on the "arms" were actually in the shape of buildings.
The downtown Hyatt's large outdoor balcony appealed to my mom.
The stunning Saint James United Church. Surprisingly, the church isn't listed in my guide book. Consequently, it took me almost an hour to track down its name! (And I consider myself to have fairly good searching skills.)
Christ Church Cathedral, a nice gothic cathedral on the predominately retail street rue St-Catherine. According to my Fodor's guide book, "In 1988 the diocese assured the stability of both its soil and its finances by leasing its land and air rights to developers, who then built ... a 34-story office tower behind the cathedral and a huge retail complex ... below it."
The inside of Christ Church Cathedral is much less impressive.
The downtown Hyatt's large outdoor balcony appealed to my mom.
The stunning Saint James United Church. Surprisingly, the church isn't listed in my guide book. Consequently, it took me almost an hour to track down its name! (And I consider myself to have fairly good searching skills.)
Christ Church Cathedral, a nice gothic cathedral on the predominately retail street rue St-Catherine. According to my Fodor's guide book, "In 1988 the diocese assured the stability of both its soil and its finances by leasing its land and air rights to developers, who then built ... a 34-story office tower behind the cathedral and a huge retail complex ... below it."
The inside of Christ Church Cathedral is much less impressive.
Montreal has a huge series of interconnected underground malls. For some amazing details, see Fodor's description. Since it was such a nice day, we only explored the underground briefly. But the extent we saw was still impressive. This picture shows that at some places, the underground city had many floors of stores. We also noticed that, unlike at Complexe Desjardins, everything was open.
Emerging from the underground city, we were struck once again by how clean the city was. And the weather was great: with clear skies and a nice wind that brought crispness to the air, my mom declared this "her weather."
Montreal has a huge series of interconnected underground malls. For some amazing details, see Fodor's description. Since it was such a nice day, we only explored the underground briefly. But the extent we saw was still impressive. This picture shows that at some places, the underground city had many floors of stores.
We also noticed that, unlike at Complexe Desjardins, everything was open.
Emerging from the underground city, we were struck once again by how clean the city was. And the weather was great: with clear skies and a nice wind that brought crispness to the air, my mom declared this "her weather."
Le Commensal
The view from our seat in Le Commensal, located on the second floor of an office building.
My lunch is the lower left; mom's is the upper left; dad's is the upper right. My note pad is in the lower right.
The view from our seat in Le Commensal, located on the second floor of an office building.
My lunch is the lower left; mom's is the upper left; dad's is the upper right. My note pad is in the lower right.
More Downtown
Look closely! There's a window washer without a platform.
The George Stephen House, a house built in 1883 for C$600,000.
The St James the Apostle church, another church not on any map I had. I believe this picture of the church is the best one on the web. Heck, if you can find a picture that shows more than ten feet of the church, I'd be impressed.
Public art: a striding man.
Look closely! There's a window washer without a platform.
The George Stephen House, a house built in 1883 for C$600,000.
The St James the Apostle church, another church not on any map I had. I believe this picture of the church is the best one on the web. Heck, if you can find a picture that shows more than ten feet of the church, I'd be impressed.
Public art: a striding man.
Many buildings with overhangs face the Grand Seminaire de Montreal.
The chapel in the Grand Seminaire de Montreal.
The Shaughnessy mansion, near the Centre Canadian d'Architecture (not photographed, frankly because it wasn't visually appealing). This mansion, like the previously photographed George Stephen House, was built by an early executive of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The quirky sculpture garden across the street from the Shaughnessy mansion.
Many buildings with overhangs face the Grand Seminaire de Montreal.
The chapel in the Grand Seminaire de Montreal.
The Shaughnessy mansion, near the Centre Canadian d'Architecture (not photographed, frankly because it wasn't visually appealing). This mansion, like the previously photographed George Stephen House, was built by an early executive of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The quirky sculpture garden across the street from the Shaughnessy mansion.
A close-up of one odd sculpture.
A fuzzy shot of another church steeple.
The main chapel of the Couvent des Soeurs Grises (Convent of the Gray Nuns), now owned by a university. The gray nuns name doesn't come from the color gray; rather, the founder's husband was a whiskey trader and the purpose of the convent is to help the down-and-out, who happen to frequently be drunk. Thus, the nuns acquired the name "soeurs grises" -- slang for drunk sisters.
Place Ville-Marie provides an unobstructed view north of Park du Mont-Royal. At this instant, the wind increased so much as to rip my mom's sunglasses off her head and made me nearly lose my balance. (A parent caught me.)
A close-up of one odd sculpture.
A fuzzy shot of another church steeple.
The main chapel of the Couvent des Soeurs Grises (Convent of the Gray Nuns), now owned by a university. The gray nuns name doesn't come from the color gray; rather, the founder's husband was a whiskey trader and the purpose of the convent is to help the down-and-out, who happen to frequently be drunk. Thus, the nuns acquired the name "soeurs grises" -- slang for drunk sisters.
Place Ville-Marie provides an unobstructed view north of Park du Mont-Royal. At this instant, the wind increased so much as to rip my mom's sunglasses off her head and made me nearly lose my balance. (A parent caught me.)
The double chocolate muffin we bought at Cafe Coffee Depot, a chain store of coffeeshops we saw many places in Montreal, and shared, eating in one of the underground malls. This mall was right underneath Place Ville-Marie. The muffin wasn't a chocolaty as it looked: the chocolate chips were only on the exterior, not baked into the muffin itself.
The Sun Life Building, although built by an insurance company, is in the style of banks everywhere. It housed Britain's gold reserves and the crown jewels during World War Two.
The top half of the Sun Life Building.
Place du Canada, a small park downtown. Ironically, the statue of Canada's first prime minister faces the street (also in the picture) named for Quebec's first separatist premier.
The double chocolate muffin we bought at Cafe Coffee Depot, a chain store of coffeeshops we saw many places in Montreal, and shared, eating in one of the underground malls. This mall was right underneath Place Ville-Marie. The muffin wasn't a chocolaty as it looked: the chocolate chips were only on the exterior, not baked into the muffin itself.
The Sun Life Building, although built by an insurance company, is in the style of banks everywhere. It housed Britain's gold reserves and the crown jewels during World War Two.
The top half of the Sun Life Building.
Place du Canada, a small park downtown. Ironically, the statue of Canada's first prime minister faces the street (also in the picture) named for Quebec's first separatist premier.