Click on images below to enlarge:
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Hotel Manoir des Alpes
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Hotel Manoir Des Alpes, the second small hotel we stayed in during our
trip to Montreal.
| Our hotel "room" had an unusual layout, with one bed in each of two
diagonally adjoining spaces with no door in between. This picture looks
at one room from the other room, taken from near the suite's door. It was taken on the previous day but is listed here with the other
pictures of the hotel.
| A picture of the room barely visible in the last picture, also taken on the
previous day.
| My room, the one by the suite's entrance, after I'd gotten up in the
morning. This hotel, like the previous one, has artwork on the walls,
though I prefer the previous hotel's selections.
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Montreal Museum of Fine Art (Musee des Beaux-Arts de Montreal)
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The outside of the Michal and Renata Ornstein Pavilion. It houses half
of the museum's collections; the other half is housed in a modern
building across the street. An underground corridor connects them.
| James Tissot's October has lovely fabric and leaves. The light
in the painting feels warm.
| John MacWhirter's The Valley of Slaughter, at least according to
my notes. Simply a beautiful landscape.
| Henri-Joseph Harpignies's Moonlight, at least according my notes.
It's not just evocative; it feels real.
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Beneath the street, in the large exhibition space in the tunnel that
connects the two buildings that form the museum, lay a modern art igloo,
a huge colorful abstract canvas, and a large mural cave-wall painting.
Funky stuff.
| At first I thought the cleaning staff left their equipment around in a
very unsafe manner near some electrical outlets. I soon realized this
was actually a modern art piece: Jean-Pierre Gauthier's The Janitor Has
Gone to Lunch.
| Jean-Paul Riopelle's Crosswind, at least according my notes.
Pollock-esque.
| Kent Monkman's Trappers of Men. While I enjoy the landscape, the
characters in this painting are even more striking. There's one guy
fighting with a horse, another pulling someone out of the water, someone
else walking on water, and a few wearing odd costumes. It's too that
even with the full sized image it's impossible to easily identify what
the characters are doing. The only web page that mentions this painting
lists the characters (but not what they're doing): "Notable characters
(from left to right) include: Edward Curtis and models, Miss Chief Eagle
Testickle, Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock, George Catlin, Lone Dog and
his winter count (buffalo hide), Bruce Bailey Esq., Whistlejacket, Lewis
and Clark, and Alexander Mackenzie."
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A lovely stained glass window. Excellent.
| A disorganized pile of drawers. Depending on how you think of them, you
may say, "how appropriate: a rubber-band holding junk drawers together,"
or, "how ironic: a disharmonious pile of furniture that usually used for
organization."
| How'd you like to sit there? I'd have loved to try it, but the museum
prohibits it. I wonder how many people have received the honor of
getting to sit in one of these chairs?
| Seductive cabinets.
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A piece by Victor Vasarely.
| The chess set Salvadori Dali designed contains pieces in the shape of
fingers and thumbs. It's unnerving. Here's another
picture.
| Alfred Pellan's Mad Love, at least according my notes. Forget
the strange subject of the painting; I just like the colors. The
vibrant reds (or is the eyes?) caught my eyes from across the room.
| Alfred Pellan's Embassy Theme, at least according my notes.
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Jean Dallaire's Odile, at least according my notes.
| Pictures of seventy-five bags of garbage. A statement about
consumerism, a work of art, a call to action, or all of the above?
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Le Commensal
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My lunch. We left the museum in the middle to eat, then returned to
finish exploring.
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Botanical Garden (Jardin Botanique)
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The Tour Olympique (Olympic Tower), the world's tallest tilting structure,
is across the street from the Botanical Garden. The Stade
Olympique (Olympic Stadium) is beneath it; read this
blurb to find out how ill-fated the structure is.
| The Botanical Garden has many themed gardens within, each with its own
species of plants and style of landscaping. I believe I took this
picture near the alpine section, though I'm not positive.
| This picture is certainly of the alpine section.
Artificially brightened.
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The Magic of Lanterns at the Chinese Garden in the Botanical Garden
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This pictures provides a good sense of the feeling of the Magic of
Lanterns exhibit: pond, ships, lights, and all.
| A dragon boat and some passing birds. Excellent.
| Also excellent. The same picture as the last, except with a longer
exposure. Hit Prev and Next and look at how the surface of the water
changes!
| From a different angle, the same ship once again.
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One lit pavilion in the Chinese Garden.
| A better perspective of that particular pavilion.
| Another ship.
| From a distance, one can see most of the ships at once.
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