Walking in Montreal

This week has been busy (with work, fun and packing), so my last post before I leave Cambridge will be a quick rundown of my walks through Montreal.

I set out on Wednesday from my hotel. I walked through Chinatown (although I thought Mongoliatown might have been a better name, since there were almost no people around). I walked past the Palais de Justice de Montreal, perhaps the most impressive building I saw on this walk (though the casino came a close second). After continuing on to the harbour I spotted a nice grassy area across the river, and decided that since I had no particular destination in mind I might as well walk to it. I did just that. It was the Parc de la Cite du Havre. It was a beautiful but apparently underutilised park, perhaps due to not being noted on Google maps (but here is a link to the ferry route to it). I continued on to the Jean Drapeau and Notre Dame islands, also nice areas with plenty of gardens. It began to rain reasonably heavily, so I caught the train back into the city.

From Bonaventure Station I began to explore the underground city. This is an important feature of Montreal, but I found it unappealing. It's a natural way for people to escape the cold in winter (or, in my case, the rain in summer), but it's just not particularly pleasant. To me, it felt like one part mall, one part train station, one part airport. There weren't actually any planes, but the feeling of being herded past every shop imaginable was the same as many airports. I exited near McGill University and indulged my predilection for visiting university campuses. This one felt no different from many others. I did notice that the football stadium seems almost as large as that at a major US university. The rain had stopped, so I had a pleasant walk back to my hotel.

On Friday, the conference finished at 4:30, and my bus home was at 11. I thus decided to head up Mont Royal. The park itself was lovely: more natural than those I had wandered in previously (think Mount Ainslie in Canberra), and I had good views of the city, such as that below.

A short distance around from the summit, I found this cross. I seem to have a habit of photographing crosses shortly before I leave North America.

From one of the lookouts on Mont Royal, I saw the Olympic Stadium. I knew it was 7 kilometres away, but I had plenty of time so I decided I might as well walk to it. I thus set out through the streets of Montreal. I like to walk the streets of a new city, to see the impression it leaves in my mind, and I had a substantial opportunity to do so. Montreal is my first French-speaking city, so it will be interesting to see how it compares whenever I happen to visit another.

I arrived at the Olympic area and decided to first wander around the botanic garden. It was beautiful in yet a third way, after the parks of Wednesday and Mont Royal. I was amused, but not at all surprised, to walk into the Japanese garden and immediately feel that I was right at home! I actually found the Chinese garden even lovelier: I took photos but they didn't turn out so well because it was getting dark (or maybe it's just my camera and me!).

The Olympic Stadium itself was no more impressive than from a distance, but not a waste of time either. I turned around and headed back to my hotel to collect my bag. On leaving the hotel, I realised that I had neglected to remember the precise position of the bus stop. I headed the direction I thought was correct, but walked further than I thought I needed to without finding it (remember, I had arrived at this bus stop three days earlier). I checked my map and, remembering that the bus stop was opposite a park, headed for the park that looked closest to the correct location. On the way some woo girls drove past in a limousine. They waved at me and seemed very happy when I waved back, although I couldn't understand what they were saying, because it was in French. After discussions with a friend who has just returned from Paris, my best guess is that they said allons-y (let's go), but while I can guess what they were planning to go and do, I drew the conclusion from sources other than what they were saying.

The bus stop turned out not to be at that park. I asked someone standing on the street, and she told me the name of the station, which was sufficient to allow me to find it on the map. It turned out to be where I had initially thought. It was now getting close to 11 (actually, I think I arrived with 20 minutes to spare, but that was less than I would have liked), so I ran part of the way.

From there it was an easy, if long and tiring, bus ride home to Boston.

Now I will see many of you again soon, after an even longer and more tiring plane ride!