Ron's & Paul's Excellent Adventure to Montreal

Paul and I decided to go to Montreal on Monday and Tuesday last week (May 29 & 30) and here are some of the pictures we took:

This is Paul enjoying breakfast on the train to Montreal. It was an early morning start (6:40 am), but the breakfast in Business Class was worth it! 

Paul posing in front of the large departures and arrivals board in Montreal's Central Station. This is the largest train station in Canada and is still the main hub for passenger transportation by rail in Canada.

Our first stop was Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral. The church is located at 1085 Cathedral Street at the corner of René Lévesque Boulevard and Metcalfe Street, near the Bonaventure Metro station and the Central Train Station.

My attempt to take a picture of Paul inside the church was a dismal failure, as illustrated by the result here. Not enough light.

 As we continued walking, we came across some interesting sculptures, that we decided to imitate.

Here's Paul's version.

This is mine.

 In Place d'Armes in Old Montreal, we encountered these contemporary statues called The English Pug and the French Poodle by Montreal artist Marc-André J Fortier. The dogs appear eager to meet, but the woman and the man disdain one another. The woman faces the bank (the Bank of Montreal's Head Office) with her nose turned up at business, while the man faces the church (Notre Dame Cathedral) with his nose turned up at religion

This is Montreal in a capsule. English versus French, business versus religion and all solitudes keeping their masks on. But the dogs, perhaps representing children or the new generation, just want to play. Perhaps it's appropriate that they are located at the centre of what used to be the city's financial centre just a short distance from Old Montreal's night life.

This is Paul balancing the heaviest free-standing bank vault on his head. When the Banque Nationale built their head office in Place d'Armes. they built the vault above ground, visible from all sides. Unlike bank vaults built everywhere else, this one is impossible to tunnel into.

This is Ron poking that miniature lady to get out of the way in front of the Bank Of Montreal's Head Office. Ron's first job was working in the office building (built much later) attached to this branch.

The Bank of Montreal (Banque de Montréal) was established in 1817, making it Canada's first bank. The first branch was built here on Rue Saint-Jacques in 1819. This Pantheon-like building was built by John Wells in 1847, 20 years before Confederation.

Paul and I posed in the lobby of the bank.

More walking in the narrow streets of Old Montreal.

Eventually we found Montreal's Old City Hall. It is located between Place Jacques-Cartier and the Champ de Mars, at 275 Notre-Dame Street East in Old Montreal.

In 1967 Charles de Gaulle, the president of France, gave his “Vive le Québec libre” speech from the building's balcony.

 A building on Ste Catherine that we found had an interesting electronic display.

We finally managed to find an open bar to have a pint from a local brewery before we caught the train to meet my sister Gloria for lunch.

 This is the commuter train we caught at the Bell Centre to get to Pointe Claire.

On the train.

Lunch with sister Gloria at the pub beside the hotel we were staying at.

Dinner with my friend Brendan at Le Bistro in Pointe Claire Village.

After a busy and exhausting day, we were both ready for bed.

The next day, we were ready for more:



This Paul on the observation deck on top of Place Ville Marie - one of the best vantage points to see the whole city.

This was in the underground mall underneath Place Ville Marie, part of Montreal's extensive network of underground tunnels and connections, which makes getting around downtown in inclement weather much more pleasant.




We visited the Hotel Bonaventure at the top of Place Bonaventure to see their indoor / outdoor heated pool. It's much more impressive in winter when you can get into the pool indoors and then swim outside when it's freezing cold. The evaporating water keeps you warm and toasty in the pool - I'm speaking from personal experience!

No one was swimming today - perhaps because of the rain.

Paul posed beside the statue of Maurice Richard just outside the Bell Centre.

Paul inside the Bell Centre:

Paul in the sports bar at the Bell Centre. Note the chandelier made from hockey sticks. 

Our visit to the Peel Pub, which had moved a bit south on Peel from it's original location north of Ste. Catherine.

We stopped at the Deli Planet in Central Station for a quick beer before boarding our train back to Ottawa.

The food on the return train trip was as good as our breakfast the day before. We finished our trip watching the 2nd episode of the original Star Wars Trilogy, "The Empire Strikes Back." Paul has never seen the films before and just discovered that Darth Vader is Luke's father.

All in all, it was a fun trip. Paul is a very enjoyable travel companion and we had a great time.