Montreal, Day 4 - Chateau Ramezay

For our last day, we made our way back to the historic district.  Our first stop was Chateau Ramezay.  The building was built in 1705 as the Governor's Mansion; today it is a museum of Montreal history.  It covers a wide variety of topics including the First Nations people, the early French settlement life, Montreal's role in world history, and the French/English influences on Montreal history and modern culture.

Rudy had just finished his Native American unit at school, where they learned about longhouses.  We thought he'd like the museum diorama:

Old school lacrosse sticks:

Bunk beds:

See that wheel contraption in the top right corner of the picture?  That might be my single favorite thing about all of Montreal.  Can you guess what it is?

It's a rotisserie.  A dog-powered rotisserie.  The chef would place a pup inside the wheel.  The dog would run and the intricate systems of levers and pulleys would rotate whatever was on the spit in the fire.  Genius.  If they'd only had infomercials in the 1700s, that inventor would be rich!

After the museum, we decided to scout out lunch.  I'd spent three full days in a French city without a single crepe, so it was time to remedy that problem!  We found Creperie Chez Suzette and claimed a table on the porch.  The pedestrian street was bustling, so we enjoyed some people watching with our crepes.  The crepes were phenomenal.  Both were served with a side of Canadian maple syrup; my crepe had apples, brie, and maple syrup and James's had brie, ham, and caramelized onions.  Makes my mouth water!

We had just a bit of time before we had to make our way back to the airport.  We decided on a leisurely stroll along the waterfront.  In the few blocks between the creperie and the harbor, we passed a building with a sign for Pointe-a-Calliere, the museum that we'd tried to visit two days ago.  Um, what?  We went in and, sure enough, the museum was wide open.  Apparently, the building that we tried to visit (also with a sign for Pointe-a-Callliere) is just an auxiliary building temporarily closed for repairs.  We debated taking a quick tour through the museum, but knew we wouldn't get much out of it.  It was a little disappointing, but we just rationalized that it gives us something to do when we come back some day!

We continued on with our waterfront walk plan before heading out to the airport for late-day flight home. 

Montreal Day 3 - Mont Royal and Saint Josephs Oratory

Even in large urban cities, it's fun to seek the outdoors.  Another place that I'd read a lot about was Mont Royal, the "mountain" after which Montreal is named.  Topping out at less than 1000 feet, it's really hardly more than a hill but it's high enough to provide some peace and quiet, with great views of the city. 

I told you the fashion choices were a lot worse today.  I had to switch to running shoes because the walking shoes were not providing adequate cushion and support for all the miles I'd been covering.  It got even worse when the temperature continued to rise, and I finally had to roll my pants up over my knees.  It was not pretty.

The views, on the other hand, were quite lovely.  Once we made it to the top.  I can't even accept any blame for the route that we took to try to get up to the top and back down this mountain.  There seemed to be endless trail options and not a single map, trail marker, blaze, or sign.  We'd choose the uphill path, only to take a turn and start back downhill.  It was endlessly frustrating, and really tested our patience with ourselves and with each other.  We managed to maintain our senses of humor and felt like we emerged victorious when we finally made it out at the bottom. 

 We had heard rave reviews of the pies at Rockaberry, so we planned our entry to and exit from the park to allow for a pie break around lunch time.  We had lunch, but whatever was pales in comparison to these pie masterpieces.  It's kind of hard to tell in the picture, but the pies were huge mounds of deliciousness.  We got an apple crumble pie and some sort of chocolate brownie pie concoction.  I'm not usually a big pie fan, but these were quite tasty..especially after our long morning stroll!

Next on the agenda was St. Joseph's Oratory.  Brought into existence in the  through the hard work of a local Quebecois, Brother Andre, the basilica became a pilgrimage site for those with a variety of handicaps or disabilities.

Brother Andre was later canonized as Saint Andre Bessette, with miracles of healing attributed to him.  The process of his canonization is a fascinating story.  Today, pilgrims climb the stairs on their knees to reach the basilica.  You can see in the picture below that the center of the staircase is reserved specifically for pilgrims.  It's a long way up on foot, so I can hardly imagine the devotion of the pilgrims who ascend on their knees.  

We may get an extra day in purgatory for our sacrilege, but I was really amused with Thomas's pouty face and crossed arms. 

Impressive mosaic details...

We all know James isn't short, so you can get some idea of the scale when you see him in the bottom corner of the picture...

There is also a quiet garden with the stations of the cross.  The stations are large scale sculptures, the adults are around 9 feet tall.  The gardens were one of my favorite parts of the Oratory.  The setting and style of the sculptures combined with a beautiful evening and quiet setting were pleasant really brought forth the meaning of the stations. 

We hadn't planned on watching sunset from the Oratory, but the timing was too good to pass up.  We passed a pleasant hour watching people come and go as the sun sunk below the Montreal horizon.  

Montreal Day 2, continued - Jardin Botanique

After exploring downtown, we made our way out to the Jardin Botanique Montreal.  Everyone told us we HAD to go to the gardens.  I was a little unsure about how much I'd get out of this, both because the time of year didn't really lend itself to bountiful blooms and because botanical gardens really have to be pretty spectacular to hold my interest.  

Luckily, the weather was beautiful and there was a special exhibit wrapping up its last week at the gardens.  The Mosaicultures Internationales started in Montreal in 2000.  Every three years since then, there has been an exhibit somewhere "to promote gardening and horticulture as both an expression of new millennium values and a vital component of the urban landscape."  The theme this year was Land of Hope, and every piece had to "represent something of the participant’s culture while responding to a predefined theme and complying with the principles of sustainable development."  

Our first stop was in the greenhouse, where there was this mobile representing the giant ocean trash dump.  Every piece in the mobile is a piece of plastic - bottle caps, yogurt cups, six pack rings, and so on. 

After that it was on to the sculptures...

All in a Row from Madagascar and The Heart Tree from Canada.

This guy is from a folk tale and was called The Man Who Planted Trees.  I loved his shaggy dog companion!

Selfie.  Bonus that James has long arms!

I commented that if I was a slightly different person, I'd lean over and kiss Froggy on the cheek for the picture.  Also - please disregard the fashion faux pas of stripey socks with rolled up pant legs.  It was HOT!  (The fashion choices get even worse tomorrow...)

The sculpture on the left below is Hachiko, the loyal pup that walked his master to the train station every morning for work and then waited for him to return in the evening.   When his master died at work, the pup stayed at the train station for 10 years waiting for him.  Loyal, and hearbreaking.

These pieces are called Self Help Book and Kindle.  Ha!  Get it?

We took a path through the woods in the middle of the gardens rather than sticking to the perimeter.  We were the only people in the middle and we came upon this hawk, who had caught something too heavy to fly away with.  Fascinated, we watched him shield his prey and try to figure out his plan.

Another selfie?

Around dusk, the gardens really filled up for the Jardins de Lumiere, when the Japanese and Chinese gardens are filled with lighted sculptures.  It was really beautiful but parts of it were also, quite literally, wall to wall people where you can do nothing but shuffle along with the people around you.  We enjoyed the quieter corners and gently pushed our way through the crowds to manage a quick exit from the chaos.

Since we'd had a late lunch, we decided to make our way back to the city before finding some dinner.  We both had something very specific in mind, both for cuisine and atmosphere and we managed to find it just a few blocks from our hotel with Vinizza Osteria Enoteca.  The front staff consisted of one friendly server with limited English and the proprietor, who stopped by to chat a few times.  It was exactly what we were looking for:  tasty pizzas, a small cozy restaurant, and  nice glass of red wine.  Perfect way to end the evening!