Jacques Cartier Bridge seen from Montreal
Until this afternoon, I believed like many Quebecers, that the Jacques-Cartier Bridge was designed by Gustav Eiffel, or that the bridge was a gift from France. Not without reason:
The finials are not ‘Eiffel towers’, but sure do resemble them! They measure 13′ and weigh 6 tons!
Bonus picture of the day:
Olympic tower seen from the Jacques Cartier bridge through the suicide prevention barrier
My grand-mother wanted to do something special with me this week and suggested we go to a museum. I hadn’t been to Pointe-à-Callière in at least fifteen years, so that’s what I suggested. This museum is built over the foundation of some of the oldest buildings in Montreal and the highlight is to go under ground and walk through the old stone foundations.
It’s been easy to see my grand-mother this week since she moved to Chambly and is now living a kilometre away from my mother’s house. I walked over this afternoon and she greeted me with a light lunch, then we headed to Montreal.
Pointe-à-Callière is located in the most scenic part of the island, the Old Port. Walking through the cobblestone streets is just like being in Europe. The whole area is slowly being gentrified and more new structures are springing up, but I don’t think we will ever lose the look and atmosphere of the Old Port.
Our tour of the museum started with an excellent multi-media presentation about highlights in Montreal history, from pre-history to today. I found it to be a little too upbeat and it glossed over the more negative issues like the French/English disputes, but I’m being a tad picky. For a twenty minute overview, it painted a pretty accurate portrait.
The special exhibit this fall is one about Rapa Nui, Easter Island, and I enjoyed it very much. I discovered that I knew almost nothing about Easter Island, such as the important fact that it is still inhabited today!
We then headed downstairs and and took a quick jaunt through the foundations, the highlight of which are the sewer systems that were way ahead of their times. This archaeological site takes you through more than 360 years of history, from a 17th century Catholic cemetery to an 18th century marketplace to the 19th century sewer systems. The whole thing is rather labyrinthine and we had to get directions back to the surface!
Merci pour la belle journée, grand-maman!
lunch was pretty enough for a picture!
my grand-mother’s balcony overlooks my childhood… only back then, in the ’80’s, there were only fields and trees instead of all those houses
my mother worked in that building for much of my childhood and we lived right across from it
Montreal skyline from the Champlain bridge
Old Port–contrast of the old and the new
more of the Old Port
Pointe-à-Callière
old foundations
more old foundations
in 1900, Montreal was Canada’s metropolis
the old sewer system
the old sewer system with a photograph showing what the exit would have looked like
more old sewage systems
walking out is like entering Europe
we walked out onto a movie set!
crossing the Victoria bridge, the first to connect the island of Montreal to the South Shore
Champlain Bridge seen from the Victoria Bridge
the ugliest building on the South Shore!!!
I love the street signs in Chambly because all the street names are explained; Lebel was named after a mayor
Montreal-style bagels
vs.
the bagels the rest of North America is subject to:
plain-old bagel
Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum.
On a related note, if birds that fly near the sea are called seagulls, what do you call birds found near bays?
Bay gulls, of course. Bah-dum!
I’m leaving for Montreal first thing in the morning, which is absolutely surreal! Since I am taking three flights both ways and do not trust Air Canada, I’ve decided to try to carry on all my luggage. When I checked-in an hour ago, I did say that I would be checking one suitcase, in case they decide not to let me carry on. Had I selected the ‘no checked luggage’ option, Air Canada would charge me $50 if they deemed it necessary for my luggage to be checked! Crazy!
Air Jazz, the puddle jumper that’s taking me from Penticton to Vancouver will require me to put my luggage under the plane at the point of embarkation because of the lack of cabin space. I went through that routine when I went to Chicago in ’99, so I know what to expect.
I’m allowed my suitcase, a laptop case, a small purse, and a coat, so that is what I will need to juggle through the airports tomorrow. My suitcase is very nice and has a place from which to hang the laptop case, so at least I won’t need to carry myself in most cases. Needless to say, I am going to have my eye on it the whole time!
I read the updated rules about liquids and noticed a new clause–the liquids must be identifiable. Last time I carried on my luggage I transferred my products to small bottles and they went through fine. But this clause makes me think that I need to be carrying original bottles. So, I went to Shopper’s Drugmart today and bought $10 worth of travel sized bottles. *sighs*
I have not decided to what extent, if any, I will be blogging about my trip.
I’m off to finish packing since I need to hit the road for 7:30. *yawn*
I can’t believe that I’m flying east a week from tomorrow! I got an awesome deal on my tickets to Montreal from Penticton, but it’s going to be a bit of a circuitous route. To get there, I’ll be doing Penticton–>Vancouver–>Calgary–>Montreal. To get back, I’m doing Montreal–>Toronto–>Vancouver–>Penticton.
Flying directly from Vancouver to Montreal was several hundred dollars more and would have required very early morning flights. Funny how the longer route is cheaper and more convenient! I’m happy that I fly out of Penticton at 10AM (meaning I leave Osoyoos at a reasonable 8:30) and out of Montreal at 4:30PM. I’ll arrive at 11:30PM local time both ways. Long days, and jet lag’s a bitch, but this is the best flight itinerary I’ve ever put together.
Thankfully, I’ve been through all those airports except Penticton (which is tiny), so the trip should be easy. My layovers are all only just long enough to ensure that I’ll make my connection barring a huge delay, so I won’t have too much time to kill. I’ll have the iPod on me for entertainment.
I’m getting pretty excited about this trip and it will be very nice to see my family again after more than two years away!