A day in Montreal

[Trevor's write up]

A relaxed morning as our city tour of Montreal did not start until 9.00am. Only especially accredited local guides are allowed to operate as guides in Montreal. Peggy was our guide for the tour.

Our first stop was the Protestant church. When built this church had a massive spire and because of the weight of the spire the church was sinking about 2 cm per year. This wasn't doing much for the structure of the building.

The solution was to lease the below ground to developers, who then turned it into part of the Montreal underground complex. The presbytery was taken down stone by stone with each stone identified. A concrete platform was constructed under the remainder of the church and the church was raised on this slab. Work then progressed on both the church structure and underneath the church. During the whole uplifting process normal services continued to be conducted within the church.

Upon completion of the underground structure the church and its slab were lowered into position. The spire was changed to an aluminium one and painted to look like old stone. They also rented out part of their grounds to allow the building of an office complex. The presbytery was then rebuilt. The church is now financially secure now from the rent they recieve for the space below the church and from the  grounds.

Some photos of the church and the office comnplex.

The office block

We then descended into the massive underground complex. It really is a world of its own.

Not all portions of the indoor city (ville intérieure) are underground. The connections are considered tunnels architecturally and technically but are air conditioned and have lighting as good as any building's liveable space does. Many tunnels are large enough to have shops on both sides of the passage. With over 32 km of tunnels spread over a massive area of the central city. Connected areas include shopping malls, apartment buildings, hotels, condominiums, banks, offices, museums, universities, seven Metro stations, two commuter train stations, a regional bus terminal and the Bell Centre amphitheatre and arena. There are more than 120 exterior access points to the underground city. Each access point is an entry point to one of 60 residential or commercial complexes comprising 3.6 square kilometres of floor space, including 80% of all office space and 35% of all commercial space in downtown Montreal. In winter, some 500,000 people use the underground city every day. When you are in the complex it is no difference then being in any large plaza or shopping mall.

After that we drove through the old city to top of Royal Mountain (Mont Royal). This mountain is in the centre of the city.

Some photos from one of the lookouts.

Olympic Stadium

Olympic Stadium

The Olympic Stadium is no longer in use as it is too large for most of their sports even though its seating capacity has been reduced to 65,000.

Next was area where the World Trade Fair was held. On way we came across a number of bicycle pickup-dropoff areas. You can pick up a bike from one area and leave it at another location. After the morning business rush they have trailers moving bikes from the city centre to more remote areas.

Bike pickup area

The World Trade Fair was held on two islands which are now used as a playground for the community. It is also were the Grand Prix is held (the biggest money earner for the city).

On the way we stopped at a point overlooking the city where we could take photos.

Some photos from area where World Trade Fair was held.

These are of the ECO Building

Grand Prix Track

We have now driven around a Grand Prix track at the very fast speed of less than 30 kph.

Bridge accross river

Natural standing wave in river where locals surf

There was a competition for young designers to come up with a futuristic and affordable living complex.
The following photos are of the winning entry buildings.

The city tour finished down in the old town. Peggy walked with the group who were staying on in this area as far as the Bascilica.

The inside of the Bascilica stunning. Here are some of the photos.

The front of the Bascilica

Next came lunch in a local eatery where Trevor had marinated brussell sprouts in his salad and thought that they were quite interesting.

We decided to do one of the walks through the old town. There are so many interesting buildings that it really was hard to keep track of which was which. here is a selection of photos.

After the walk we returned to our hotel.

While I edited the photos and wrote up what we had done today Lorraine headed out for a walk.

This evening most of our tour group went out to dinner at a Greek restaurant. There are a surprising number of Greek eateries in Montreal. The food was good and plentiful.

Following dinner we went to an observation area on the slopes of Mont Royal. There were great views over the city. The bonus was three racoons who were at ground level when we passed them as we arrived. By the time we got out of the bus they had scampered up some trees. Lorraine did get some photos.

Racoon up tree