The last bits

Well, I am on the flight home, soaring through the sky, swimming upstream against the clouds.  The lakes and rivers in the distance out my window are all silver and blue, while those winding beneath and all dark chasms, each a bottomless pit of shadow, mysteries of the land.  There is not much for cloud, but it comes and goes, and the sky is it's natural brilliant blue.

Yesterday was another full day.  It being Sunday, we decided to go to church in the morning at a beautiful Anglican church not too far away.  We'd visited it previously and it had struck us as beautiful and peaceful.  It can be a really lovely thing to connect with Christians in other places, like stumbling upon family members.  There's an openness and understanding of each other, an acceptance and connection.  It was this that I was looking forward to.  The service was lovely up to the point where the main sermon was given.  It wasn't so much a biblical, Christ-centred message as it was a cultural one - a promotion of the idea that all religions are merely different paths to the same god.  Quite honestly, I have no idea how anyone can hold that idea to be true and hold Christianity to be true.  The bible is explicit about the way to God, and it leaves no rooms for other paths.  It would seem that the beliefs are in conflict.  I suspect that a person holding a kind of all-inclusive belief like that is looking less for truth (which can sometimes be difficult), but rather a culturally acceptable set of inoffensive guiding beliefs.  However, this isn't a can of worms I usually delve into, and I've probably already offended someone, so I'll stop there.  The short of it is, Michelle and I had a very long conversation about it afterwards, and we were both disappointed by our experience there. 

However, we were not disappointed by our bike ride!  It is easy to rent bikes in Montreal and they are all over downtown and by the metro stations -so convenient!  So we took a whirl round the canal and port area.  It was lovely, and perfect weather for it - not too hot.  I'd been waiting all week to get a closer look at Habitat 67, one of the few bits of Canadian art/architecture that was touched upon by in art history classes, so that was our destination.  It was as good as anticipated, all boxy and nice with spaces in between that you could see through to the other side.  Just plain fun!

The we rushed off for a dinner with my uncle and family to celebrate his birthday and to visit.  That was also a delight!  We got the tour of the house, met the kiddos, enjoyed casual appetizers on their deck and went off to a restaurant for dinner.  A really lovely way to cap off our visit to Montreal!

Alas (written by both Christina & Michelle)

(Christina here) As our second last full day, we were eager to squeeze in as much as possible today.  Here were our museum missions: The science centre (briefly to see their Laseaux Cave), Pointe a Calliere & Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal.

Alas, a bad decision about a broken SD card yesterday and my camera is out of commission today.  I used Michelle's digital but her autofocus doesn't work and her camera is 10 lbs heavier (give or take). And also not compatible with my tablet.  Booo.

(An aside, by Michelle) Alas, when we arrived bright and early to the Science centre, and presented our shiny (expensive) museums pass, we were told we would have to pay an additional $20 to see the Lascaux Cave exhibit... which was the only reason we went there in the first place... I held back tears of disappointment... but found solace in some nifty machine contraptions displaying various scientific... things... well, they were machines, with colors, and moving parts, and sound and science... and I liked them.  It was okay, I guess.

Then we rushed off to encounter the archeological delights of Pointe a Calliere.  I suppose I expected an archeological marvel, dirt and diggings and discoveries of many fascinating things shedding light on ancient history or something or the sort.  Stones and walls, stones and walls, and if we were lucky, a sewer pipe or two.  It was a little sad.  But I did buy a book on Marco Polo.

Yes, dirt. Rocks, rock walls, cobblestones, pottery, some beads and coins... it was no Stargate SG1 treasure hunt with Daniel Jackson, that is for sure! But I was pleased to accidentally become extremely interested in Marco Polo.  Apparently he wrote a very interesting book.  I plan to read it. 

Then we were hungry. This seems to happen quite often, and is usually the source of a great deal of frustration and walking and reading and asking and walking and more reading and scowling and walking and then giving up and eating a less than delightful salad.  In fact, I think that's pretty much what happened today.  We walked, our stomachs growled, we scowled at menus, walked some more, scowled at more menus (gladly they are displayed outside most restos here)... We came to one resto with an overly gregarious Host, informing people of which great tables and specials he had available for them.  He offered us a patio table in the sun, told us about the daily special, and then abruptly (rudely) turned and walked away when we uttered the word "allergies".

Really it's surprising that we continued to persevere on our food hunt.  But then, growling stomachs are hard to ignore.  We landed ourselves at an Italian restaurant which gave us the modest promise of green salads.  Simple, easy.  Alas our server spoke limited English, and misunderstood both my salad order and my request for dressing that really was just olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Michelle picked the goat cheese off the stealthily included bread.  We wondered if the olives came from a can or a jar - we were both fairly certain it was the former.

I would like to call specific attention to the confusion they seemed to have between the advertised "Dressing: Balsamic Vinegar & Olive Oil" and an odd blend of "Creamy Italian" and "definitely not anything balsamic".

After finishing the decidedly not-worth-the-price-or-hassle food, we continued to the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal.  This was actually a treat, because, as we discovered, their are some really great pieces here.  I found abstract art that was interesting, clever, subtle and a delight to look at.  In short, art that was well-conceived and also rewarded the viewer for the effort of puzzling over it.  The downside was the brevity of the collection.  The remainder of the floors were closed for an exhibit switchover.

I was delighted to find that the small exhibit of Quebecois Abstract Expressionism far surpassed expectations.  It seems that, although my two areas of specialized knowledge are French and Art, I have failed to learn, or perhaps have failed to be taught, that Quebec seems to have had a rather fantastic era of Abstract Expressionism, although perhaps a little behind the rest of the world, but who even cares about that?  I kept having to stifle my laughter in the quiet museum, every time I was surprise attacked by a clever French artwork.

In conclusion, today was great.  Great and good.  Except I feel sick now.  Dang Creamy Italian "Balsamic" dressing.  But I made friends with some birds, so I'm good.

Good art does wonders.

Fine Art & Fine Paper

Today was another day that left me with eyes and heart full of wonderful things.  We went to La Papeterie St Armand this morning.  They are a papermaking company that creates and sells handmade paper and books of paper.  They welcomed us in and were happy at our enthusiasm, showing us around their shop; the presses, the drying racks, the pulp bins, to the final products.  It was really great to see a process I'm somewhat familiar with in a production setting.  And it really made me want to go home and make paper.

We also made Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (the fine arts museum) our museum destination of the day.  It was bigger than expected and had some really great work in it.  Favorite new discovery was the piece "Planet" by Nicolas Baier.  There was also a Monet that had a stunning pale but colourful palette to it.  The Canada and Quebec section was also really nice, with many artists whose pieces I quite liked, but wasn't previously familiar with. 

Jardin Botanique

Today we made an important decision: to get ourselves museum passes. So now we are on a mission to see the included sights and museums, and make good use of the included metro pass.  After a lovely meal and visit with family I seldom get to see we headed off to the botanical garden.  The Botanical Garden was recommended to us earlier by our tour guide the art store owner.  He compared it to Kew Garden in London and so won me over.  Although we weren't quite prepared enough for todays sun and heat, and although the outdoor Gardens were clearly not yet at their full potential, it was certainly worth it.

I love a good garden, or really nearly any garden, or just a lonely flower.  Kinds of tulips i'd never seen before, a room full of the most marvelous cacti, gardens of other cultures... yes!  It really is an amazing breadth of a collection of plants.

We were going to tackle an art gallery this evening, but ruled in favour of dinner instead, and topped our evening off with a walk by the old port.

Quebec City

People keep asking me if Quebec is meeting my expectations.  I think I expected a sort of foreign land - somewhere new and strange minus the trouble of crossing borders.  But I've found, perhaps predictably, that I've only gone half as far.  Although Montreal and Quebec City do possess some European qualities (and they are lovely), it's pretty obvious that I'm within the same country as my home city, and that's a little disappointing.  I was probably a little foolish to wish to be so far removed from it while simultaneously not too distant.

All that to say we're in Quebec City!  And we have landed ourselves inside the walls of the old city.  We have pretty much 24hrs here to squeeze in as much as possible and then we will be whisked back to Montreal for the remainder. Today we have thoroughly explored much of the old streets, wandering them up and down with both our cameras and growling bellies.  The streets here are narrow and steep, and remind me of Stirling in Scotland - everything on a hill and an  intimidatingly large building at the top (here, the Chateau).  Our legs and feet are feeling the results.  It is very touristy, reminiscent of Banff, with countless restaurants and shops (many recognizable and many souvenir).  Montreal seemed more prone to unexpectedly unique shops. 

I wish I knew more of the history of the places here.  Then it would be more than just lovely.  I'm a little miffed at my own lack of preparation.

Westmount

On this particular day we decided  to return to Westmount.  We wanted revisit the Art store and meet the owner since Michelle is acquainted with him through work, and we were told the other day that we really should return and say hi.  He generously printed a couple maps of the area and gave us his best tips on galleries and things to see.  And they we good tips.  We were headed toward the park anyways, but he recommended that we visit a gallery in an older building and the connected greenhouse nestled between it and a library, next to the park.  It was nice to see some art and the greenhouse was charming.  White and faceted with glass it went on room after room.  Although the rooms weren't large, throughout it there were benches to sit if you could handle the heat.  There were many kinds of plants; carnivorous plants, a room of orchids, cacti, and all sorts of others.  It was beautiful and left me wish that there was a similar unassuming place that I could visit in my city.

We went straight from Westmount to meet my friend, Anne.  It's always great to visit, although the three of us were very tired from our already full days.  She took us to see the Parc du Mont Royal and we had a splendid view from the top.  It was nice to have some perspective as travelling amongst tall buildings and taking tunnels just to pop out in an entirely new neighbourhood is not conducent to having a big picture of where everything is.  Thank goodness for maps (and views)!

Currently we are on the train, rumbling through the countryside on the way to Quebec City.

Old buildings

Today was the epitome of an unstructured day.  We ignored our general plans to go to church in favour of sleeping.  Our mission to find old Montreal was hindered by first our need for sweaters(cooler than we thought!), then by our need to buy a camera lens cap, then by our need for food, and always by our, mostly Michelle's, need to stop and take pictures. All day Michelle was happy discovering the brick and worn-down buildings of the newer areas, but I was eager to find the old.  Nevertheless we did reach it, and it was lovely.  Old and stone and full of charming small details.  And we found the river, which was also lovely and a was hub of people out enjoying the sun.  It certainly is reminiscent of the UK, probably due to the width and layout of the streets more than anything else, and it makes me miss that place (Am I inclined to long for every lovely place I ever visited?). There are sculptures as well, in the classic style.  Why don't we have more of those in Calgary?

One of the surprises of Montreal is that it's windy here.  I don't know if it's always windy, or if it's been especially windy, but to me wind is not expected, something reserved for Lethbridge, and quite a bother. Another surprise is the amount of space for rent - they seem to be everywhere, even in busy areas.  There is also much more graffitti here. 

Sometimes there are people who only speak french, and then I am very sorry that I speak and understand so very, very little of it.  I don't even know the pronunciations.

Day 1 - exhausto Day

And we are here!  In Montreal!  Happily arrived to some deliciously warm weather, welcomed by family and settled in to our hostel.  I am more than exhausted.  My busy work week was pushed over the edge with this mornings 5am wakeup, and it is a wonder I'm still functioning.  Nonetheless we managed some exploration this afternoon.  We ended up aiming for an Art store in the area of Westmount, which we reached by conquering the mystery of the Metro.  We discovered as well many other cute shops which we plan to return to at some point to further investigate.

The travelling to come

Tomorrow I depart on another adventure!  I meant to give you all more notice in my heads-up,-this-blog-is-not-dead-yet post, but it has been a busy week!  Montreal is the destination, a city I endlessly hear about as a wonderful place to be and full of the arts.  As you know, I quite like the arts and so I am coming to investigate the rumours myself!  In addition, my previous travels have left me with woeful little experience of anywhere east of Saskatchewan's western borders (pathetic, I know), so to see more of Canada, especially the earliest bits, will be a joy!

Now to get back to packing.