Day 62 Montreal Friday 19th June 2015
By Chris
We start the morning off by going to a McCord Museum not far from we are staying that sets out the history of Montreal. It takes you through stages of the city’s development starting with it’s geological development and then the settlement by First Nation’s peoples,the initial colonisation by the French and the subsequent arrival of the English.
Some interesting insights were gained.One comment that really caught my eye was the one that talked about explorers” re-baptizing locations without paying any heed to their older Native names.Language is another tool for conquering a country”. This is something that I have often thought about as being something that should be addressed more thoroughly in the Australian context.
Also interesting was the tension between French speakers and the English and how this actually turned into conflict in the mid 19th century.You would argue that in Quebec those tensions are still felt today.
We then went to the metro to purchase some day passes. Unfortunately the customer service woman’s English wasn’t great, and my French was worse. A man in the queue behind us stepped in and all was resolved. What was interesting about this exchange was that the woman apologised for her English and in fact went out of her way to make sure we got the best deal possible.This was a completely different experience to being an English speaker in France or a French speaker in Melbourne!
Anyway my beloved sorted out where to get off and we set out by Metro to “The Village”. Mel wanted to see the 200,000 pink beads strung across the street for 1 kilometre.
This area was apparently established to encourage businesses and living for local gay people. I guess the pink baubles decorating the entire length of the main street was a give away, as well as the pink parking spaces.
We had a happy time wandering along the street and ended up having lunch there.A very relaxed and happy place to be.
We took a walk around the back streets. Streetscapes of old houses with little balconies and many with original outdoor spiral staircases.
Happened upon a great little place for coffee. Not only was it a cafe but apparently a place where people could come and do art or make things together.
There were boxes of material, mosaics being made and equipment such as sewing machines.
By Mel
Consensus is tricky – “What do you want to do now?” “What do you feel like eating?” “Shall we climb Mount Royal?”
All the many questions in our day, and sometimes consensus sucks; just make the decision someone!!
This was the dilemma today. Tooooo many choices. The whole of Montreal was our choice and that covers a whole wide range of cultures and places. So after the “Gay” village what then – Arts? Italian? Chinese? Outdoors? Indoors? Art? Music? We decided on La Fontaine Park – not too far from Le Village and a gathering place.
Once there realised we were close to the recommended Poutine cafe but hunger was not a factor in either of our lives. Then saw Avenue Rachel lead to Mount Royal – Lets walk up Mount Royal. Well the walk up Avenue Rachel was lovely but an optical illusion – way further than imagined – we walked to the base of Mount Royal and back – and Hey Presto we are hungry.
Our first Poutine, a traditional dish in Canada that began in Montreal. We had saved ourselves. Several recommendations were La Banquise and that’s where we went.
Poutine – chips, gravy, cheese curds! Been there. Done that. Don’t have to do it again
Finished up the day at Francofolies a free music festival around Place des Arts in the city.
