bienvenue á montreal

Today's soundtrack:
Let it Die by Feist

For the past few days I've been in Montreal at the CSECS (Canadian Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies) Conference. The sessions have kept me pretty busy and I've spent every spare minute getting my paper ready. But after presenting this morning, I figured I owed it to myself to skip out on the first afternoon session and do some serious sightseeing. So me, my handful of French phrases, and my camera headed downtown.

In order to get to Vieux Montreal, I had to take the Métro. Have I mentioned how enamored I am of subway systems? Maybe it's all the movies and tv shows set in New York, but I just love that process of traveling by subway. The Montreal métro is significantly smaller that the Madrid metro, so finding my way was pretty easy. Now getting through the ticket wicket, that's a different story. It helps if you can count in French. Neuf, by the way, is nine. That took longer to figure out than it should have.

So I made it to Vieux Montreal and set out with my best nonchalant touristy air. The first impressive building I came across was this:
Lovely, no? I had no idea what the building was. I knew that the Notre-Dame Cathedral was around here somewhere, but this couldn't be it. It's too small. So off I trekked over cobblestone roads and found myself, soon enough, in a garden, which is pretty much par for the course anytime I'm in Europe. I can't count how many gardens Janet and I ended up in when we were in Florence. And every time I'm in Madrid, I drag Miguel off to another botanical landscape. So, dear Lady J, these garden photos are for you:
The garden is behind this old (in the Canadian sense, not the European) hotel that once housed the Governor General of Canada and the U.S. Army (although not at the same time) and is modeled after the traditional gardens in New France.

Afterwards, I made my way back down Rue Notre-Dame, past this building:I have no idea what that building is, but it was large and impressive. I then popped into the Tourist Information office to ask directions to the Cathedral. "Ou-es la Notre-Dame catedral?" I asked in a painful half-French, half-Spanish mix. "Five minutes down the street to the left" she answered in English, somewhat exasperated. So off I trot, back down the street. And whaddya know? That first building I saw was the Cathedral after all! I tried to get in, but the church was closed for a private function.

I blame Trudeau. The younger one, with the hair.

After that, I tried in vain to find Ariadne Knits, but ended up lost. So instead, I made my way back to the conference to catch the session of the day. I noticed that a lot of architecture in Vieux Montreal - and I'm referring to the large buildings - hearken back to Greco-Roman influences rather than Gothic. I'm curious to see Ottawa in order to compare English architecture in Upper Canada. All in all, a lovely afternoon of sightseeing.