Sunday in Montreal and we wanted to do what the locals do. Or what the lady in our hostel told us that the locals do on a Sunday. So, we walked up to and around Mont-Royal. Tim Tam and Tam Tam were also part of our day. First, here is today's Runkeeper map for our walk.
We found this somewhat different sculpture along Rue St Catherine just up the road from us, titled Marie et Jean. Hmm, let's think about that...
Mont-Royal has trails and tracks of various sizes. To get to the main wide path, likely to have been built for horses and carriages once upon a time, we climb several sets of stone stairs which were perhaps not in the ultimate condition.
As we got up to the main path, somebody had made a chair from the remains of an old tree. Di took the opportunity to get some rest.
This is the main path that circles up and around Parc Mont-Royal. It was popular with cyclists, runners, joggers, walkers this Sunday mid morning. The surface is compact gravel and made us think about the carriage ways in Acadia National Park courtesy of Rockefeller II.
LThis lake, which we would rather call a pond, is called Lac aux Castors or Beaver Lake in English. We saw no beavers but plenty of ducks and ducklings.
Art, Montreal style.
There was also a map on the wall showing the different ski trails on the mountain, one trail per different color.
The view the other way around if you stand on the steps of the chalet.
OK, we had to do the mandatory self portrait.
The view down over Montreal felt a bit like a mini version of Victoria's Peak in Hong Kong but not as high up and obviously not with as many skyscrapers.
We wandered inside the chalet not knowing what to expect. It was a large and empty space except for some small tables and chairs on both sides. It had that old and musty smell you get sometimes from spaces not having been properly aired. Funny place.
They loved the squirrels here too. Squirrels as art up on the rafter joints - that's a new one for us.
We stopped outside the chalet for another short break with coffee and Tim Tams. OK, let's face it, Tim Tams could possibly be the best chocolate biscuit in the world (not that we have tried them all but they are bloody good!) After 6+ months without a Tim Tam, a second will soon follow. Yum.
We continued on our exploration. Along the way, we had seen signs about the Croix, the cross, so we went there, but when we got there, this is how the cross looked like (not quite as classy as the chalet).
We decided to put Hans against its base, i.e. Hans on the cross...
We headed the long way gradually back down through the park. Along the way we saw these little gallow like structures in a few places, and we speculated what they would be for, until we saw one with a sign explaining it in French. These are for feeding the native birds in winter, which can be very harsh here. The "umbrella" in the centre is to prevent the squirrels from climbing up and stealing the food that would be hung from the hook.
Meanwhile, back on the road...
We wandered to the eastern base of Mont-Royal to the Tam Tam Park. It is called so as every Sunday, drummers from all parts of life and with all kinds of percussion instruments gather here and play. Anybody who have seen the movie "The Visitor" would draw parallels to the drumming scenes from Washington Square Park in NYC.
However, the beat of the collective tam tam players was very good and it was hard to just sit still.
Peace man...
If you can't afford or don't have an instrument, you can still participate. Coat hangers and a piece of wood is just fine...
The Tam Tam Park felt like Woodstock all over again.
Finally we found Fairmount Bagel Bakery, since 1919, and it was very popular. We saw lots of people arrive and leave with bagfuls of bagels.
Hans bought a few bagels, one for his lunch and a two for our breakfast tomorrow. Di wanted something simpler so elected for gourmet sorbet from a shop nearby, which was also excellent. Yummy lime-mint.
Inside the bagel bakery. They even seem to have a wood fired oven. All they sell are bagels but with a big variety. There were bagels everywhere inside the shop and they were baking using by far the biggest single piece of dough that Hans had ever seen (sorry, no pic).
We then gradually started to head home. A few more pictures of Montreal buildings along the way...
This cathedral had statues all along the front of the roof. May be worth a visit later as it is only 10 minutes or so walk away from the hostel.
Looking through the streetscape towards the Mont-Royal.
Interesting architecture along our street.
And opposite the previous photo, you see this deserted building. Hans thought that it still looked good, but will probably be demolished in a not too distant future.
Graffiti almost next to our hostel. Summer must be heaven in this harsh environment where winter rules.
Arriving home around 4pm we had break in our funky hostel room. Here is Di dozing while Michael Jackson is keeping an eye on her.
Di cooked up a storm in the commercial kitchen, which is very well set up, and was so efficient that she finished cooking before Hans could take a photo. Once the food "landed" we were too busy enjoying one of our favorite meals to stop for photos (sorry). Despite the horrendously high grocery prices we still figured we've done well today in keeping food costs down and at the same time eating food that we like.
We snuck some red wine in coffee cups down to have with our pasta meal - perfect. Snuck because only alcohol that is allowed to be consumed on premises is the one bought from the bar in the basement. Hmm...
All up were really happy with our day and we like Montreal so much that we booked another whole week here in the same hostel before we leave for UK on the 28th of July. We have only one more night here now before we head to Ottawa.
Time to relax. Good night.
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