Montreal in the winter seems like a bad vacation plan. The city's summertime attractions are numerous; outdoor light shows, entertainers along the waterfront (Montreal is an island), biking or hiking to the top of Mount Royal. In the winter, they have snow. On the other hand, we were going as a long weekend getaway for Dave's 60th birthday and there are a number of indoor activities, more than enough for a few days of visiting the city.
Plus we did hike to the top of Mount Royal in cold weather gear, which was an adventure.
We stayed in the Four Seasons hotel in the Downtown district, a few blocks away from the Mount Royal park and close enough to Old Montreal (the quaint historic section of town) and the museums we wanted to see to walk to them. We had a suite on the top floor (for renting, there were residences on the floors above ours) which provided spectacular views out of our window.
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Thursday was our first real day (we flew in Wednesday evening after work). On the top of the list was the Notre Dame Cathedral in Old Town, which we hiked a couple of miles to see. It was a balmy 30 degrees F when we started but grew progressively colder during the day (and was a not-so-balmy -2 the next day). The walk was a little disappointing, but we took a random route that might not be the most scenic, and we did see a few things that were interesting, like a set of staircases to nowhere.
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From the outside, Notre Dame looks like Notre Dame in Paris. Oddly enough, old photos show that the two towers were added on later, and one would assume to make it look like it's more famous big brother, but there didn't seem to by an explanation of when or why they were added.
Inside, it was the most beautiful church we've ever seen. It is smaller than the Paris version, but where that was soaring buttresses of cold grey stone, this was something that looked like it had taken a generation of Disney's finest imagineers to come up with, like a fairy tale version of a Basilica (which, by the way, is a thing... the Pope has to officially declare something a Basilica). It surpasses event Saint-Chappelle in beauty and grandeur.
The church also boasts a 7000 pipe organ that looks like something out of "Phantom of the Opera." On Steroids.
Because of the size of a the main chapel, a more intimate chapel, Chapelle du Sacré-Cœur (Chapel of the Sacred Heart) was built behind it. It was pretty stunning itself. There was a sign that said it was for prayer only, no touring or photographs, and I didn't want to be a jerk so I didn't take any pictures; I waited and searched the internet for someone else that did (the jerk) and grabbed the picture below.
The detail of everything in the main chapel was amazing, down to the buttresses. The stained glass (and many of the sculptures and paintings) were a reminder that Montreal was originally founded by Catholics intent on saving the souls of the native Indian tribes by converting them; Montreal didn't become a center for trade until much later in it's history.
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After Notre Dame, we took a short hike to Pointe-à-Callière, the Montréal Archaeology and History Complex. That was kind of cool because it's actually build on top of the original location of the founding of Montreal. As you can imagine, there were a number of changes over several hundred years as the original simple wooden fortification became a city, and may of them are build on top of one another. This museum excavated in different locations to find pieces of that history, from native american campgrounds to one of the first enclosed sewer systems (the purple tunnel below) in the world. In one central location, there's an interactive display that shows where the different buildings stood compared to a virtual "you are here" with a glass floor so you can see what is left of them.
There was also a temporary display about the Incas ... except it was really the set of empires leading up to the Incas, from the Cupisnique back thousands of years BC to the Chimu and Chancay cultures the Incas captured despite being technologically more primitive. There were textiles from 600 BC, excavated from ancient burial grounds, that looked like they could have been made today.
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The next day, we hiked to the top of Mount Royal and visited the cemetery there. It turns out there's a central "grand staircase" that's maintained during the winter. Not knowing that, we took one of the many lesser pathways, which turned out to be staircases that had turned into giant ice slides.
The cemetery didn't rival it's French cousins in complexity or scale, but it was interesting. One thing that seemed odd was that the majority of people buried there were English, Scottish or Irish (at least, in the section we were in).
 Turns out hiking up the unmaintained trails to the the top of Mount Royal in sub zero temperatures after a snowstorm is not a popular activity in Montreal |
 Awesome view of Montreal. And us. |
 Another unpopular activity when it’s -2 out. |
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In the afternoon, we visited the "underground city," a maze of underground passageways with shops that spread for 20 miles under the city. It was like the world's biggest mall. There were a few interesting shops (including one dedicated to Warhammer miniatures), but the most interesting find (completely at random) was a Barbie exhibition that was really (no kidding) amazing, including one simulated Barbie fashion show where all the spectator Barbies had cameras with working flashes.
 Big hat Barbie |
 I dream of Jennie Barbie |
 Queen of the aliens that are going to suck your eyeballs out Barbie |
 Punk Barbie |
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 The amount of detail in each of these outfits was stunning. Look at a closeup of the dress and you can see where they sewed tiny little metalic beads, barely big enough to see, around some of the pin-head-sized gems. |
 The quilt work here was common across the hundred of outfits that were on display; the effort involved in designing such amazingly detailed miniture outfits was stunning. |
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We had a birthday dinner that night at Maison Boulud in the Ritz Carlton, which had a casual elegance and cocktails with big ice (square and round).
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The next day, we visited the Museum of Fine Arts, which was huge and was really three separate buildings connected by an underground tunnel. One building was dedicated to Canadian artists, with the floors divided by time period. It was interesting to see that there was the same focus on what individuals and groups were influencing art over time that we've seen everywhere, and we still wonder how someone decides that a particular artist set the tone and direction for years to come. There was one floor dedicated to native American art as well.
Another building held contemporary design and a exhibit of mummies (which was a limited duration exhibit and so crowded we left for less elbow-jostling territory).
 The main entrance, across the street from the Canadian Art building |
 Is it art? Ok, it's a staircase, but it looked cool |
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One of our favs was a parody (or statement) about Europeans
slaughtering the natives... except in this case, the natives
were beavers. You can see the Crucifix on the praying
beaver has a little beaver on a cross, and don't miss the
beaver spirits ascending into heaven!
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 Who wouldn't want this decorative and practical table in their house? |
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We flew out Sunday and arrived home without incident. Think we are going to have to go back in the summer some time to see the rest of the city!