North America 2022 : Friday September 16 Day 18 Downtown Montreal

Renee was working from home on this Friday so we waited until she was ready before heading out ourselves to have a walk around the Montreal Downtown area with Henry. We were looking for a fairly easy day after the hiking in Quebec City and that’s what we got.

The first introduction to Montreal life really came the night before when we had the pleasure of climbing the front steps to Renee and Henry’s apartment. They were more prominent in the light of day. They look rather dangerous but the steps were wide enough and with the lime (?) green of Henry’s paint they were easy enough to navigate. It is the task of the apartment owners to keep them clear of snow during winter and to lay down a covering that makes climbing them easier when they get icy. All of which is a civic requirement way out of our level of experience.

We received an introduction to the Montreal underground system and its reminders of the Paris Metro with the rubber tyres on the trains – they were still rather noisy – and the wide platforms. The system isn’t extensive but Henry had two within 5-10 minutes walk of the apartment. A couple of stops down the line and we were in Montreal’s downtown area.

A walk around town for a while was followed by a quick dip into an exhibition of World Press Photos and lunch and a beer at a local brew pub.

After that we had a look through Montreal’s Museum of Archaeology and History, which was a wonderful museum giving us a good quick lesson in Canadian history.

Home, wine, food and then bed.