Montreal - chilling out with food, drink, music and art (Throwback post)

Montreal

Our last stop in Canada was Montreal. We had been here once before, on a regular holiday back in 2009, when we had a five days each here and Toronto, and included a visit to Niagara Falls. So coming back here wasn't so much about sightseeing, as about winding down from travel in preparation for being back in the UK. We knew from last time that Montreal was a great city for chilling out, so that was our plan for our short stay here.

Montreal

Having found an excellent Airbnb, right in the heart of Plateau Mont-Royal, which we liked so much last time, we had the perfect base for our time here. This area is beautiful to walk around, has lots of lovely and individual shops, and is filled with excellent places to eat, drink, and see live music.

We took full advantage of that, and saw quite a few bands, including a couple that we thought were very good - check out Spirit Animal and Foreign Diplomats if you get the chance sometime.

Montreal

On a Sunday morning stroll around the nearby Mont Royal park, we discovered the Tam tams event. Musicians come along, and there is a great communal drumming session, which anyone can join in with, and makes for a fun time.

We took a wander around the old town area along the waterfront, with the old port and the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall). This area is interesting to have a look around, but is of course very touristy, so we tended not to bother with it too much.

Montreal

Unusually, for us, we even succumbed to seeing a bit of art. In fairness, the main exhibition we went to was the Chihuly glass one at the Museum of Fine Arts, our second of the year, having seen it in St Petersburg in Florida too. There was another exhibition as well, which had some interesting pieces, like a huge globe that reflected the issue of climate change.

Montreal

There are quite a few interesting sculptures nearby too, and when we were there, an installation called TOM II by Claude Cormier, which was a series of bits of red, green and white plastic, which were intended to represent a field of poppies.

Unfortunately, I have somehow lost most of my photos from Montreal; if I manage to retrieve them, I will add them later, but for now, we'll have to do without.