Select Experiences in Montreal, Canada

Even though Doug and I promised ourselves a more relaxed pace (ha!) for our December trip to Montreal, we of course “just popped in” to a few attractions in between other things we were doing. Here are some of the most interesting sites and experiences from our visit.

La Grande roue de Montréal

The Montreal Ferris Wheel is located at the port in Old Montreal, and was built for the 375^th anniversary of the city. It opened in 2017, and at 200 feet tall, it is the tallest Ferris Wheel in Canada.

At $23 US per person for three rotations around, I thought it was a bit pricey. Then I read that it cost $21 million (U.S.) to construct, and now the price makes more sense.

It has 42 climate-controlled cars that can each hold eight people. I think that because it wasn’t very busy while we were there we were given a car all to ourselves, which was nice for sliding around and looking every which way.

Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia

The group has had up to 15 members during its brief history.

The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal is undergoing renovation, but they had an exhibition at a temporary location that highlight3ed the artistic protests of Pussy Riot in Russia.

Pussy Riot formed in Moscow in 2011, and proceeded to present guerilla-style highly politically charged punk rock music and performance art. The very first thing we saw upon entering the exhibit, for example, was a huge video of one of the members drinking a glass of water, hiking up her skirt (money shot!), and then peeing on a portrait of Vladimir Putin. It’s no surprise they were arrested; two members served prison time for “hooliganism.”

The music for this exhibit was unbelievably loud. Very quickly I had my fingers in my ears, but that wasn’t enough to stop my head from pounding beyond bearing. I told Doug to take his time, but I’d meet him outside.

McCord Stewart Museum

We went to the McCord Stewart Museum because I wanted to see the historical Christmas window mechanical displays. Once that was accomplished, we took a spin through the museum, which focuses on the history of Montreal, Quebec and Canada , including paintings, photographs, documents, objects, and textiles.

I particularly enjoyed the exhibit Becoming Montreal: The 1800s Painted by Duncan, which included 100 lovely watercolors and drawings of Montreal by James Duncan from 1830 to 1880.

Duncan was just 24 years old when he arrived in Montreal to paint portraits and landscapes, and his first patron was John Samuel McCord – none other than the father of David Ross McCord, whose collection was the basis of the McCord Stewart Museum.

*Bonsecours Market, St. Paul Street*, James Duncan, c 1852. We visited both the market (center) and church (to the left) while in Montreal. The street activity was a little different while we were there!

*Point Claire from Windmill Point*, James Duncan, 1831. Gift of David Ross McCord.

*Montreal from the Mountain*, James Duncan, before 1854. Gift of David Ross McCord.

*Greene Avenue in Cote-Saint-Antoine*, James Duncan, 1872.

Château Ramezay

I think we might have set a new speed record on how quickly we went through the Château Ramezay.

The building dates from 1705, when it was used as the residence of Montreal’s governor, Claude de Ramezay. It’s had several different uses of over the years, but today it’s a museum of “500 years of history.” Really, that’s their own description. Can you be more specific, please?

It was a true mish-mash of displays that had little cohesiveness and did not hold our interest. Hence, our record-breaking pace through it. I will say it was lovingly decorated for Christmas, and some of the architectural elements were quite nice.

The Château Ramezay. Benjamin Franklin spent the night 1776; he was in town trying to raise troops to fight in the American Revolution.

The paneling was hand carved in France around 1725. It originally was in a mansion in the city of Nantes, France; it was transported to Montreal for the French pavilion at the 1967 World’s Fair.

Pointe-à-Callière

We made an impromptu visit to the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History when Doug saw signs on their pirate exhibit. That exhibit was not worth the effort in the end, but the archaeological remains underneath the museum and cases of found objects were worth some time.

The museum is located on the site where the founding of Montreal was celebrated by a mass in 1642. Since then the public plot of land has seen buildings and go, including a marketplace in 1676 and the residence of the third governor of Montreal in 1695. With a long and varied history, lots of archaeological artifacts were just waiting to be unearthed.

The museum includes old building foundations and many artifacts from this site and other archeological digs in Quebec.

The foundations shows “the work of masons and tradesmen over the centuries”.

*Matière Cosmique (Cosmic Matter)* (2021) is made up of 800 pieces of pottery, porcelain, glassware, and pewter, primarily from the 18^th Century. The museum used these pieces to identify fragments they found, and then turned them into this artwork.

Egg cup and creamer fragments reassembled.

Mike Myers Is from Canada, eh?

Mike Myers is the comedian, actor, director, and writer who (as you mostly like are aware) grew up in Canada. While he’s got many accolades under his belt, one of the things he is most famous for is the Wayne’s World Saturday Night Live sketches and feature films featuring the character Wayne Campbell and his sidekick Garth Algar. Did you know that Wayne is Canadian? Well you would if you read Myers’ book, Canada.

Doug and I listened to the book after we’d already been to Montreal, but it was a lot of fun hearing about things we had seen, done, eaten, and heard while there. Myers grew up in and around Toronto, which is about six hours from Montreal, and another Canadian city very close to the border with the United States.