A Week in Montréal, Canada

St. Josephs Oratory

In the month of January I spent a week in Montreal, the North American city, which many people say resembles the most to a European City. My primary purpose of going to Montreal was to meet my brother who is studying in McGill University there. But over the course of six days I had the chance to visit many places there and experience this unique city.

I arrived in Montreal on a cold Thursday morning. The temperature was a comfortable (relatively) 3 deg Celsius and I wasn't worried about it much. In any case my brother was waiting for me at the Airport ready with all the stuff in case the temperature dropped to below zero. We had a quick breakfast at the airport before we headed off to my Brother's place.

We took the public transit bus to a nearby stop and from there we walked through the snow covered streets till we reached home. This walk offered me the first chance to take in the views of Montreal. This was the first major city on the east coast that I was getting the chance to explore and I was quite excited about it. The first thing that I noticed was the number of old buildings. There were quite a lot of them. Some had little shops on the ground floor while others were just normal residential buildings. The compactness of the houses reminded me of the Industrial age of the 19th century. My brother's apartment too was in an almost 100 year old building. As soon as I entered it, it reminded me of the movie Leon: The Professional. The passageways and layout was similar. We clambered up the narrow creaking stairs with my luggage up to his 3rd floor apartment which he shares the with two friends from the University. This was going to be my abode for the next week.

My first day in Montreal was spent at home just catching up with my brother. Only in the evening did we venture out to take a stroll around the McGill campus. This was the first of the many walks around the campus I would eventually take over the next few days. During these walks we pretty much covered most of the important buildings of the campus. On that first walk, which was in the evening everything was covered by snow as it had snowed the previous night. We walked among the narrow lanes between the buildings skipping the main roads. We had to now and then steer clear of the lumps of snow that slid off the roofs of the buildings and landed on the ground nearby.

The McGill campus is gorgeous with its old buildings. Everything looks Gothic in the cold damp days of Winter. Some of the beautiful buildings I saw include

1. Redpath Library  building
2. McTavish Pumping station
3.Lady Meredith House
4. Morris Hall
5. SiS Mansion (School of Information Studies)
6. MacCall MacBain Arts Building

Redpath Library Building

McTavish Pumping Station

Lady Meredith House

Morris Hall

Sis Mansion

MacCall Macbain Arts Building

The second one reminded me of Hogwarts from the Harry Potter movies. Turns out its a pumping station. Quite a grand building for a pumping station. Has to be the most beautiful pumping station I have ever seen.  Some buildings looked right out of a fairy tale. Like Lady Meredith House, by far my favorite building of the campus. With its brown red exterior, spires and a sloping roof it had a dreamy quality to it. The small but beautiful Sis Building housed the School of Information studies, my brother's faculty. Unfortunately it was closed for the holidays when we visited. The only blemish I found of McGill campus was the ugly buildings of the downtown. They played spoilsport to the charming buildings of McGill. I would look at these and imagine how beautiful they would have looked set against a clear sky instead of these crass structures of the downtown. I was imagining that if we can lift the whole campus and place them in University of British Columbia's campus (My place of study) it would have been a university few could have rivaled in terms of beauty. The first day ended with some casual shopping in the neighborhood deppeneurs. This was another one of those quirks of Montreal which I liked. The cute neighborhood deppeneurs. Every street has them. Makes buying day to day stuff so easy and convenient. I was ruing the fact that Vancouver does not have them.

One of the Metro Stations

A small neighborhood bookshop

The next day again we didn't do much. Just explored a few restaurants nearby and did some shopping. My brother does a lot of DIY stuff so we headed to multiple thrift stores checking for old electronics and other tidbits for his hobby. In one of the stores I got an old Metallica CD which I picked up to give to one of my metal head fans back in Vancouver. My brother too got some useful stuff. One of the highlights of the day was the Biriyani we had in a small hole-in-the-wall kind of restaurant. For the dirt cheap price the biriyani was priced at, the taste was decent. It reminded me of the small but extremely popular restaurants we have back in India. Throughout the day and during my stay in Montreal we crisscrossed the city using the metro network. We did use the buses now and then but did most of our travel through the metros. One of the differences I found between here and Vancouver was the size of the Metro stations and the metros themselves. The Metro stations were huge with multiple floors and massive crowds. Also the fact that each Metro station has been designed uniquely featuring artworks of famous painters made them all the more interesting. Except for the colour of the walls which was a dull grayish brown. 
One of the things that stuck me about Montreal was the usage of French.  It is everywhere. I had thought that both English and French would be used in equal measure but I was wrong. The scale is heavily tilted towards the French side. Sometimes it almost felt like I was in a different country altogether. Many of the common Canadian stores had different French names here. I could only make out that its the same brand by the logos. Another aspect about Montreal is the abundance of cafes. They are everywhere. Cozy corner side cafes were the best. This day gave me a glimpse of the normal Montreal away from all the tourist places.

View from the top of Mont Royal

On the third day we decided to visit the Mont Royal Park. We started in the evening. It was a dark cloudy day but thankfully there was no snowfall. We walked all the way to the entrance of the park from where we had to climb a number of stairs.  I was wearing my heavy jacket which my brother had bought for me for my visit. I had only light jackets with me since the Vancouver weather is relatively moderate. This was a bulky one and added to the effort to climb the stairs. But was warm and cozy. Soon we reached the top. It was almost dusk now and the view from the top was spectacular. Montreal glistened in the evening light. I could recognize a few buildings from here. We stood around here for a while before we decided to take a look at the beautiful shelter built here where people were just hanging out.

The hall atop Mont Royal

The Hall was beautiful. With a high ceiling and rows of hanging blue lights it looked like a medieval banquet hall turned into a modern waiting hall. There were lots of paintings hanging on the walls. And there were audio info booths giving a tour of the place and about the history of the place. We spent some time here sitting at one of the many tables here just casually looking around.  After some time we started our walk back and my brother suggested we take a different route now. A casual stroll revealed an area where people were doing ice skating. We had never done it before and thought now was a good time to do it. We spent an hour here trying to skate but all we did was just walk a few metres on our skates. Even that was an improvement from the first 15 minutes when all we did was to cling on the fence nearby and just move our legs. We made some progress when we could slowly walk but this was accompanied by continuous falls. It was embarrassing but we continued on nevertheless. Soon we could stand and walk a bit more confidently. After an hour of this we ended it. It was fun.It felt good to do an activity with my brother after a long time. After last year's river rafting in the US with my sister doing another activity with family made me happy.

St. Josephs Oratory peeking out from a residential area

From here we descended the hill from a different route and emerged into a narrow street. Far away we could spot a dome shining with a bluish tinge on it. We rightly assumed this to be the St. Josephs Oratory. We made our way to it to have a closer look. The St. Josephs Oratory was built from 1914 to 1967. It is Canada's largest church and one of the worlds largest church domes. Searching for a path towards it we were passing through a narrow path when suddenly we found ourselves standing in front of it. The sight was breathtaking. It was as if we were suddenly ushered in front of a king. Built in the Renaissance Revival style of architecture the building looked imposing and magical in the night sky. The area looked deserted and we wondered if it was open for visitors. I wanted a closer look so we walked to the front. At first glance the Oratory look closed and deserted but as I climbed the stairs there I saw a board which directed visitors to a side entrance. On following it I found that it was open and I could see some visitors inside milling about. I called my brother and we went inside. From the inside it was huge beyond my expectations. We took multiple escalators to reach the main prayer area and it was spectacular. The main hall is huge with a massive organ player at the back. At the front there was a a huge cross which was framed by an arch beyond which were displayed paintings. There is a huge circular minimalist chandelier in the middle which adds to the aura. The rest of the hall is packed with rows and rows of chairs for the worshipers. This hall created a feeling of awe in me which only magnificent halls like these create. This took me back to a remote Monastery I had visited in the Mountain country of Bhutan while doing a 5 day trek there. We roamed around here for a while before we decided to head back. 

The magnificent hall inside

The next day was the last day of the holidays for my brother before University started and we wanted to make the most of it. One area of which I had heard so much about was the old port of Montreal. So we decided to go there. Old Port of Montreal was in use as early as 1611 as a fur trading post. The quaintness of the place shows in the pretty buildings that dot this locality. We walked in the narrow cobblestone streets lined with European style store fronts. The place exuded the charm that can be seen in pictures of cozy European streets. My brother told me this charm multiplies during the summer months when the shops and cafes spill over on to the streets. Added with music in the air with street side musicians playing their instruments the whole place oozes a cheerful atmosphere. But now it displayed a different sort of charm. The kind you find in 19th century Victorian era novels. For a fan of such novels and one who has not visited Europe this was hugely exciting. We walked in these streets for a bit before we made our way to the edge of the St Lawrence river. This river is considered the life line of the east coast of Canada. We stood here along a handrail taking in the views.
The river flowed past us calmly while I wondered about the explorers of the past who used this river to make explorations of this land. My thoughts were interrupted by my brother who reminded me it was getting cold and dark so we better get back to the main streets. I agreed and we made our way back to the streets but this time took a different route walking along the hand rails. To our left was the river and to our right was the recreation area including a Giant Wheel. We walked back into the quaint streets, checked out a few shopping areas and then made our way to the Notre Dame Basilica nearby.  This spectacular building instantly reminded me of Victor Hugo's novel 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. Unfortunately it was closed for maintenance so we just stood there outside and marveled at its beauty. The beauty of the building was further amplified by the bluish tint it displayed on the three arches at the bottom. I wonder why they have this bluish everywhere on the major buildings.

A street in Old Port of Montreal

A street dotted with quaint shops

The St. Lawrence River

Notre Dame Basilica

On the penultimate day of my stay in Montreal my brother had to go to University for some work. I spent the time roaming around the streets. As I walked the streets just casually peeking into the store windows displaying souvenirs it started snowing. It was gentle at first but then picked up intensity. I finally found a nice souvenir shop and I bought some diaries for my housemates back in Vancouver. Soon my brother joined me and we casually strolled around for a bit. In the evening we visited the Islamic Studies Library at McGill. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that McGill had an entire library dedicated to Islamic Studies. I was eager to take a look at the books it housed. This Library was built in 1952 by Prof. Wilfred Cantwell Smith. Housed in a Gothic looking grayish building it houses books and works in several languages including English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Turkish (Ottoman and modern), Urdu and Indonesian. Subjects include Quranic Exegesis, Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Theology, History of Sciences, Sufism, Shia Thought, Classical and contemporary Literature and History and Modern Developments in Muslim world. Inside the library is spread out over two neatly carpeted floors with bright tube lights providing illumination. The books are neatly stacked in multiple rows. I spotted a couple of students poring over texts. Not wanting to disturb them with my casual scrolling of books I took in the views and left the place. We took some pics and then departed soon as we didn't have much time on our hands.

Inside the Islamic Studies Library

My brother checking out the books

On Tuesday the day of my departure came. I was going to Toronto from where my 4 day train ride to Vancouver was scheduled. My brother dropped me off at the Montreal Central Station as I was taking the VIA Rail train to Toronto. This was the first time I was going to take a Train in Canada and I was excited about it. As I sat in the station with my brother I reflected on the past week. It was a memorable trip. I had met my brother after a year and it felt good to have spent so much time together. Brought back fond memories. All the places we visited during the week were only a bonus.

I clicked this on one my walks.

My brother and myself