Two blocks from out hotel sat Dorchester Square, where the Visitor Center and Hop-On Hop-Off bus tours begin. This is the designated city center of Montreal and is the starting point from which all distances are measured. It is also where the city’s first cemetery was located, before they moved them all up into the high rent district atop Mount Royal. Across from the park sits the green-domed Basilique Marie Riene Du Monde, a handsome knockoff of St Paul’s Cathedral in Rome, which was very lovely in a simple and understated way – especially for Catholics. But in comparison to any of the ornate churches we saw in Italy or Spain, it was laughably plain.
The winters may be cold and long in Montreal, but they have more outdoor public pools than any place else in the world. And there are over 2,000 parks. At least, that’s how the story goes.
The granddaddy of Montreal’s parks is the Parc Mont Royal urban park. It is 700 acres of woodlands; hiking, biking, and horse trails; Beaver (Muskrat) Lake; picnic areas; and eye-popping views of Montreal.
The people of Montreal love the park so much that they passed a law that says no Montreal skyscraper can be taller than the top of Mount Royal, which is 760 feet high.
There are several huge cemeteries atop Mount Royal – the dead have the best view in town.
There are two million people buried in Our Lady of the Snow tree-lined cemetery, including ten from Titanic. And 10,000 people a year get buried there.
There is also the Mount Royal Cemetery. Mount Royal is Montreal’s oldest cemetery and is filled with many wealthy Scots, including John Molson.
Friends of the Mountain help take care of Mount Royal. And the Montreal police have a large station at the top, with stables for the horses which they use to patrol the park. Weekends in summer, the park is filled with picnickers.
We stopped at the expansive overlook on the north side of Mount Royal to check out the views and buy some water because it was pretty hot – about 85 humid degrees. While waiting for the next bus, we met Charlie, a young Montreal businessman who had ridden his motorcycle to the Mount Royal Overlook. He was smoking a big, fat blunt.
I asked him if weed was legal and he smiled, “Medical pot is legal, and next year recreational use will also be allowed, like in Colorado.”
He told us that is was currently a $25 fine for more than an ounce, if you didn’t have a medical script.
“But weed has always been very popular in Montreal,” he said. “We traditionally got it from the pot farmers in British Columbia. They grow the best bud.”
Like I said before, Montrealers are pretty carefree and laid back.
We discovered during our travels around town that lots of movies are filmed in Montreal, like X Men. We saw two under production while we were there, but couldn’t find anyone who knew their names.
One night, while we were walking around St. Catherine Street, the city’s main shopping district, we stumbled by pure chance onto the Barbie Doll exhibit at Cours Mont-Royal in the Underground City off Peel Street. There were over 200 dolls. Now, I’ll be honest, I never paid a whole lot of attention to Barbie dolls. But I assumed they were all leggy blondes. And that might be how they started back in 1959, but that apparently changed a long time ago. Now they come in models representing all of the world’s cultures dressed flamboyantly in their native garb, plus super heroes, and celebrities of all color and either sex. I especially liked the Frank Sinatra doll.
All is not happy days under the Canadian system. Let’s start with the fact that it cost me $158 to get $200 Canadian dollars. Our money goes far in Canada, and they know it all too well. And while we were walking around Cartier Park, we encountered a line of very well-behaved protesters carrying signs, banging on drums, and playing amplified music. They were union workers from Vieux Port who had been on strike since May 27th. They wanted higher wages and better benefits.
Regardless how you might feel about taxes, the Canadians have come up with a really smart idea. Their paper money is made of durable, long-lasting plastic. It looks and feels really cool.
As usual – it seems like no matter where we go, it’s always the same – there were hordes of Chinese. It’s not like Vancouver, but pretty crowded nonetheless. I was amused to see how much they try and look and dress like Americans. But then every place we visit around the world these days is slowly but surely being Americanized.
