MONTREAL SCENES

Here are some of the places you might like to visit. You should be able to find most of them pretty easily. The following either do not cost anything or are pretty cheap.

Mount Royal
Find it by walking up hill from lots of places in the city. Find your way to Lac des Castors (Beaver Lake), the Cross, and the lookout over downtown Montreal. Very safe, but best to use only during daylight hours.

Tam Tam festival
Every Sunday afternoon drummers gather in Mount Royal Park near the monument that is directly on Park Avenue near McGill University. If it is a nice day you might see crowds and hear noise as you get close. It is a pretty mellow scene, especially if you like drums and people watching.

Old Port
This is the old city. It is scenic and is the only place in Montreal that some people visit. It is a bit touristy. There is a park sticking out into the river that has a somewhat industrial look. From it you can see across the Islands in the Saint Lawrence river.

Montreal Islands
This is a nice place to walk or roller blade or bike or to visit a casino. There is a beach that has genuine filtered water from the St. Lawrence. Ile Ste. Hélène metro stop.

Botanical Gardens
Near the Olympic Stadium (metro Pie IX - pronounced “pee nuhf”. There are nice Japanese and Chinese Gardens and some good species in the Greenhouses. There is also an Insectarium where you can see the extremely large dead insects and some amazing living ones that look like leaves of trees. The Biodome is also nearby. See 4 ecological environments recreated in the former bicycle racing arena from the 1976 Olympics. The artic environment is pretty neat -- you share the space with some arctic birds, fish and mammals. There are admission charges.

Bike paths
There is a great bike path that starts out in the Old Port and goes down the Lachine Canal out to the City of Lachine. You can generally rent bikes or roller blades in the Old Port (not sure if this will be open yet). If you get down to Lachine and Park René Levesque you will be right next to the river. This is really nice, and you will see lots of Montrealers along the way.

Atwater market
This is right near the Lionel Groulx metro stop. In late spring there is a riot of flowers and plants. A good place to buy maple syrup, rhubarb, cheese, cold cuts and seasonal vegetables.

Crescent Street. Saint Denis. Saint Laurent
These are streets with lots of activity -- day and night. Stop in at a Café on Saint Denis and take in the local environment. Or stroll up St. Laurent, smell the different foods, and shop.

Museums
There are lots of museums in Montreal. For Canadian art -- like the famous Group of Seven or Inuit sculptures -- visit the fine arts museum at Sherbrooke and Musé. A unique museum is the Canadian Centre for Architecture -- located on René Levesque Street a few blocks east of Atwater. This is notable for the incredible refined taste of Phyllis Lambert (Bronfman) that is reflected in every detail of the building from the doorknobs to the windows. It's amazing what millions of dollars can do. This is one of the few architectural museums of the world. Definitely worth a visit.

Shopping
Montreal is known for its underground city. This connects lots of the shopping malls downtown. If shopping is your thing -- you can get lost down there for days. However, the stores will be pretty familiar since many are the same chains you find elsewhere. There is also a warehouse district on the North end of Saint Laurent where there are probably lots of good buys. Remember, the Canadian dollar is worth about $.76 US. A unique place is the Canadian Craft Guild store that is on Sherbrooke, near the museum. You can find an excellent selection of Quebec and Canadian Aboriginal sculpture, prints, textiles, glass work, pottery -- all very nice and sometimes not too expensive.