Square Victoria and other Montreal, Canada General Tips

Favorite Thing: On our return from Mont Royal, we continued on the Métro to the city. Here, when we exited, we found a pleasant park, full of lunching office workers making the most of the summery weather. A look at our map confirmed it was Square Victoria and yes, it would indeed be a pleasant place to lunch with its fountains and a large statue of the former Queen. The sort of breathing space needed by all cities, I guess.


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Favorite Thing: Our B&B was in an area known as the Latin Quarter, apparently known for its interesting houses and for being the traditional centre of French nationalism. So, with those thoughts, I rather expected to find buildings in the French style.

I wouldn’t say that the outcome disappointed me, but the buildings we found were generally what seems to be called “Victorian” (though Australia, also with a British background in that period, does not have buildings in this style). The photos illustrate what seemed to be some reasonably typical examples of the style: multi storeyed with attics, elevated staircases, fairly ornate trim. They were colourful and interesting and yes, the area does warrant visiting if you have any interest in architecture – though the buildings seemed to me to be entirely a “North American’ style!


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Favorite Thing: Long ago, in school geography, we learned of the mighty St Lawrence River and of how it provides shipping access to the Great Lakes (with canals in the areas not suitable for navigation). It was definitely on my ‘want to see’ list.

Although Montréal has a port area (and the “Sailors’ Church”), it’s easy to forget that the city is actually on an island in the St Lawrence. So, as we departed by train and crossed over what was, without question, the largest river I’ve ever seen, I recalled my teacher and those classes from many years ago. Impressed with the reality? Very much so: for most of the year all Australia’s rivers combined would not carry this much water! Then, shortly after crossing the river, we also crossed the St Lawrence Seaway canal, with a ship in the lock: it completed the picture for me.

Main and second photos:St Lawrence River
Third, fourth photos: Ship in the lock on the canal.


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