We eat breakfast and go out for a coffee as musea only open at 10. We have our tea and coffee in a 90s cafe with games so we play four in a row while listening to classic 90s songs.
First stop is the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, only 15 minutes walk from our appartment. It’s sunny today, but the morning breeze is still cold. We buy the Montreal museum pass which gives us free access to 41 museums in the area, so we have quite the challenge in front of us. The museum has four pavilions and that makes the itenerary quite complex, going up and down stairs and elevators to visit all rooms.
We start with an exhibition of Roman sculptures from the private Torlonia collection. The exhibition was at the Louvre earlier this year but won’t be anywhere near us again. So this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see some first class Roman sculptures. Even though we have just toured the archeological museum of Naples last december, these sculptures are at least as good, probably even better.
Then we have to navigate the other floors and adjacent buildings of the museum. The children find a drawing room to make some Roman statues, so Olga uses this time to explore the 4th floor with artifacts from all over the world from antiquity until now intermixed Easter egg art which emulate artifacts from the collection but with a modern twist. For example a Sumerian clay tablet with tweets in cuneiform or a Mac Donalds copper wrapping.
We descend to the first floor and explore impressionist and modern artists, like Monet and Picasso. This leads to the annex with contemporary art, we quickly go up to the 4th floor and descend floor by floor seeing European mediaeval paintings, Dutch golden age, and French 18th century before being back down.
We walk back to the main building where we descend to the souterain which links with two other buildings across the road. We skip the design building and just do the 4 floors of Canadian art. We finish at 12.30, time for lunch. We saw a Lebanese restaurant around the corner and get some falafel, lentil soup with pitas, the pitas are nice but the soup is just liquid salt, so we leave the soup and head to the metro.
The metro brings us to vieux Montreal with some of the older buildings of the city. This is where the colony originated and we start at the Château Ramezay. This house was built in 1705 by the governor of Montreal, it houses an eclectic mix of artifacts but also tells the story of Montreal. Next to the museum people are protesting as city hall is across the street. They seem to be from some blue union but they are just hanging around and listening to music, so Cleo thinks it’s a party and starts dancing.
Our next stop is just a minute away, Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site. It’s a 19th century building turned museum but it’s closed. Luckily there is another museum just around the corner. Next to the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours is the museum of Marguerite Bourgeoys. She was the first teacher of the colony and the founder of the chapel. The museum tells her extraordinary tale of her youth in Troyes, France and her emigration to Montreal in 1653. Here she founded the church, started a school and later a convent. The museum also gives access to the belvedere on the top for great views of the harbour district and the river.
We walk through the old town to the Pointe-à-Callière, the archeology museum built on top of the foundations of the first sewer and original fort. We start with an interactive children’s floor with all kind of physical video games.
The children love it and it’s hard to leave. Luckily the souterain also has fun things to offer beside the story of the town told next to the foundations of the sewer.
The highlight is the pirate exhibition with a ship and all kind of interactive screens. We end the trip under the ground through a large intact section of the old sewers with a light show. The museum also has a tower for similar good views.
Our last stop of the day is the Notre-Dame Basilica. Sadly this isn’t included in our pass and cost 18 dollar. As it’s close to closing time, only Tim will take pictures inside while Olga and the kids sit in the sun on the square in front. A guy is playing music and Cleo starts dancing again.
The basilica is a beautiful example of Neo-gothic architecture and worth a visit. But would have been a disappointment if Tim would have read the Wikipedia page first. This claims the basilica is the 6th most beautiful building in the world. I can easily think of six churches in Rome which are more beautiful, but probably it is the most beautiful church in Canada.
When Tim exits the church he sees Cleo dancing in the square to the music of the street artist. It seems they have entertained themselves. We walk to the metro and head home. We do groceries, eat and relax.
