Thursday, June 4, 2015

Eastern Canada Trip 2014 Day 7 Monday June 16 Montreal, Westmount, Mount Royal, Longueil, Brossard, Laval

UPDATED: February 11, 2021

This is the 7th of a series of posts dealing with my fourth trip to Eastern Canada. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports. Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of a year later or to add further clarification.  These are indicated by “NOW”. After I booked the trip I unexpectedly had to move and was staying at a friend’s place at the time of the trip, so I was already pretty tired before the trip back.

Unless noted all non-walking transportation is Montreal's system, STM. I left just before 6 and walked around the outside of the Museum of Fine Arts and McGill University. Heading west I walked to the tiny community of Westmount, which is surrounded by Montreal. I also probably visited here last year as well, not realizing I had actually left Montreal briefly. I returned to Auberge Bishop and had breakfast.

[NOW: STM is short for Société de transport de Montréal. Auberge Bishop has closed.]

I walked to the Lucien-L’Allier metro station and got a 3-day pass before taking an Orange Line train to Snowdon and a Blue Line train from there to Parc (all trains are a light blue regardless of line name). From there I walked to Parc Connaught in Mont-Royal, another town surrounded by Montreal. Like Paris, lots of streets converge at the park. Unlike Paris the park obscures the view of this.

I walked to Acadie metro station and took a Blue Line train to Jean-Talon, an Orange Line train from there to to Berri-UQAM, and a Green Line train from there to Honoré-Beaugrand... only to find that the bus I wanted didn't arrive there again for another few hours. I was going to take it to the northeast end to walk over to Repentigny and a couple of other communities, but this triggered a memory of Trip Not Possible messages, or maybe a different, longer route; can't recall which.  So I began to get concerned that if I did take the bus over to do those three communities it might be very hard to get back.  

[NOW: The partial memory above refers to my using the Google and STM’s trip planners.]

To avoid this being a total loss, I took the Green Line back just to Viau, where I walked along part of the outside of Olympic Park including the Montreal Biodome, which I think was made for the 1976 Olympics. Unfortunately construction prevented me from exploring much around here (aside: at the hostel as I type this staff are playing rap VERY loud).

I took the Green Line again from Pie-IX (the other side of the park) to Berri-UQAM, then an Orange Line train from there to Mont-Royal (the Station). I got a pop at Jean-Coutu and took a 97 bus along rue Mont-Royal. I forgot that the bus I wanted was actually an 11 not 97. I grabbed lunch and a frosty from an A&W/Petro-Canada, then finally to Mont-Royal (this time the mountain/park) where I took a few photos at the observation area. This time I didn't feel like lingering long and at one end of the area someone was receiving texts with that annoying whistling sound that triggers anxiety in me so I took an 11 bus soon after back to Mont-Royal (the street/rue). More whistling text on the bus so I got off a little too soon in my nervousness, though the traffic is so heavy it probably made little difference. I visited Paul Boutique (wasn't yet open), Librairie Le Port De Tête, and
La Boîte Noire
 
[NOW: La Boîte Noire has closed.]

I returned to Mont-Royal metro station and took an Orange Line train back to Berri-UQAM and a Yellow Line from there to Jean-Drapeau. This particular metro station is at Île Saint-Hélène, Parc Jean-Drapeau.  Unfortunately the water jets that Teresa and I played in a couple years ago were off. I walked to Île Notre-Dame (same park), then back to Île Saint-Hélène, taking photos of the Biosphère (made for a world fair).  I took the Yellow Line to the only other stop, Longueuil-Université de Sherbrooke in Longueuil. The hub has so many buses you have to find the right wing to catch the bus at. I took a 13 bus (RTL, Longueil area's line) to Archambault in Brossard. I was going to also visit a SuperClub Vidéotron in the area but it was humid, the store was a few blocks away, and Brossard wasn't very interesting. Unfortunately RTL doesn't allow transfers for cash, but I still took a 43 bus (RTL) from the nearby Terminus Panama to Terminus Centre-Ville aka Station Bonaventure in Montreal, where I took an Orange Line to Berri-UQAM.

[NOW: The world fair mentioned above was Expo 67. RTL  is short for Réseau de transport de Longueuil. That SuperClub Vidéotron has closed.]

I walked to Place Jeanne-Mance and this time, after waiting for a father to finish photographing his son, walked in the water jets and then lay down to dry off. I then returned to Berri-UQAM and took another Orange Line train to Cartier in Laval. I crossed Pont Viau back to Montreal and began a long trek down south.

[NOW: Place Jeanne-Mance is where you find the Places des festivals with the water jets.]

For the next few places, the name of the store is followed by the street name in parentheses as some were franchises. In order: Le SuperClub Vidéotron (Lajeunesse;  bought DVDs and blu-ray), Boite Vidéo (St-Denis), Le SuperClub Vidéotron (Villeray; bought DVDs), Video Beaubien (Beaubien; gone); Dollarama (can't recall but around here; bought a Pepsi variant I didn't care for), McDonald’s (St-Hubert), Mega (St-Hubert; gone), Renaud Bray (St Hubert), Attakus (Casgrain; gone), Le SuperClub Vidéotron (Parc), and Boite Vidéo (Laurier; gone). Then from there I walked to Rue Mont-Royal, took an 11 bus to Mont-Royal station, and an Orange Line train from there to Champ-de-Mars. I entered Old/Vieux Montreal and walked from there to Place Jacques-Cartier again, and other parts of the cobbled streets. I used the same route as the previous day to Square Victoria. I entered the metro station of the same name and took an Orange Line train back to Lucien-L’Allier. I walked to the hostel and did my best to type a trip report with as few typos as loud rap in the background allowed.

[NOW: I think the Dollarama might be slightly out of order. I had dinner at the McDonald’s. Le SuperClub Vidéotron (all three) and La Boîte Vidéo have closed]

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