This is the 2nd of a series of posts dealing with my 2025 trip to Quebec Canada. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports (typos, bits I don’t feel like making public). Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of a year later or to add further clarification. These are indicated by “NOW”.
I woke up around 3:30 last night. There was a soft but persistent beep and a concurrent sound like water running down a drain. I got up a ways after 4 as a result. My room came with a free can of Université de Montréal carbonated water so I put it in the fridge in my room and drank it this morning. I'll keep the can as a souvenir as it has the university logo. I tried walking downtown. The view isn't that great so I probably won't take the westside route again at least not exactly. Just before and after I got downtown it rained just slightly but I had my umbrella. I visited the outdoor art at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) and then McGill College which also has okay views. The Illuminated Crowd sculpture was partly but not entirely hidden by construction. One of the guys in the sculpture actually points at the construction.
[NOW: I stayed at ZUM Residences at the University of Montreal.]
At Station McGill I bought a 3-day Zone AB pass (Zone A is just Île de Montréal and Parc Jean Drapeau while Zone B is Greater Longueuil and Laval). I took a Green line train from there to Station Berri-UQAM (all trains today STM/Société de transport de Montréal). There I transferred to a Yellow Line train to Station Longueuil-Université-de-Sherbrooke in Longueuil. At the adjacent Terminus Longueuil I took an 82 bus to Terminus De Montarville in Boucherville (all buses today RTL/Réseau de transport de l'agglomération de Longueuil). I grabbed breakfast at a McDonald's just past a highway overpass and then doubled back and visited Pine River Park. Aside from a tiny bridge not particularly interesting. I walked to the waterfront with Montreal on the other side of the St. Lawrence River. The bus stop there was temporarily closed. I began to worry that the next stop was closed too so started to walk away but then I saw the 81 bus coming and dashed back to the stop and took it back to Terminus Longueuil, with some waterfront views along the way.
[NOW: The Green Line is Line/Ligne 1, while the Yellow Line is Line/Ligne 4.]
With some time to kill (not yet 9) I took the Yellow Line from Station Longueuil-Université-de-Sherbrooke to the middle of its three stops, Station Jean-Drapeau. Parc Jean-Drapeau is one of the few areas of Montreal not on Île de Montréal, comprising the man made islands of St. Helen's and Notre Dame. I got a few shots of the Biosphere (it's actually only the metal covering it that's spherical, not the main structure. I tried to cross over from the main park island, St Helen's to Notre Dame but unlike past trips they weren't letting people cross without a pass. I tried another bridge but could only go as far as the other side of the river. On the plus side Notre Dame isn't all that interesting and I mainly wanted the river shots anyway. I walked to Jacques Cartier Bridge and crossed Notre Dame and the St. Lawrence back to Longueuil.
[NOW: The French names for Parc Jean-Drapeau’s islands are Île Sainte-Hélène and Île Notre-Dame].
At Place Longueuil I took some shots to kill time before Renaud-Bray opened, then bought three French versions of The Boys trades, again ones I already had in English. I walked to Librairie Alire. Part of the street was blocked off by festival work. I walked to a bus stop where I could take an 8 bus to Renaissance Bookstore-Donation Centre. I took another 8 bus to Promenades St-Bruno in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville; youth were play fighting in front of me. There I got some shots of the closed Bay and visited Renaud-Bray and Boutique Imaginaire. I grabbed lunch at A&W. I took another 8 bus to Longueuil. I took a 5 bus to Librairie De La Montee. I should have stayed on I as I realized too late that it had closed.
[NOW: I was looking at the wrong spot. It’s still there.]
I walked to Brossard where I visited Renaud-Bray. It took me a bit to find Archambault even though the one here was one of the few places I had visited in a past trip. I found it at Mall Champlain, first getting a Pepsi from Dollarama and photographing another closed Bay. After Archambault I walked to Longueuil and took a 4 bus to Relire Livres. I took a 54 bus to another stop where I just missed a bus. I crossed the street from Longueuil to St-Lambert where I visited Jean Coutu and Librairie Le Fureteur. I was about to write notes but a lady pointed out that the 1 bus was coming. I took it back to Terminus Longueuil in Longueuil. I made the mistake of going for an 88 bus and got a seat where I couldn't get photos (no free window seats) while an 8 but that I'd have probably been fine there passed us. I got off 8 blocks early for the photos and visited Comics Rive-Sud. I took a 28 bus back to Terminus Longueuil. A couple people bumped into me pretty hard and didn't say excuse me in any language.
A word about Greater Longueuil: more than Montreal it's pretty much French only. However one way to look at it is, if a françophone visited BC and struggled with English, we probably won't speak French to help them out.
I took a Yellow Line train from Station Longueuil-Université-de-Sherbrooke to Station Berri-UQAM in Montreal, then the Orange line one stop to Station Champ-de-Mars. New for this trip is there's an overpass to Old Montreal, as opposed to the underpass that used to be there. I visited Marche Bonsecours, which looks old style on the outside but has modern boutiques inside. I walked to Place Jacques-Cartier and rested there a bit and then walked to the nearby McDonald's on rue Notre-Dame. I walked to the upstairs area for some shots and then realized they were closing that part. I walked to Square Victoria just outside of Old Montreal and from there back to rue Ste-Catherine. I visited Boutique Volume. Heading to boul de Maisonneuve and vicinity I visited the Mañana sculpture and then Place des Festivals, where I really started to crash. I nearly took an earlier metro than I'd planned but saw a sign mentioning rue Stanley was congested, so that piqued my curiosity enough to see it (It was blocked off on one side) and then headed to Station Guy-Concordia. There I took a Green line train two stops; one, Station Atwater is actually in Westmount, not Montreal I believe (tiny municipality surrounded by Montreal), then Station Lionel-Groulx. I transferred there to an Orange line train to Station Snowdon. I almost made the Blue line before doors closed but a woman zagged in front of me so I couldn't max out my speed.
[NOW: The Green Line is Line/Ligne 1, the Orange Line is Line/Ligne 2, and the Blue Line is Line/Ligne 5. Mañana is a giant hand. Station Atwater appears to be in Montreal but passes through Westmount very briefly; determine the municipality is tricky since it’s an underground location at the border.]
I took the next Blue line train to Station Université-de-Montréal and have been trying to type this out while my laptop makes my life miserable. It tried to delete this message early on and keeps trying to move the text. Some water I put in the fridge was cool though.
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