Chateau Ramezay et Vieux Port Clock Tower

Mai 19 (Jeundi)

Went to the east side of Vieux Montreal again this morning. & I headed straight for the Chateau Ramezay Museum, the one that I missed on Tuesday. The chateau was built in 1702 by the 11th governor of Montreal, Claude de Ramezay. French governors, British Conquerors, and American occupiers have stayed at this "small stone castle", as several guide books call it. It was used by The French West Indies Company in 1745 for storing furs. It was used by the British as their headquarter after the consequest in 1760. & It was used by American commanders and Benjamin Franklin during the American Revolution. Then in 1895, the house was turned into a museum.


The first display room - Natives and the New World. The portrait on the wall is Jacques Cartier.

An armchair in Louis XIII style. I must say.. it doesn't look that fancy.

The Iroquois (->spelling?!) miniatures.

A prayer book from the 18th-century. I was fascinated by the writing and the color of the paper. It looks OLD.

I think this is the ballroom where the hosts entertained guests. I like the style but I can't imagine myself living in it. It looks a bit too dark. & also, if I live in houses like that, I would want to dress in the style of its architecture. Things are going to get complicated as you see.

What "gentlemen" would wear during that time.

Models of the ship at the time & some bank notes ($$).

Wouldn't you just want one of these? An automobile produced at the end of the 19th-century by De Dion-Bouton company (the city's first motorist).

Some interesting off-work entertainment kind of thing that you can do. J/K.

The one on the left is the Astrolabe and the one on the right is a Sextant. Both were produced during the 17-18th century period. They were used to measure latitudes on ships.

Some feather-pen-writing "workshop". There were A LOT of kids there when I went.. & all of them spoke French. Apparently there was a school field trip. The guide who was telling the kids about the feather pen & etc. came up to me & explained to me that most of the people at the time didn't know how to write so they would go to this guy (points to the wax figure at the corner of the room, which is not on my pic) to write what they want to write. The guide's English wasn't really good & when he was trying to explain to me, he couldn't say some words in English & he was asking one of the kids how to say it in English & the kid gave him a look like "How would I know?" (I caught the French words for saying it. 1 point for me.. haha). But he was really helpful nevertheless b/c he didn't really have to tell me what all of that was about. Maybe he felt sorry for kicking me out of the room when the kids where there haha..

Voila. Here's my feather-pen writing. The guide said that people would put sand on what they wrote so that it wouldn't get dirty & etc. & b/c paper was scarce, people would write in between lines, on the sides, at the corners - basically use up all the spaces on the paper.

Then I went to the garden at the back of the chateau. It was ok. just a modest little garden. Overall, I think the museum was o-k. It wasn't THAT interesting. Maybe it b/c I wasn't really into all that Canadian history stuff. The admission was $5 for students.

The colonial garden behind Chateau Ramezay.

Nice tulips! Their color just looks so sweet and fragrant..like perfume bottles.. haha.. anyway, what I'm trying to say here is that I like it.

After the museum, I went to the Notre-Dame-de Bon-Secours Chapel area again b/c I missed the Pierre du Calvet House just right outside of it the other day.

The house belonged to Pierre du Calvet, an envoy sent by George Washington in 1775. He was a supporter of the American revolution and had meetings with Benjamin Franklin when he was in Montreal.

The place is now a 4-Stars Inn.

After that, I walked to Maison George-Etienne Cartier. The museum was about the life of George-Etieene Cartier, a stateman who persuaded French-speaking Quebecois to join the Canadian federation. I wasn't really interested in the life of politicians & it was going to cost another $4 so I didn't go in.

The exterior of the Maison George-Etienne Cartier. It looked slightly more elegant than the Chateau Ramezay.

Then I went down to the Clock Tower in the Vieux Port. The Clock Tower was built in 1922 to commemorate men of the Merchant Fllet who lost their lives in WWI.

Walking towar the Clock Tower. A view of the bridge. The Clock Tower is at the right end of the picture.

The Clock Tower straight ahead! & St. Lawrence River right beside me!

Look at the place opposite from the Clock Tower. The river current was STRONG. Even dinner cruise ships sailing on the river was pushed by the current. It was kinda crazy. & the water was flowing north! Remember the whole confusing Upper Canada & Lower Canada distinction? The naming was determined by the direction that the river flows, not by its geographical location.

Finally at the Clock Tower - The fun part of today's trip!

The initial steps had medal tags that say how many more steps to go. There was a total of 192 steps.

The more scary part of the stairs. It was really narrow! There was seriously only enough space for one person to walk on at one time. It was freaky!

So many steps to go!

But it's all worth it! Finally at the top!

Look back at the city. "Oh, I have left so much behind."(->spoken w/ the Shakespearan dramatic gestures).

Look at the other side of the St. Lawrence River. The weather was so nice.

Look at the same bridge that I saw earlier.

Looking down at where I climbed up from. It's pretty scary.

Ok. Let's not look down anymore. Let's look at the nice view around.

Then I had to get down to catch the metro & go to my class. Here comes the phobia-challenge once again.
GOING DOWN!

Then there was the momument that says:

"Tribute to the heroism and devotion of our sailors in the war of 1914-1918.... Also the War of 1939-1945."

As I walked back to the Champ-de-Mars metro station, I passed by the Champ-de-Mars (Field of Mars) once again. & here's the pic of the remains of the stone walls of the fortified Montreal in the distant past.

The double backbone of the stone walls that once existed.