St. Joseph Oratorie & Parc du Mont-Royal

May 1st, 2005 (Dimache)

Finally had a great sleep last night because I was smart enough to bring EAR PLUGS!!! I just can’t stand people who snore or people walking in & out of the room at 12 or 2am. & my bed is quite far from the window so YES! No more freezing nights! Woke up late in the morning and befriended with a Japanese traveler, Keiko, who was staying in the same room. She said she was going to Parc du Mont-Royal today so I asked whether I could go with her. YUP. So up we went! -> after I finish my breakfast around 10am..

We walked along rue St. Denis to rue Mont-Royal. It was a LONG walk! But we got see the interesting buildings along the road on a Sunday morning. There are a lot of balconvilles (staircases to upper levels that link the balconies of various levels built outside of the building to save interior space). There were also quite a few stores that sell medieval-related things (see pic). Eg. costume, swords, shields, dragons, etc.

Some Gothic store that sells all kinds of fake medieval stuff.

We finally got to bus 11 stop and took the bus to Parc du Mont-Royal. The bus passed by the Obsérvatory de l;Est that overlooks the greater Montreal from a mountain. Keiko & I got off of the bus at Lac aux Castors, not knowing IT was Lac aux Castors (eng: Beaver Lake) when we got off. We just thought it would better to get off earlier than to miss the stop. The lake was small. A guide book I brought said that children love to float boats in this lake in summer and to skate on it in the winter.

Lac aux Castors (Beaver Lake).
Opposite from the Lac aux Castors was a massive cemetery. Actually, it was two cemeteries combined – one for Protestants and one for Catholics. It seems like they're still divided even after death. Je ne comprend pas. There was the Cimetiére Mont-Royal (Anglican, Presbyterian, Unitarian, & Baptist). I only took a picture of the gate of the Catholic Cimetiėre de Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (b/c we just happened to get dropped outside of it by the bus). You can barely see some monuments behind the gate. Many of those monuments were made by leading artists (kind of like those ancient European graves that we see in movies). But, being Chinese, I didn't take pics of people's graves. This cemetary is also where Calixa Lavallée, the composer of “O Canada", is buried. I read that there's a computer system in the Catholic cemetery that helps people to find graves. Neet!
Cimetiére Notre-Dame-des-Neiges. Interesting monuments in there! Too bad we didn't have thne guts to go in.
Then we hopped on the bus again, with our useful bus-pass, to the Oratorie St.-Joseph (St. Joseph’s Oratory). It took some time to walk to the parking lot of the oratory from the bus 11 stop. But, when in doubt, always follow the crowds of tourists! ( I'm speaking as if I'm not a tourist. Oh.. Bloody tourists haha).The St, Joseph's is the largest shrine in the world dedicated to Jesus. It was the dream of Brother André Besette to build a shrine dedicated to St. Joseph – Canada’s patron saint (don't ask me-“What? Canada has a patron saint?”I had no idea either 'til I read the guide book).

Such a cloudy day. Not good for taking pics..This is the Oratorie St. Joseph viewed from a road beneth the hill.
The same church taken from the parking lot area where a lot of tourists were.
Some nice-looking building opposite from the Oratorie.
Keiko & I in front of the Oratorie!

The oratory started out as a small chapel (1904) then it became the size now (the main church with the dome) in 1937. The octagonal copper dome was said to be the one of the biggest in the world!. We climbed from the parking lot to the entrance of the church. It was a LONG climb (using the world “long” a lot today). It was 300 steps. But we didn't realize that 'til later when we were reading the guide book back at our hostel. Oh man! We didn't get the chance to verify it! Anyway, they seem to be a major construction under way that would link the church to the street-level parking lot with escalators and elevators. Ou lala~

The museum in the Oratorie. It's about the life of Andre.

We went in from the lower entrance which led to a smaller church with a white marble statue of St. Joseph.

Here's an example of a poorly taken picture by Tiffy - the marble statue seems like it's glowing but it really isn't.

Then we went up the stairs to the main chapel. It was said that the seating capacity is 3, 200. It was huge. (see pic – altar, organ, carvings on the side, neat doors).

Me standing on the steps leading to the doors of the main chapel.

When we went in, apparently there was a mass going on (in Francais!) and a choir singing. Interesting stuff, but not for today.There was a museum about André’s life (see pic), some displays of his life (see pic of wax figures, coins), & there was a glass case that contained his HEART! SERIOUSLY! A HEART!! It was said that that heart occasionally quiver miraculously.
A human heart preserved in a jar!

The stamp collection related to Saint Joseph in a small room.

A box of "medals of St. Joseph". The plate under it says: "Brother Andre would stand listening to each visitor. Then he would offer a few words of consolation, and either rub the sick person with a bit of St. Joseph's oil or touch him with a medal of St. Joseph. Cures were often frequent and spontaneous."Being a skeptic and a pre-psychologist, I think it has more to do with self-fulfilling prophecy and placebo effect than really anything. You can so tell I'm not a church-goer.

The main chapel where a mass was going on.

Some nice wall sculpture in the main chapel.

Then we went out to a garden on the mountain beside the main church where there’s a sign that says we should talk in a “subdued tone” because it’s a path for prayers (see pic). Inside the garden, there are statues that illustrate the 14 traditional Stations of the Cross (about the Passion of Christ). I bet the place must be really beautiful at night, with all the lighting around the statues and the lights from the busy city below.

The plate that tells visitors to keep this place quiet because it's a path for prayers.
The statues in the garden.

The golden lamb - Symbolism 101 - guess what it means.

It was cloudy and FREEZING cold on the mountain. The wind was blowing us off balance! We went down the 300-stairs and numerous streets back to the bus stop. My feet were seriously hurting. But TIFFY DOESN”T GIVE UP! Muahaha. Well.. at least not in the middle of the road.
We took the same bus back rue Mont-Royal. We decided to take the Metro to the “Petit Italy” to find places to eat lunch. It was not ‘til that we got there that I realized I HAD BEEN HERE LAST NIGHT! It was where May and I went to see the Jazz concert! It was Beaubien! I knew instantly that there wasn’t a lot of Italian restaurants that we were hoping to see because I walked by a lot of streets there last night and most were just stores that sold stuff (there was a lot of stores that sell/rent bridal/formal dresses). With my screwed feet, we eventually found a place to eat. It was a small local restaurant that has Quebecois food with only 8 things on the menu for lunch. Easy to decide since when I see spaghetti, I don’t see anything else. I got to practice some French too but got myself and Keiko into a smoking room. So, we decided to speak English, ‘though the Quebecois did not exactly like that.

The shopping area around Beaubien. Just a small part of the Petit Italy. Another street of the Beaubien area with a Gothic cathedral in the background.

It started to rain just before we got to the Metro. We took the Metro to the China Town where Keiko bought some food for her trip to Halifax later today. It was sunny when we were in China Town, dramatically different from the China Town I saw the day before when it was pouring rain.

Took the Metro back to the Sherbrooke station where we walked back to our hostel. Keiko left for the plane to Halifax tonight and I decided to stay in the hostel and type my travel journals. 5:58pm.Keiko traveled to many places by herself. I think she has become an inspiration for me. Before this trip, I was also afraid of going to places by myself because I would look like a total LONER! But no no no. I realized that if you’re always looking or waiting for someone to go with you to places that you want to go, it would either take forever or just simply won’t even happen. I’m sick of being afraid and it’s time to do something and go to places that I’ve always wanted to go.