Closure. Last Post from Montreal.

June 4 (Samedi)

Time is just flying past me so quickly. Today is my last day in Montreal & I have no plans other than PACKING. It doesn't take me a whole day to pack but there are things other than physical objects to pack too. I like Montreal. But I don't know whether I would feel the same about Montreal as I do about Vancouver if I had chosen to come here 2 years ago. Perhaps people get tired of their own city some point in their life. Everyone is looking for a way out, a different city that provides a "fresh" new experience.

Someone in my class asked our prof whether he likes Montreal after being here for 5 years. My prof didn't say that he likes Montreal b/c he had lived in Paris for 7 years and he said it was really difficult to leave it. You know.. when you have seen so much more.. you become disatisfied with things that just don't live up with it. But at the same time, every city is unique. You can't judge it with the same scale but you can choose what you like most about each city.

I thought I couldn't go back to Vancouver and stay there for another yr after this.. & esp so after UK. But now I'm seeing things in a different light. It's like an airplane passing through the thick clouds to the highest point where the sky is clear. I think every city has its character. In Montreal, you get all the city life, culture, history, art, french/english bilingualism mixed with true multiple ethnicities. In Vancouver, the city is not "alive" in the sense that Montreal is. It prides on its natural beauty and naturalness. When you're sick of bustling city life, it gives you a way out to get in touch with the basics.

It's all really subjective. 'tho I think Vancouver is great, I still cannot imagine myself living there for a long time anymore. 8 -9 years is enough. I was in Taipei for 12 years. If I minus the yrs that I was probably not "mentally-conscious" (or the concrete/formal operation stage according to developmental psychologists), I've really been there about the same time. Maybe it's just me.. I'm not a goldfish that can convert all the oxygen in the water around me while staying at one place; I'm a shark that needs to keep moving to keep oxygen-rich water flowing through me. C'est my lame excuse for going all over the place.

Oh well.. the end of one journey is the start of another one.. and I look forward to that.

Cirque du Soleil - Corteo

June 3rd (Vendredi)

I have inherited an electric kettle from a Japanese floormate. She was leaving this morning and gave me the kettle b/c she didn't want to carry so much stuff w/ her and I was talking about needing one last night (just kinda out of the blue). Many people from my floor left this morning.. so it feels kinda empty now.

Going to watch Corte0 (Cirque du Soleli) in the afternoon.

Cirque du Soleli is a cool+interesting group (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com). The tickets for their shows are slightly pricey . I spent $75 CAD on a C section seat when I could have gone with a tour to Ottawa for about $60 CAD for the whole day. but IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!! I loved the show.. the costumes were cool, the swinging & doing acrobatic things on the chandeliers were amazing, the super big balloons were cute, the actions were just full of surprises! If I had to pay $90, I think I would still go. Cirque du Soleil occasionally tours to Vancouver so CHECK IT OUT~!


The big tent of Cirque du Soleil.


Looking at the Vieux Montreal from the port.


Habitat '67 (modern apartment) on an island opposite from where I was.


Got over 1hr to spare after I got my ticket around 2:30 (show started at 4pm). So I decided to walk around. & It was really HOT so I didn't want to walk too far (& with my crappy sandals- I actually brought 2 pairs but both sucked in terms of walking long distance).


Found a nice shady place to sit for the rest of the hrs b4 the show starts.The summer breezes were so nice.


Taking random pics of the grass.
Met up with May after the show and went to an Italian restaurant. The interior deco was pretty unique (looks like an old/classic country place) & the food was good & there were even LIVE musicians (violin, guitar & one more I can't remember) & their musical style was pretty exotic (has a Latin-America feel to it). The whole atmosphere was awesome~


The Italian restaurant was near Marche Bonsecours. The place has a totally different feel to it at night! Looks pretty romantic!


May & I taking pics on our way back to the metro station.

Quebec City & Montmorency Falls

June 2nd (Jeudi)

Went to Quebec City with a tour today. Met up at 7:15. Took me 15mins to walk to the meeting place b/c I don't have the metro pass anymore & 'tho it's just 1 metro stop away from the McGill station, it still took me that long to walk. The tour company is owned by Chinese but their customers are from all over the world. For our tour of 20ppl, there were people from Mexico, England, France, Canada, HK, China, Korea, etc. It's pretty cool.

The road to Quebec City was SUPER BUMBPY! For most of the time, I felt I was sitting on a massage sofa. It took 3 hrs to get to our first stop in Quebec (not exactly in the city) - Montmorency Falls.


Viewing the MontMorency from the cable car. Montmorency Falls is 83m tall, 30 m higher than Niagra Falls.


Looking at the opposite view from the cable car. You don't need to go by the cable car to the top. There is the panoramic stairs (in later pic)... but that's SERIOUSLY a lot of steps.


The Manoir at the top of the Falls. Our guide said it was built by the father of Queen Victoria and it was used as a Governor's residence for some time.


Me at the starting point after I got off the cable car.


A trail that leads closer to the Falls.


Looking at the start of the Falls from the suspension bridge.


You seriously don't want to drop anything. It's pretty scary.


Viewing the panoramic stairs in the distance (the snake-like construction on the cliff). Told you! There's A LOT of steps & I still can't believe I actually went down all those steps! It took me 20-30mins I think.. but I was also taking pics & stuff.


Got to the other end of the suspension bridge and looked back at where I came from.


Aren't the wild flowers pretty? Looks a bit like Alpine Hills.


Viewing the bridge that I saw earlier from the Alpine-like field. Actually, I was in Wolfe's (famous British battlefield figure in Canadian history) camp.


This camp (or what remains of the camp)was used by General Wolfe during the war of 1759 (between French & British).


The Falls from the panoramic stairs.


Me and the Falls.


I knew I wouldn't be using my return cable car ticket when I was at the panoramic stairs. It was just TOOO far to walk back to the cable car station. So I walked down the panoramic stairs. I think it was more than 500steps at least. Then I took a pic of the Falls (for one last time) at a footbridge leading to the cable car station (where the tour bus was). Our whole stay there was about 1hr & I think that was enough.

Next Stop: Parliament Hall (Hotel du Parlement) in the Upper Town of Quebec City.


Hodel du Parlement! Look there's no Canadian flag anywhere. The only flag they have here is the Quebec flag. & this has to do with the whole separatist movement. In 1995, barely 50% of Quebec residents voted to remain a part of Canada.


These statues are people who contributed greatly to the development of New France. I think there was 22 of them (not too sure).


To the left (if you're facing the parliament building), you have a small monument thing and behind the tour bus, it's the entrance to the Battlefield Park.


The gate to the Vieux Quebec (old town). Quebec City is the ONLY walled city in North America. The wall is the fortification built by Samuel de Champlain in the 1600's.


Then we went to the Observatoire de la capitale (on the 31th floor of a building behind the Parliament complex) to get an overview of the city.


Quebec got its name from the Algonquin people. It was initially called "Kebec" because the place was situated at where the river narrows. See the narow part of the river in the pic?


A view of the Citadelle, a military ground. An aerial view of the place would reveal its star-shaped layout. I guess you can kinda see it here. The construction of Citadelle began in 1820.


A view of Vieux Quebec. See the famous Chateau-Frontenac (the castle like building in the distance)?


& the parliament building right before us.


Zoom in on one of the streets. The houses look a bit like toys.


The replica of a chair from the l'Assemblee Nationale.


On the chair and on every car licence plate in Quebec you would see this phrase: "Je me souviens", which means "I remember". Remember what? - you ask. Well.. there was that 7 years of war between the British and the French when they were fighting over the colony. The French won 6/7 but British won the last one and totally changed the history of America. Canada was more of a French colony before then.


Some display involving Chinese.. I just thought this looked kinda freaky... like flying Chinese Vampires..


A display about the Quebec Bridge. Some parts of it fell apart during two celebrations of the bridge. 70something people died when in the first incident. In 1916, the second incident, 11 ppl died. The bridge is still being used now but only "light" vehicles are allowed to pass through it. Other kinds of vehicles have to use the newer bridget adjacent to it.


The place where we ate our lunch - in Vieux Quebec, by the Vieux Port.


Me trying to take pics of while eating & not trying to catch others' attention. It was so nice to eat outdoors.. esp. when it was so HOT!


The interior of the restaurant. It looked pretty cool too~ But it was too dark for sunny days.

After lunch, first went around to major places with the guide but later had 2hrs to explore the place myself, which was pretty good I thought.

A small red historic building under the monsterous Chateau-Frontenac up on the hill.


Place Royale - the main public place of the time where public announcements, gatherings, and executions took place.


An interesting perfume shop near Place-Royale.


A famous landmark of the city. This wall painting summarizes the history of Quebec with the most important historical figures in there(eg. Jacque-Cartier, Samuel de Champlain, etc). You can also see the 4 seasons depicted on there (see autumn leaves, snow, etc.?). The road in the wall art also "extends" to the actual road outside of the painting so basically if you stand at the right distance, you become a part of the painting.


Quartier Petit-Champlain. It looks a bit like Europe with its narrow streets and stone buildings.


Auberge du Tresor. It was built in 1676. "It is said to have been the scene of the first French kiss on this continent." -> whatver that means; I took that straight out from the ad. I didn't write that. Below the building, there were a lot of artists doing portraits.


Chateau Frontenac - close up. The Chateau was named after a governor of the French colony between 1672 and 1698 (Comte de Frontenac). Samuel de Champlain built the frist structure to appear on the site of the Frontenac in 1608 b/c of the beautiful view of the St. Lawrence River from the location. The strucutre was used as a residence for colonial governors for some time. Then other things happened in between.. The current hotel was designed by Bruce Price (NY architect). Many famous ppl stayed here (eg. Queen Elizabeth, Ronald Reagan, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, etc.)


Place d'Arms.


Musee du Fort and the Canadapost building.


UNESCO (United Nations..) proclaimed Vieux-Quebec as a World Heritage site in 1985 (HO! My birth yr!) b/c it was the Cradle of French Civilization in North America and the only walled city north of Mexico. The flags you see in the pic are the UNESCO flags. & There's a UNESCO monument (in the middle of the circle of flags).


Cathedral Holy Trinity.


The benches are made of oak imported from the Royal WIndsor Forest. Some of its objects were donated by King George III. The sovereign's seat is in the royal box in the balcony.


The crazy organ.


Place de l'hotel-de-ville.

I brought a map with me but more than half of the time I was pretty much LOST b/c the streets of Vieux-Quebec is not lay out in grids; it's a mix of some roads going this way, some going the other way, some on a curve, some on a different curve. It was pretty difficult to track which direction I was going & there were too many small streets and I just stared at the map of words everywhere & GAVE UP. So during the 2 hr free time, I was just walking aimlessly, hoping to come across any attractions. It would be better if I had stayed there for 2 days or so.I also didn't have enough time to visit any musueums so it's better to stay longer than 2hrs. Quebec City may be small (20mins to walk from 1 end to another) but it's succinct.


Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica-Cathedral. The oldest parish in North Amercica. It was built in 1647 and destoryed 2 times throughout the centuries. 4 governors of New France and the bishops of Quebec are buried in the crypt.


Inside the Cathedral.


A ceiling of painted clouds decorated with gold leaf.


The super elegant altar.


The elaborate pulpit and the elegant organ.


A side-altar.


Musee de l'Amerique francais.


Cannons along Port-Dauphin. There were TONS!


View of the river from Port-Dauphin.


Walking out from the entrance area of Chateau Frontenac.

Quartier Petit-Champlain looks a bit like European streets with its unique stores and narrow stone-cobble street.


A nice delicate floral deco outside of a shop in Auatier Petit-Champlain.


The store that has the floral deco outside. The shelves are pretty cool eh?


Another one.


Another one.


And another one.


This is where people could pay $1.50 to take an "elevator" to the top of the hill where Chateau Frontenac is.


A street performer - HARP. But that was a folk harp. He was playing some arrangement of "Don't Cry for me Argentina". I thought it sounded kinda Mexican.


An interesting glass-art shop. I was so fascinated by the designs. They were simple but.. kinda like French sensitivities in music too - clarity and concision. But I think some of its design reminds of some of Chagall's paintings. So I went by the store 3 times and decided to buy something from there that says "quebec" on it (->my justification for spending $20 CAD on a plate).


walking back to Place Royale and saw the wall again. see the path in the painting connected to the actual street?


The Eglise Notre-Dame-des-Vitories Church. The earlier foundations were laid by Samuel de Champlain in 1608.


The interior. It's less elegant than other ones I've seen. "The ship model was ordered by captain Maurice Simonin to commenmorate his ship's salvage by the intercession fo the Virgin Mary, 1747."


Passing by some cute shops on my way back to the meeting place.


More pics of the Quebec City streets.


& with moi in it.


Some other interesting building.


A lookout post where you get to see some more canons. It would be ideal to take a pic of these canons with Chateau Frontenac in the background but the leaves on the trees were too "bushy".


The streets with the funiculaire (the 'elevator I talked about earlier) in the background.

Tour met at 4:45 & we got back to Montreal around 7:30pm. The tour was relatively cheap compare to other ones available in town. It was $38 for the 1-day tour (including transportation, guide). You can choose to pay $15 for admission fees to certain areas (eg. Montmorency Fall & Observatoire) & You need to pay $4 tips for the guide/driver. So the total is about $59 . Return bus tickets to Quebec City from Montreal alone costsabout $60 bucks so yah.The travel agency also has other tours to other east-coast attractiions from Montreal (eg. Toronto, Ottawa, etc). If you're in Montreal & you want to go to other places w/ this tour, I'll send you their contact.