Montreal from 35 floors

[G W North]

Two weekends ago I was I spent the weekend in Montreal. This was about the 6th time I've been there, so I know the city quite well now (plus relatives of mine used to live there who now live in Toronto, and we talk about the two cities sometimes). Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me when I was walking about, so the only pictures I got were these, from the 35th floor of Centre Sheraton hotel (where we stayed).

Note when I refer to directions, I'm referring to how directions are referred to on the city's grid. They are actually off the true directions by 50%+, which is why the sun "sets in the North" in Montreal.

Looking North

Looking North again you can see the lush, green Mont Royal.

Looking North by Northwest. Hotel de la Montagne has a rootop bar/public outdoor swimming pool on the 20th floor. My buddies and I sipped sangrias there in the mid-afternoon heat until we were drunk and sunburned, LOL. I really wish I had taken my camera up there, is it offers a 360-degree view from 200 feet high. The the left of the Hotel de la Montage you can see the lowrises of Crescent St. The ad with the black-clad man is on Rue St. Catherines, the city's principal shopping street (I believe the ad is above The Gap store).

Looking Northwest.

Unfortunately, while the amount of parking lots in dowtown Toronto and Vancouver have plummeted in the last 25 years, the amount of surface parking in downtown Montreal has increased (quite a bit, too). Most of the parking lots are fairly small, covering only a small fraction of a city block, but there are WAY too many of them.

Looking West. Again, you can see multiple surface parking lots within just a small area.

One thing I do like about downtown Montreal is that parallel parking is allowed on seemingly nearly both sides of almost the entire length of every street. This ensures that cars move slowly even when traffic is light.

[monsoon]

[G W North]

I didn't ride the Metro (subway) this time, but I've ridden it before. It's a good system, but I found the trains to be a little dirty at times, though not as bad as the Paris system was when I was in France three years ago.

Mont Royal is a little taller than it looks. Because it's covered in greenery, it is deceptive. I believe it's about 750 feet tall. I guess that doesn't qualify as a mountain though. The interesting thing is that it site in the centre of the city, not off to one side.

Because the growth rate of metro Montreal has been much lower than Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto the last several decades, there generally hasn't been the construction boom there. There seems to be a downtown boom currently though, based not only on what I saw first-hand, but on reading a magazine that came with the hotel room. I do remember reading a proposal to ban new parking lots in Montreal (I'm not sure if it passed or not). Hopefully the parking lots will slowly disappear over time. Thankfully there aren't any parking lots on the "main streets" like the main stretches of St. Catherines and Crescent. Once you get away from the main streets however, there are dozens of parking lots, unfortunately.

[tocoto]

Nice overview of Montreal, a good looking city.

[Delta]

Forget the parking lots. Look at those beautiful undulating hills on the nearby horizon. A lovely green background for the city. Some of the architecture I've seen of Montreal over the years is nice too.

Thanks for sharing the pics GW North but next time put me in your suitcase and take me with you.