Gardens

The theme for Saturday, July 9th, was gardens, specifically covering gardens with a long lineage. Following strong Travel Club traditions, yesterday's overcast skies turned to drizzle overnight, and even rain! Not that we were surprised, and it was not expected to be anything like the storm on the evening we arrived in Montreal. Thank Heavens!

Saint Joseph Oratory

After leaving the hotel, our bus climbed up Mont Royal, passed the famous cemetery and stopped at St. Joseph Oratory. Alas we had only a very short time here, which would not allow us to even walk up the stairs to the entrance. Saint Joseph is the patron saint of Canada. The building is a tribute to Brother Andre (beatified in 1982), who encouraged devotion to St. Joseph. There's a small museum devoted to him inside the Oratory.

St. Joseph (patron saint of Canada) Oratory on Mont Royal

The Oratory as seen from the lower level. It is a huge building, being built on the site of a 1916 church. This building was completed in 1960.

St. Joseph (patron saint of Canada) Oratory on Mont Royal

At the front there is a statue of Saint Joseph, with an inscription on this side describing Pope Pius IX's 1870 declaration of St. Joseph as patron of the Church. And there's Karen checking her photograph.

St. Joseph (patron saint of Canada) Oratory on Mont Royal

It's a long way to those stairs up to the oratory. Some of the visitors to the site climb the stairs on their knees, as a sign of reverence.

Parc du Mont Royal

Leaving the Oratory we headed back towards downtown before turning off and heading into Parc du Mont Royal proper. At 263m Mont Royal is the highest part of Montreal. The park covers a major part of the top of the mountain, but there are also houses, shops and a cemetery!

The park was designed in the early 1870s by Frederick Law Olmstead, architect of New York's Central Park (among many others). It was designed as a public space for all after the citizens objected to the exclusive use of the land by the rich. The city bought or acquired the land, and thus the park came into existence.

It has 60,000 trees and half a million shrubs, with over 700 species! It is used extensively all year long, with cross country skiing and ice skating in winter, and jogging, walking, picnicking etc. during summer.

We had more of a "drive through" tour than anything else, so the only photos are when the bus stopped at a lookout on the eastern side of the mountain.

A view of the Olympic Stadium from Mont Royal

Looking roughly east and the 1976 Olympic Stadium stands out. The close up view has more detail. It's an interesting design, but has it problems. The white upper part of the roof is some sort of material which can be lifted up by rope to the tower. Thus, the roof is retractable. Alas, the material does not like repeated openings and closings (either it breaks or leaks, or both, I don't recall which), and thus now remains closed.

Overview of Montreal from Mont Royal

A view looking roughly north east, showing the width of the St. Lawrence River.

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