Just one full week left…

The weather is cooler so the leaves are beginning to turn, and the parks have closed the swimming pool, the tennis courts and the baseball fields.

I think it’s a signal for us to move on.



But before we move on, some last minute errands and projects…

Outside McGill Library

One more trip to the eastside of town… First to McGill library and the book store.

McGill College Ave. to Chapters Bookstore
on St. Catherine

Then to St. Catherine Street for shopping – books at Indigo/Chapters for books, pharmaceuticals at Pharmaprix...



And then just a last walk downtown on the Eastside before meeting Wing for dinner in Chinatown. 

Rue St Catherine Est

Rue St Catherine Est

Chinatown
rue de la Gauchetière oest

Chinatown Gate

Resting at the Chinatown Holiday Inn before meeting
with Wing

 

Dinner at Keung Kee with Wing is great.  Good food: steamed fish, chicken, broccoli beef and duck made for a very delicious, satisfying meal – yum.  John gets to meet Wing and we enjoy ourselves with so much eating and conversing, I forget to take a picture of the evening, so sorry about that.

National Library - UQAM just a block farther...

As John is buying books to read for our next foray, I need some more supplies for my printmaking.  I find out the UQAM art supply store is in one of the UQAM buildings that is next to the National Library where I need to return the books I have been reading, so I go to return my library books and then on to  UQAM for art supplies.  After buying a new baren, water-soluable ink and a few other sundry items, I take the UQAM/Berri metro to Place de Armes for a last walk through the Old Port and go into the Notre Dame cathedral. 

Notre Dame

 

Organ concert - impressive!

It’s quite impressive and very beautiful.  While in the cathedral, there is an organ concert going on adding to the spectical of "Our Lady.".

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Since I have never lived in a community that had good public transportation, I am continually impressed by the Societe de Transport de Montreal (ASTM)



Sherbrook Station toward the #24 bus stop



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 Next week is for reflecting on Montreal and packing for Buenos Aires!

This Week: Ottawa, the nation's capital!



On the road to Ottawa

We are off to Ottawa in a Ford Focus from Enterprise and MapQuest in hand.  MapQuest says 2.5 hours - It's an easy and beautiful drive.

We arrive to our luxury hotel room at the Westin Ottawa ( a Starwood Preferred Guest hotel). John had just enough points accumulated for us to get the last room available at the Westin – a suite, which was at least the size of the condo we are living in in Montreal.

From the picture window in our room, we look to see what we might want to explore – the By Ward Market. It’s very colorful, charming and touristy – thought it was a cross between Marche Jean Talon and Vieux Port.

It looks like the storm is coming, so we go back to the hotel to take advantage of the gym and spa while the storm rushes through.  Jacuzzi and swim for me – Jacuzzi and sauna for John.  Then we go back to the room for showers and wine and window gazing. 

Watching the storm coming our way

After showering, we watch the evening light up

We watch the lights of the city start going on while sipping on our California wine that we bought at the state liquor store.  Then to dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Next day, to Starbucks for chai lattes and downloading John’s Kindle NYTimes (I got the wireless connection for my computer, but it wouldn’t work for the Kindle).  Then to Parliament  HIll for a tour and the rest of the day's touring.

Parliament Hill

Beautiful building and a very informative tour (the concierge said the tour was 20 minutes – it was more like an hour and a ¼.)  After the tour, we viewed the city from the tower and then walked around the grounds.

Looking West from the tower

The Library Spire

Looking across to Gatineau
and the Museum of Civilization

From there we walked through a park to the bridge that took us to Gatineau for the Museum of Civilization.  FABULOUS!

The First Nations exhibit takes up the whole 1st floor - it took us over an hour to walk through and still weren't able to take it all in.



 

First Nations Exhibit

Then to the  visiting exhibit - Japanese Tradition and Innovation. It was a beautiful contrast between traditional customs and items that translate into modern day conveniences. From sedan chairs to motorized bicycles and  smart cars, Inro storage boxes to lacquered cellphone covers.  It was all there –  “those clever Japanese!”  – remembering tradition and applying it to today’s conveniences.

The next morning, we go back to Starbucks for lattes, NY Times and then to “Chapters” bookstore to see if they had the books available that John wanted for his Kindle. A beautiful morning of crisp wind and billowy clouds in the distance. We take a last stroll downtown, another long look from our room window and start back to Montreal.

Beautiful weather, beautiful city, lovey people and a very informative trip for Dr. Berteaux and myself.

The drive back to Montreal
filled with beautiful views of beautiful trees and billowy clouds

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The next day, when weare back in Montreal, I pack up my art stuff, take the bus to the other side of town and PRINT at Atelier Circulaire!  I just did some embossing and chine colle.  The pieces here are not really finished, but I thought they were worth showing.

Cards done from proofs and scraps

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Next week - finish up the things we want to do before we leave the city...

The week started a little slow and rainy.



Rain, rain, go away...


This week seemed very slow and uneventful, but after reviewing the things we did, I guess we were pretty busy.

On Sunday, We found a movie theatre that was affordable and had movies in English that are subtitled in French.  We saw The Debt, a good action thriller with Helen Mirren  and Tom Wilkinson.  If I had found this theatre sooner, we may have gone to more movies.

The week seemed to be pretty wet so we worked at home with the rain showers throughout the day.

 

No rain on Tuesday, so John goes off to the McGill Library and I to the Grande Biblioteche to return books and get new ones. on my way back to the bus stop, I admire the buildings and a mural. 

I love looking at the sky's reflection

The event for the week in Montreal was the opening of the new MSO (Montreal Symphony Orchestra)  Concert Hall.  The CBC aired the grand opening concert for the MSO so we watched and listened.

Montreal Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall

The next day we made a trip to McGill and then to the open house for the MSO Concert Hall.  Even after listening and seeing the Concert on TV the space is beautiful and impressive.

The organ pipes glisten

There are mini concerts during the Open House days in the concert hall, we see/listen to a guitar quartet, “Fandango.” The acoustics are such that you can hear the quietest pluck of the strings throughout the Hall.

"Fandango" 
Even the quietest pluck of the strings can be heard throughout the Hall

On Saturday morning we go to Milton Park to see if there is a last French class.  There isn’t a class, so we go to breakfast, then walk to the Old Port.  I show John the Graphic Gallery where our friend, Evelyn Klein, has work for sale.

The cobbled street of St. Paul Ave.

Then to Marché Bonsecours to the World Press Photo 2011.  It is a powerful show of photo journalism from around the world. To get a glimpse of the photos in the show go to: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/exhibition

Young woman from Afganistan left her abusive husband
and as punhishment her nose was cut off.
The BP Oil spill, beautiful, but deadly

After spending an hour or two reading and viewing all the photos, we rest by the port and see Pont Jacques-Cartier in the distance.  It’s such a nice day after all the rain this week, we decide to walk the 3 miles home to see more of the city.

It's a beautiful day, "Let's walk home"

Beautiful, empty, abandoned building

Looks like we are almost home
From our rooftip we can see the bridge and Molson Factory

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Next week – change plans for NB trip, now to Ontario – Ottawa, the nations’ capital!