Vieux Montréal

Our walk took us down toward the river, past the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) into Old Montréal. The old buildings are beautiful, even if they're now occupied by large cafés and tee-shirt shops targeting tourists. Like us. We took a side street back toward the city center and found ourselves in the Place d'Armes.

The Notre-Dame basilica on the right. I don't know what the building on the left is, but I like it.

This is one of the oldest public squares in Montréal and the location of the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal (the Notre-Dame basilica). The neo-classical columns and dome of the Banque de Montréal contrast with the basilica's gothic revival style and the art-deco Aldred Building that front on the square. The place is also home to Montréal's first skyscraper, the New York Life building.

The tall white building in the back is the Aldred Building, the red building is the New York Life Building. I don't know what the building on the left is, but I thought the three of them looked good together.

Right in the middle of the place is the impressive Maisonneuve Monument that dates from 1895. The statue on top of the large concrete base is of Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of Montréal. Lower on the base are four bronze statues and four bronze bas-reliefs depicting events and heroes of the new city and French colony.

A bronze statue of an Iroquois Indian on the Maisonneuve Monument.

Ken and I wandered around a bit taking pictures, not really knowing what we were looking at. We didn't go inside the basilica at all (was it closed?). By this time we were feeling a little thirsty and decided, rather than backtrack toward the big cafés we saw earlier, we would head down into the center of town and look for a café or bar there.

The Bank of Montréal's main branch and the Maisonneuve Monument in the Place d'Armes.

First we had to find an ATM and get some cash. That was easy enough once we got into the business district downtown. But we didn't find a café that appealed to us, so we decided to hop on the métro (subway) and head back to the rue Saint-Denis for a drink. That way, we'd be closer to the hotel when it was time to change for dinner.

Another view of the basilica and the New York Life building.