Silo Number 5

I didn't know anything about this building when I took the picture. If I had, I might have done more with it. From what I've read since, the silo is included in a historic preservation effort that's under way at this site, called Pointe-du-Moulin (Mill Point). It's an attempt to preserve and enhance the character of some of Montréal's industrial waterfront as it transitions to a new urban neighborhood. You can read about it here.

Silo Number 5. Jake was here.

At this point in my walk I left the canal area behind and moved into Vieux Montréal (Old Montreal). As I mentioned, I was getting hungry. I knew that there would probably be someplace to eat in the streets of the old city, which is more or less a tourist mecca, replete with t-shirt and souvenir shops.

Am I blue

You'd be, too. If you were this bridge. I don't have anything much to say about it, except that it's painted bright blue. I don't even know if it has a name, but the street that runs over it is called rue Mill (Mill Street), as far as I can tell from the map.

There's a gray pedestrian bridge over the lock doors (you can see it under the larger bridge on the left), but it was closed off to the public.

There are a couple of locks at this end of the canal. In fact, the bridge crosses two parallel locks. The park on the far side is called les jardins des écluses (the locks gardens).

Something to do with Shark Week?

Nope, the sign says that it's the "end" of the construction zone. My walk was taking me closer to old Montréal, out of the transitional neighborhood and into the more touristy part of the waterfront. I was also getting hungry and wondering where I would find a place to eat.

I looked, but I didn't see any sharks.

I did find a little café, but I still had some walking to do. So here we go.

Railroad bridge number two

This is the other rail bridge over the Lachine Canal, right next to the section I posted yesterday. It looks to be in the same state of (dis)repair as the first. I think these tracks lead into Montréal's Central Station downtown, so this would be an actively used bridge.

The western flank of the bridge. That's part of yesterday's bridge on the right.

The graffiti artists/taggers have had a good time here as well. I wonder if there will come a time when this type of "art" goes out of fashion and people stop doing it. What will they do instead?

A close up of the graffiti. Notice the water bottle tucked inside the structure?

Our weather continues to be chilly and wet. No big rains or flooding danger, just light rain, drizzle actually, and high temperatures that flirt with 70ºF. I'm already looking ahead for a window in which to cut the grass again. It's loving this weather and growing at a steady clip (pun intended).

The eastern flank of the bridge.

Meanwhile, in the vineyard, the grape vines have set flower. Barring any really bad weather, grapes should form soon. Looks like a lot, too, so many of them will end up cut away, discarded, to ensure the proper yield.

Railroad bridge

There's something about old railroad bridges. They are practical, no nonsense, form-follows-function structures. And they can be beautiful. This one, over the Lachine Canal in Montréal, is covered with graffiti. Still, it's nice.

If you look real close, you can see a dummy perched inside the center structure.

This is one of two railroad bridges over the canal that I saw on my walk. I think it was a pivoting bridge, able to be turned out of the way of passing canal traffic. There are no longer any tracks on either side of the canal for it to connect to, and it's turned in the "open" position, I'm guessing permanently. I'll post some photos of the other bridge tomorrow.

Syncopated rhythm

The longer I stare at this image, the more patterns I see. Horizontally. Vertically. Even the graffiti has a rhythm to it. I wonder what this building would look like with the windows unshuttered.

Look at the texture in that stone wall just above the waterline.

Are you getting tired of this part of Montréal? I realize that these are not typical "tourist" images. I still have a way to go, so bear with me.

Glass and steel

I've shown this group of high-rises before, but I thought that this perspective was interesting. The buildings on the right and left are new residential mid-rises on the canal. The tall buildings behind are on the western edge of downtown. I was approaching the neighborhood called Griffintown at this point in my walk.

Lots of glass, steel, and concrete. The Bell Center (bottom middle) is the home of the Montréal Canadiens hockey team.

When Ken and I were in Montréal in 2012, we had dinner at a trendy restaurant in Griffintown called "Le Hangar." The restaurant is gone now, but I remember it being located in an old one-story building, surrounded by boarded up warehouses and vacant lots. The neighborhood was already changing, but none of these new mid- and high-rise residential buildings were there then.