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It’s warm, humid …. and sunny, which is in stark contrast to yesterday’s near apocalyptic thunderstorm “event”. We haven’t noticed any reports of people getting washed away in the deluge, so maybe that was just par for the course for the good citizens of Montreal … or more likely the reports were all in French and we’re just oblivious to the whole disaster.
Issy’s feeling a bit sleep deprived so I set off on my own to scale Mount Royal, after which the city’s named. Our neighbourhood sure is hipster-ville - colourful murals on every available vertical surface (plus some that look like they probably weren’t supposed to be available), and wall to wall street cafes.
The mountain is in the centre of the massive Mount Royal Park, a sprawling 280 hectares of lush green deciduous forest, which looks from the Google machine to be crisscrossed by a maze of hiking trails. I start my ascent. I left the ropes and crampons back home in Oz, and whilst it’s a bit on the steepish side, I’m feeling confident that I can survive the day. It’s starting to feel a bit lonely as I approach the upper slopes. I wonder
how many other brave souls have managed to make it this far. I struggle up one last precipice, and emerge ….. into a car park. Hmmm. That was a bit disappointing. The views out of over the city are OK, although it’s a tad on the hazy side. Maybe they’ll be better from the summit; that doesn’t look to be too much further. I struggle up one last incline to the peak. The views are …. well totally non-existent - a radio mast in a clearing surrounded by a dense forest of soaring trees. Hmmmm. I read that the first European to scale the mountain was the French explorer Jacques Cartier way back in 1535. I wonder if he was expecting a view. Maybe he was, and that’s why he reverted to selling diamonds, although on second thoughts maybe that was different Jacques Cartier.
I start the descent. First stop is the Mount Royal Cross. I read that a cross was first erected here way back in 1643 to fulfil a vow to the Virgin Mary to end a disastrous flood. We could have used some of that yesterday…. The current steel iteration was built in 1924. It’s lit
up at night and can be seen from all over the city. According to the ever reliable Wikipedia there’s a law in place that dictates that “no buildings in Montreal are to be taller than the Mount Royal Cross”. It’s only eleven metres high; I’ve seen houses taller than that … and the whole city’s littered with massive skyscrapers, so I assume the local jails are all now bursting at the seams with miscreant builders. As usual I think I might be missing something here.
If I want to get down from here it seems I‘ll need to descend the “Grand Staircase of Mount Royal”. I have visions of a glorious winding marble structure surrounded by statues of mythical heroes and scantily clad maidens. But no, it’s a series of wooden steps with sharp angular bends and steel railings. If by “Grand” they meant “lots of”, well they got that bit right, all 400 steps of right. I’m suddenly glad I’m going down. The whole scene is extremely attractive set in the ever continuing expanse of lush soaring deciduous forest.
It’s back to the apartment for a rest, and I then manage to tempt Issy into a return
visit to the Kondiaronk Belvedere. Perhaps unsurprisingly the Grand Staircase of Mount Royal feels a bit more challenging when you’ve got to go in the up direction. But it’s all worth it. The late afternoon sun makes an appearance through the haze to light up the view of downtown Montreal, which is now more stunning than ever.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Street art
This one is a beauty.