Montreal

Last week saw a visit to one of my favourite Canadian cities Montreal, March in Montreal can go either way weather wise on this occasion it was mixed, the Sunday was pouring with rain which disrupted the St Patricks Day parade. This begs the question why is there a St Patricks Day Parade in Montreal? There can’t be many Irish people can there? I suppose like everywhere it’s just an excuse for a party.
The Monday was a fantastic day beautiful sunshine and temperatures of 16C. Given that it can be still in the region of -20C at this time of year it was very pleasant. As I walked around the waterfront and old town there was a real sense of a city coming out of hibernation and getting ready for another busy tourist season.


Quebec has multiple flags, from the left the Candian National Flag, The fleurdelisé which is the flag of Quebec, The Flag of Montreal and one other I dont know.

This is really clever, the building is undergoing renovation and what you see is not in fact the building but the hording around the building designed to protect the public during the renovation. It has been designed so that the hoarding has a picture of the building behind it and it fits in really well with the surrounding area and does not spoil the view. I really think we should do this in the UK particularly the major tourist sites in London.

This photo was taken at Montreal harbour, During the winter the ships are laid up and the harbor freezes, as can be seen the ice was melting and the ships were being prepared for the summer season. The ship behind was the Gordon C Leitch a “lakes steamer”. its history can be found at http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/leitch.htm . launched in 1967 its as old as me, because the ships never leave the great lakes which are fresh water there is no corrosion and the ships last for longer than they might in the ocean