Wordless Wednesday: invasion of the office chairs!

A dang nice dam

I could have sworn that I'd already blogged about this impressive flood control structure that's just a few blocks from my house:

So I almost didn't take these pictures when I went on a walk in that direction this morning. However, a search of my archives only turned up these two posts, where I talked about planning to blog about the dam. In fact, it looks like I'd planned for it to be one of my first subjects. 

Oh, well, what's 6 years among friends?

The dam in question is on Olmos Creek, a tributary that joins the San Antonio River soon after leaving it. Olmos Dam was constructed in 1925, in response to a devastating flood the came from this  watershed and damaged a good bit of downtown San Antonio in 1921.  

west end of the dam

dam outflow

However, the dam hasn't always looked as it does today. When I first moved to San Antonio in 1977, there was a road across the top and instead of the sloping leeward side it was straight up and down, with rather attractive, graceful arches along its length. You can see several pictures of the old dam, and construction of the new one in this collection from the Express-News.

Some of the photos in this collection also document the construction of the 218 McAllister Freeway, which happened a few years before the dam refurbishment. The freeway passes over the west end of the dam, and affords a pretty nice view of it, if you can spare a glance as you drive over. Looking under the freeway, while walking, is probably a little safer, though...

Here's the plaque that commemorates the two incarnations of the dam and the officials responsible for its construction and upgrade: (click to see a larger image)

A walk along the lee side of the dam, where there are ample sidewalks, affords some nice views of the area. Here's a shot from the east side of the dam, looking north towards the former TMI water tower in the distance:

That photo was taken close to where I took the one at the top of the post, which looks southwest. Here's a repeat of it, with lines pointing out some landmarks. Left to right are: Tower of the Americas (all the way downtown!), apartment tower at Devine Road and Hildebrand, the 281 freeway, Trinity University's bell tower, and the Olmos Park water towers. (Sorry the picture, even when enlarged, isn't any clearer; I didn't have my camera on my walk and had to use my phone.)

The dam and the land surrounding it are in the city of San Antonio, making a little ribbon of buffer between Alamo Heights on the east and my bedroom burg of Olmos Park on the west...

Functionally successful (no downtown floods since it was built), attractive, and a great place for a walking or biking workout...the dam is a nice amenity to have so close at hand.

Wordless Wednesday: "Bridge freezes before road"...in symbols

Montréal: le fleuve Saint-Laurent

I'm going to finish up the posts from my first trip to Québec with a look at the "great river" (called that in Ian & Sylvia's "Song for Canada"—at least I always assumed they were singing about the St. Lawrence) that flows through Montréal.

We spent our whole 24 hours in the city on an island in this river, (the aptly named Île de Montréal) but unfortunately only got to walk along its embankment for a short period.

One of these days I want to go back and take a river cruise, so that I can appreciate it more fully. But we just didn't have time to do that on this trip.

The handsome tower you can see in the distance in the shot above (in front of the bridge) is the Horloge, which we also didn't have time to climb. But we were able to walk around its base and admire its fine proportions...or, should I say, their proportions, since there's a smaller town that's part of the same structure:

Longtime readers of this blog won't be surprised that I took a lot of pictures of this pretty tower...

Here's a shot of the nearby marina, that shows how close the river is to Vieux Montréal, which is why we had time to see it at all...

Along the quai you can see le Marché de Bonsecours, and its companion church, which I've talked about in previous posts.

The river is so wide here that there are several other islands in it. One that we had wanted to visit, but, alas, there was no time, is the Île Sainte-Hélène. It's right across from the Quai d'Horloge, so we at least got to look at it. 

The intriguing domed structure in the background is the Montréal Biosphère, just one of the island's many attractions that we wish we could have visited.

Of course, any city on an island, or even one that's not, but has a large river running through it (like London) has a lot of impressive bridges. And in spite of getting sweaty palms when driving across them (especially high or long ones), I really do love these spanning structures.

On the way into town, my GPS directed us to take the Champlain Bridge, which is very long (it even crosses another island—the  Île des Soeurs— before you get to the main one) and handsome enough. But I was too white-knuckled at the prospect of navigating this bustling city even to think about taking pictures of it.

On the way out of town, though, we were directed to a really nifty old bridge, the Victoria, that I couldn't help trying to capture photographically for you.

Plus, I was so relieved at having made it out of the most crowded part of the city that I felt I could spare a bit of attention to snap a photo with camera atop the steering wheel. 

The bridge was paved with a kind of metal mesh that made an odd sound when you drove over it, and the automobile lanes were split by railroad tracks. It felt historic as we crossed it, so I wasn't too surprised to learn that it was actually the first bridge ever built over the St. Lawrence (according to Wikipedia). What a great way to depart this fabulous city!

Our stay in Québec, as I might have mentioned before, was all too brief. But, as always when traveling abroad, even if not very far abroad, it is also good to come home.

Adieu, Montréal! Perhaps my next visit will allow me to see more of your treasures!

Montréal: trois églises

Like any European—or European-American—city, Montréal has lots of churches. In our short time there, we were able to explore three of them, to varying degrees.

Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde

The first one we saw was just a few blocks from our hotel, a late-19th-century jewel in amongst the skyscrapers of modern Montréal. The Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral occupies a very impressive block in downtown (right across the street from Dorchester Square, the site of the "unexpected memorial" I wrote about here).

We didn't go inside, but we were able to circle the whole block and got some nice looks at the Cathedral from different angles...

panoramic view of the front, on Boulevard René-Lévesque

a closer look at some of the saint statues decorating the façade

around the other side

a little further around

On our walking tour the next day, we found time to see inside a couple of fabulous churches in old Montréal, both also dedicated to Mary, Notre Dame.

First up was Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, next door to the market of the same name.

Here's its altar...

...and one of its lovely stained-glass windows:

On a walk along the river embankment (more about that river next time!) I was able to get this nice shot of the church with some late summer flowers in the foreground:

This Notre-Dame's big sister, the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal is on the Place d'Armes, and it is a really monumental structure.

It's so big that it's difficult, given its location in the heart of rather congested old Montréal, to get a good picture of the whole exterior. But I hope these shots of the interior can give you a sense of its size and grandeur...

...as well as some of the exquisite details that I always love exploring in old churches...

gorgeous galleries

gallery and column detail

details like this pulpit really make me wish
I had a better low-light camera...

candles, candles...

...and more candles!

Our only regret was that we didn't have more time to spend in these great buildings, and were unable to see any more.

Montréal: La vieille ville

Montréal's old town was high on our list of must-sees during our brief time in Québec.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints and old legs, we couldn't see everything, but we think we hit the high spots and saw several charming small streets like the one above.

The large domed building down the street there is the Marché Bonsecours, a famous market that we didn't enter (no time for shopping!) but admired from outside. Here's a better look at it:

(By the way, the handsome steeple a bit further down the street in the photo at the top of the post is one of the fabulous churches that we did go inside in vieux Montréal. I took so many pictures in and around them that they will have to constitute a separate post.)

We spent some time in a couple of lovely outdoor public spaces: the Place d'Armes, with its impressive Maisonneuve Monument, erected in honor of the founder of the city, and impressive surrounding structures...

...and the Place Jacques Cartier, where we got some yummy smoothies and enjoyed the urban ambiance before heading back to our hotel...

There's an impressive monument here, too, commemorating the early French explorer of le fleuve Saint-Laurent (about which more in another future post). Here's a detail of the carving on his plinth:

Here you can see the top of the Cartier monument, as well as one of the gorgeous buildings in the neighborhood, Montréal's City Hall. 

I was quite taken with the City Hall, and can't resist showing you a couple more of the many shots I snapped of it:

Even the buildings I couldn't identify were quite stunning...

...as were the small details I had time to notice:

What's especially great about vieux Montréal is that it's not a museum, but a living part of the modern city. For instance, I assume this planting outside of City Hall was in honor of Canada's recent hosting of the Women's World Cup...

It wasn't the only eye-catching horticulture on display there, though. Here's some more:

And of course, being a tourist mecca, there are souvenir stores—some pricey, some cheesy, and some funky enough to feature—as an antique, no doubt—a TV like the first one I bought after college...

Love the political bobbleheads on top, too!

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Next up: some of those wonderful churches.

Montréal: La nouvelle ville

Montréal is famous for its old buildings and storied past. But of course it's also a vibrant modern city that is as bustling and crowded as can be, with lots of intriguing amenities that we were unfortunately unable to sample.

Taking advantage of a very favorable exchange rate (and I mean, very favorable) we were able to stay in a hotel right in the middle of downtown and close to many fine sights. [Including le Parc du Mont Royal, which I told you about last time, but inexplicably forgot to give its official name. Je suis désolé!]

Our room was cozy, reminding us of our boutique hotel in San Francisco two years ago, but quite comfortable, and we were able to leave our car in a lot across the street for our entire stay. This was a real boon, since the downtown traffic we encountered was pretty horrible. I was as proud of my ability to find our hotel (and then find our way out of town the next day) as I was about scaling Independence Pass 5 years ago!

And we didn't starve, either. There were so many food options it was difficult to settle on one, but we ended up having a nice dinner at Le Pois Penché. It looked pretty pricey, but we said, what the hey! our vacation's almost over. Then, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much it ended up costing in US dollars...still a chunk of change, but a much smaller chunk than I feared. And it was delicious.

Our table was outside and right on the street, which wasn't as yucky as sounds, since there's a nice double bike lane between the curb and the cars. What a great idea!

gendarmes waiting in the well-traveled bike lanes

Here are some other samples of snazzy downtown Montréal architecture:

down the street from the park...
that's the St. Lawrence River in the background

And of course there was public art (in addition to the war memorial I wrote about over on Bridges to London)...

that's Le Parc Mont-Royal in the background

But the real architectural attractions around here are the old buildings, and I'll tell you about the ones we saw next time. Here's a taste, with old and new mingled. The lovely Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde (built in the late 1800's) was just down the street from our hotel (which wasn't, unfortunately, the Queen Elizabeth)...