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!
Next up: some of those wonderful churches.
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