Our apartment is on the 16th floor and so everyday when we look out our patio window, we see the sight of the Olympic Stadium and Tower:
It was built for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. First stop was the Tower. There is an observation room on top.
It wasn't finished in time for the Olympics... only the stadium was... and it was finished 11 years later.
It is supposedly the tallest inclined tower in the world at 574 ft. high. We took a funicular to the top. It takes less than 2 minutes. The funicular car stays level as it goes up the incline. At the top is a panoramic view of all of Montreal.
Next stop was the stadium itself. The Stadium is called the BIG O - both as a reference to its shape, and the BIG OWE because of the huge cost to build it & keep replacing the roof. At one end is the swimming venue. At one end are the diving towers, both platform and springboard. The pool with the lanes is in the middle. At the top left you can see a smaller pool where we watched the Canada's synchronized swim team practice.
At the other end is a play area for the young kids. You can buy a membership to use these pools.
The balcony above the kids pool (in the above picture) is where we are standing in the photo below.
The indoor stadium is at the other end. It was originally used for the Montreal Expos baseball team.(now they have moved to Washington DC) Now it is used fo soccer, indoor Arena football, and special events like concerts and trade shows.
The roof has been a big source of contention. Originally it had a retractable roof, but the snow caved it in. Since then they have tried several roof designs, all with some kind of flaw & needing to be replaced. Currently it is made of some thick polymer material held in place by steel cords attached to the observation tower.
Next we drove by Habitat 67:
It was built by an Israeli-Canadian architect. It was originally conceived as his Master's thesis in Architecture at Montreal's McGill University. Then it was built as a pavilion for the Expo 67 World's Fair. Now it is an apartment complex.
12 Stories, 158 apartments and each apt. has its own private terrace. The idea was to show how people could live in increasingly crowded cities and still have gardens, fresh air, and privacy in a multi-level environment. But because it was so expensive to build - it never revolutionized the "affordable" housing market like they hoped it would. It is also the site which ALMOST saw Lindsay and I arrested!! It was kind of a drizzly-day, so we parked nearby & Dad & Cameron stayed in the car with the kids & Lindsay & I went to take pictures. After getting a few shots over the loud speaker comes a blaring voice shouting... ARRET, ARRET (stop! in french) NO PHOTOS !!! It just about scared us to death and so we did what any normal tourist would do... We turned tail and RAN! We made it back to the car laughing so hard we were crying! Sheesh!
We decided to finish our tour with Montreal's most iconic landmark - St. Joseph's cathedral. It was founded by Father Andre Bessette who was beatified (made a saint by the Catholic Church) in 2010.
There is a beautiful view up as you walk in. It is the 3rd largest dome in the world - modeled after St.Peter's basilica in Rome.
Father Andre was known for all the healings he supposedly did for people who couldn't walk. Here are all the canes and crutches left by the people healed.
Or you can light a candle .. there are a million available in displays like this one:
Of course, there is the EVER-POPULAR site of Father's Andre's ACTUAL HEART - encased in glass, which he requested be kept here as a protection to the Basilica.
The view of the upper balcony:
and us on that balcony...
Hope you had as much fun as we did!!
1 comment:
Really enjoyed armchair touring with you on this post. Wow! Montreal is fascinating! Habitat 67 is on my must-see list! Very cool!
Post a Comment