Michael Powell's Blog, page 42
June 26, 2016
The Mansions of the Golden Mile
There’s nothing rich people enjoy more than lording it over the rest of us, especially when they can do so literally. Montreal began life as a provincial fur-trading village, but as it grew in wealth and prestige, the richest and most powerful members of society started to build fabulous mansions on the slopes of Mont Royal, in a neighborhood which would eventually be coined the “Golden Square Mile.”
The Golden Square Mile is found north of downtown, between Rue Sherbrooke and Mont Royal. Th...
June 25, 2016
McGill University and the Redpath Museum
Founded in 1821 on a royal charter from King George IV, McGill is today considered to be Canada’s leading university. Its original, downtown campus is located at the foot of Mont Royal is a thing of beauty, and among its Victorian-era buildings, you’ll find the Redpath Museum of Natural History.
McGill University has an enrollment of nearly 40,000 students, roughly half of whom are from Quebec. Twelve Nobel laureates studied here, as well as three of Canada’s prime ministers, including Justi...
The Woods of Île Bizard
A small island found just off the foot of Montreal, Île Bizard is named after one of New France’s original settlers, Jacques Bizard. The island has been largely spared from over-development, and a healthy percentage of it is today protected in the Bois-de-l’Île-Bizard Nature Park. We spent a beautiful summer day there, exploring the park’s diverse ecosystems, which include swampland, plains and forest.
Montreal might be a big, dirty city, but you don’t have to travel far to escape into natur...
June 24, 2016
The Exporail Train Museum
Found in an old maintenance yard near Canada’s first railway line, the Exporail Museum introduces visitors to some of the country’s earliest trains. With dozens of beautifully refurbished historic models, many of which you can enter, exhibitions and movies about the railway culture, and even a miniature train which you can ride, this is a much more impressive museum than we had been expecting.
Our low expectations were due to the museum’s promotional materials, which feature grinning toddler...
The Town of Mont-Royal
In 1912, the Canadian Northern Railroad Line bought a swath of undeveloped land to the north of Mont Royal. Architects and urban planners were hired to design a new model community, which would become known as the Town of Mont-Royal. In its hundred-plus years of existence, this suburb has remained a green, affluent, English-speaking oasis in the middle of Montreal.
The Town of Mont-Royal (often abbreviated to TMR) is an independent suburb completely enclosed by Montreal, and feels like an ab...
A Walk Along the Lachine Canal
The opening of the Lachine Canal in 1825 signaled Montreal’s ascendance as a major center of industry and commerce. The canal was made obsolete by the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1970, but today it’s found new life as a park, with an excellent urban trail running along side its length.
Although it’s mostly known as a biking path, Jürgen and I decided to walk alongside the Lachine Canal, since we’d be stopping for pictures every few minutes, anyway. From the Old Port to the Lachine Lock, the tra...
June 23, 2016
Glass Blowing at the Espace Verre
A unique gallery, studio and school dedicated to glass-blowing, Espace Verre was created in 1983 by two artists, who wanted to give people in Montreal the chance to learn the artform. The small, private institution is based in a former fire hall in the industrial zone of Pointe-Saint-Charles, and is regularly open to visitors.
If you’re curious about glass-blowing, it’s worth stopping by the Espace Verre for the opportunity to watch artists at work; above the large studio where the kilns and...
June 22, 2016
The Canadian Grand Prix
The Formula One Canadian Grand Prix has been held in Montreal since 1978, on the artificial island of Île Notre-Dame. Held every year at the beginning of June, the race is eagerly anticipated by the city’s residents, who consider it to mark the unofficial start of summer.
It almost seems to perfect to be true, but the champion of Montreal’s first Grand Prix was a French Canadian: Gilles Villeneuve. A hero throughout Quebec, he died tragically a few years later, during a qualifying run for th...
Montreal’s Mural Festival
Street art is a phenomenon which hip cities long ago stopped trying to fight, and started to embrace. When it’s well-done, street art can beautify otherwise drab buildings, provoke thought, and even drive tourism. If you’ve ever wondered how the artists manage to make use of their building-sized canvases, you should check out Montreal’s Mural Festival, where you can see them at work.
Montreal is definitely a city that wants to be on the cultural vanguard, so we weren’t surprised to find a th...
The Emile Berliner Musée des Ondes
Located in the old RCA factory in Saint-Henri, the Emile Berline Musée des Ondes is a small museum dedicated to the world of sound, and Montreal’s place in the history of the audio and aerospace sectors. Only open a few days each week, this museum doesn’t take long to visit, and allows you an inside look at the swiftly-disappearing industrial past of Montreal.
Emile Berliner was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1851, but he emigrated to the United States at the age of nineteen to avoid fighting...
