Bruce and Bobbie's Adventure
Fall - 2010
Bobbie and I really didn't take a Summer Vacation this past year (2010) though it was busy. In June we had gone to Loganasport to celebrate Brian and Cile's lives with family and friends. This page is not about Brian and his passing in February of 2010 which seems to be a trivial expression to such a life altering change of what had been and still is a significant and central relationship relationship in my conscious reality. We returned to Virginia after Brian's Memorial Service and enjoyed a visit from older brother and his wife, David and Janie. Then later in July my sister and her family, the O'Leary Clan, also paid visit to Bruce and Bobbie. Both family visits were more than welcomed and couldn't have come at a better time. Bobbie had retired in June after a 33 year career in Education so we were facing a Fall without the demands of a start to a new school year. We did something we had never had the opportunity to do before and took a late September trip that would take us to Montreal, New England, and New York City. It was a chance to enjoy Fall Colors like we had never experienced in the Autumn of our lives.
We spent our first night here in Upstate New York enroute to Canada.
Binghamton, New York
We were in Montreal the next day. However, we did encounter some aggravating slow traffic and even a subsequent detour off the main highway. The roads were like being on narrow country lanes not roads that you would imagine a huge 18 wheeler truck to be able to maneuver. They did though - I would have expected a bit more courtesy than at home but people had their own agenda and time to make it happen. We made it to Montreal as well as our hotel and the technology of a GPS still continues to amaze me. Our hotel was downtown Montreal not far fro McGill University.
Senex Magister in Montreal
The City had a very European feeling to it. It was quite refreshing.
Our first day in Montreal wasn't all that pleasant. It was drizzly that turned into a rainy day,
but
we were just down the street from the 'Fine Arts Museum' so we ventured out to see what we could.
There were only a few areas where photography was allowed. One was in a sculpture exhibition and the other was an exhibition an exhibition on Napoleon with which I wasn't all that impressed.
Scenes from Dowtown Montreal Near Our Hotel
Bruce/Senex Enjoying the Comfort of His Scooter
We encountered an interesting street scenc and at first we weren't quite sure what it was? There was a DJ playing some loud music making a bit festive but we were still not sure what was going on until we noticed something that revealed all. Everyone was looking up at this high rise building and there were two people who were repelling thrmselves down the side of the building. Bobbie, with a little more investigation, discovered that it was an organization raising money for Easter Seals. They had begun in Vancouver in June and had worked their way across Canada and were finishing up in Montreal. It was a 'People off the Street' experience where, after minimal training and of course your donation to Easter Seals, you could repel down a 100 plus storied building.
Notice the two people at the top of building preparing to start their trip down.
Remember, these are necessarily professional mountain climbers but very adventurous individuals.
This is the minimal training that I had mentioned.
Even if I were healthy and much younger, it would take me long to decide what I would do.
The following pictures will show you their progresion down the building.
Finally making it back to Terra Firma.
Montreal - Day Two
The Old City
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The granite obelisk commemorates the foundation of Montreal in 1642. The monument was erected by the Société historique de Montréal to celebrate the city's 250th birthday. One of the plaques on the north side of the obelisk lists the names of the colonists who came between May and December of 1642.
The obelisk is made from a block of granite that stands 41 feet tall and is 3 feet square at its base. It took 40 horses to drag the shaft into the city in 1893. The monument was unveiled on May 17, 1894.
It has been moved a number of times before it was placed in its present location in 1999. It made its debut somewhat west of its present location. In the 1940's it moved again to the old Customs House. It wasn't until 1988 that it ended up in its present location, which is believed to be where Montreal's first mass was held
Quoted From: Pioneers' Obelisk (Montreal) - Wikipedia
Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History
On May 17, 1642, on a point of land at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and another, smaller river, Father Vimont held a mass celebrating the founding of Montréal, attended by Sieur de Maisonneuve, Jeanne Mance and their companions. On May 17, 1992, on the very same site, Pointe-à-Callière, the Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History, opened its doors.
Until the Museum opened, only historians knew about the "Pointe à Callière," so named because it was here that Chevalier Louis Hector de Callière, third governor of Montréal, had a home built in 1688. Today, the point has actually become part of the shoreline of the Island of Montréal, but its name lives on and is better known than ever, thanks to the Museum.
The Museum was founded as part of celebrations to mark Montréal's 350th birthday, and owes its existence largely to the significant archaeological discoveries made on the site during the 1980s. In fact, the Museum and its site are inextricably linked. Rising above evidence of more than 1,000 years of human activity, it houses remarkable architectural remains, displayed in situ with absolute respect for their integrity. Pointe-à-Callière is the only sizeable archaeology museum in Canada. The hundreds of artifacts it houses are grouped into six main sections: the Éperon, a modern building that has won many architectural awards; the archaeological crypt on the lower level; the renovated Ancienne-Douane building (Montréal's first Custom House), the Youville Pumping Station, the Archaeological Field School and the Mariners House. The museum of a site, a history and a city, Pointe-à-Callière delves into the past to foster a debate on urban issues both local and global, and to encourage visitors to reflect on the future.
Quoted From: Background - Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History
Various Scenes from Old Montreal and the 1967 Exposition
Habitat 67 is a housing complex and landmark located on the Marc-Drouin Quay on the Saint Lawrence River at 2600, Pierre Dupuy Avenue in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its design was created by architect Moshe Safdie based on his master's thesis at McGill University and built as part of Expo 67.
Expo 67 was nicknamed "Man and his World", taken from Antoine de Saint Exupéry's memoir Terre des hommes (literally "Land of Men"), translated as Wind, Sand and Stars. Housing was one of the main themes of Expo 67. Habitat 67 then became a thematic pavilion visited by thousands of visitors who came from around the world. During Expo 67 it was also the temporary residence of the many dignitaries coming to Montreal.
It was designed to integrate the variety and diversity of scattered private homes with the economics and density of a modern apartment building. Modular, interlocking concrete forms define the space. The project was designed to create affordable housing with close but private quarters, each equipped with a garden. The building was believed to illustrate the new lifestyle people would live in increasingly crowded cities around the world. The complex was originally meant to be vastly larger. Due to its architectural cachet, demand for the building's units has made them more expensive than originally envisioned.
The building is owned by its tenants, who formed a limited partnership that purchased the building from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 1985.
Quoted From: Habitat 67 - Wikipedia
The Biosphère is a museum in Montreal dedicated to environment. It is located at Parc Jean-Drapeau, on Île Sainte-Hélène in the former pavilion of the United States for the 1967 World Fair Expo 67.
Old Custom House which dates back to 1836, originally housed Montreal's first Custom House. It was designed by architect John Ostell and now houses the Pointe-à-Callière Museum's gift shop.
Basilique Notre - Dame de Montreal
I think that is 'Senex Magister'.
The Cathedral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World (Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Montreal. It is the third largest church in Quebec after St. Joseph's Oratory (also in Montreal) and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré east of Quebec City. The church is located at 1085 Cathedral Street at the corner of René Lévesque Boulevard and Metcalfe Street, near the Bonaventure metro station and Central Station in downtown Montreal. It and the connected Archdiocese main buildings form the eastern side of Place du Canada, and occupies of dominant presences on Dorchester Square.
The sacrament of baptism is celebrated in the small chapel. The marble baptismal font is surmounted by an impressive stucco crucifix sculpted by Philippe Hébert. T he crucifix is one of the most important pieces of Quebec religious sculpture.
The construction of the cathedral was ordered by Mgr. Ignace Bourget, second Bishop of Montreal, to replace the former Saint-Jacques Cathedral which had burned in 1852. His choice to create a scale model of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome was in response to a rivalry with the Sulpician Order who had been the feudal seigneurs of Montreal, and with the Anglican Church, both of which favored the Neo-Gothic style instead. The site also sparked controversy due to its location in the western part of downtown, in a then predominantly English neighborhood far from the homes of the French-Canadian church-goers.
The first architect, Victor Bourgeau, refused the project after studying Saint Peter's, claiming that it could not be reproduced on a smaller scale. The undeterred Bishop sent Fr. Joseph Michaud, the chaplain of the Papal Zouave volunteers of Montreal, to produce a scale model to work from. At the time, the Holy See was threatened by the nationalist troops of Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont, who was attempting to assert control over all Italy including Papal territories, and the priest's mission in Rome was secret.
Work began in 1875 and the new church was consecrated in 1894 as Saint James Cathedral, after Saint James the Great, the patron of the parish the church served. At the time it was the largest church in Quebec. It was made a minor basilica in 1919 by Pope Benedict XV. It was rededicated in 1955 to Mary, Queen of the World, by Pope Pius XII at the request of cardinal Paul-Émile Léger. (The pope had proclaimed this title for Mary in his 1954 encyclical Ad caeli reginam.)
Instead of the statues of the twelve apostles on the façade of St. Peter's, the front of the church is topped by statues of the patron saints of thirteen parishes of Montreal who donated them, including Saint John the Baptist and Saint Patrick. The interior, which is also copied from St. Peter's, includes a baldachin which is a scale model of Bernini's.
In the last few years, the cathedral's esplanade and narthex have undergone significant reconstruction. The exterior statue of Bishop Ignace Bourget was cleaned and restored in 2005.
On May 14, 2006, the cathedral was named a National Historic Site of Canada.
Quoted From: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral - Wikipedia
It was Brian's birthday so we lit a candle for as we both said a prayer remembering his special life.
Architect of the Cathedral
James O'Donnell came from a family of substantial landowners. In 1812 he took up residence in New York City, where he successfully worked as an architect. His major works in that city were the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum, the Fulton Market, and Christ Church (1822-23). O'Donnell took his inspiration for the last building from the neo-Gothic style, which he favored throughout his career. He had already been elected to the American Academy of the Fine Arts in New York in 1817.
In May 1824 O'Donnell moved to Montreal to build the Notre-Dame Basilica. For some years James O'Donnell had suffered from oedema, and from July 1829 his condition worsened. In November he dictated his will; at that point he decided to convert from Protestantism to Catholicism. He died shortly afterwards, on January 28, 1830. He is the only person buried in the church's crypt. O'Donnell converted to Catholicism on his deathbed perhaps due to the realization that he might not be allowed to be buried in his church.
Quoted From: James O'Donnell (architect) - Wikipedia
Montreal - Day three
The Oratory of Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal, (French: Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal), is a Roman Catholic basilica on the west slope of Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
In 1904, Saint André Bessette, CSC, began the construction of a small chapel on the side of the mountain near Notre Dame College. Soon the growing number of visitors made it too small. Even though it was enlarged, a larger church was needed and in 1917 one was completed - it is called the Crypt, and has a seating capacity of 1,000. In 1924, the construction of the basilica was inaugurated; it was finally completed in 1967. The Oratory's dome is the third-largest of its kind in the world after the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in the Ivory Coast and Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the church is the largest in Canada.
The Basilica is dedicated to Saint Joseph, to whom Brother André credited all his reported miracles. These were mostly related to some kind of healing power, and many pilgrims (handicapped, blind, ill, etc.) poured into his Basilica, including numerous Protestants. On display in the basilica is a wall covered with thousands of crutches from those who came to the basilica and were allegedly healed. Pope John Paul II deemed the miracles to be authentic and beatified Brother André in 1982. In October 2010 Pope Benedict XVI canonized the saint.
A reliquary in the church museum contains Brother André's heart, which he requested as a protection for the basilica. More than 2 million visitors and pilgrims visit the Oratory every year. It is located at 3800 Queen Mary Road , at Côte-des-Neiges (near to Côte-des-Neiges metro station).
On October 19, 2004, the Oratory held its centennial. All the bells of all the churches on the island of Montreal were supposed to ring at 9:00 a.m., though not all churches participated. At 9:05 a.m., the basilica rang its bell in response and celebration.
In 2005, the Oratory was added to the List of National Historic Sites of Canada on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.
Quoted From: Saint Joseph's Oratory - Wikipedia
André Bessette
The Preserved Heart of André Bessette
The Oratory of Saint Joseph
A Place of Prayer
Exterior of the Oratory
Senex Magister
Ms. Bobbie Enjoying a Rainy/Drizzly Day
It's Hoocherman Again
Notre Dame University
Bruce - Again. It Was a Lovely Garden Even in the Rain.
When we left the 'Oratory', we found ourselves driving through a cemetary because at first we thought it was a park and would be a nice drive. It was pretty and a nice drive but a little more than that. The cemetary told a story, I think, about Montreal. This city like many on the East Coast of North America became a 'mecca' for immigrants from various parts of the world. The memorial 'headstones' were telling. We saw some in oriental (Asian) script that could have had their origin in various countries. We saw others that appeared ro be 'cyrillic script' which could have been Russian or other Eastern European countries. Yet, it showed Montreal as holding out hope to different people seeking a new home.
After we returned to the hotel, I was tired and needed a little nap time. Bobbie, however, was still interested in taking some more pictures. She walked back up to McGill University where she took a few more pictures of its campus. The plan was to head back to the United States the next morning bound for Vermont and hopefully some beautiful Fall Colors in the changing foilage on the trees.
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