How I Spent My Summer Vacation

We are counting down the hours to the end of our summer in Montreal.  As we do so I have the same pangs I had when I was a teen and faced the reality of returning for another school year.  I have loads of great memories but I still wonder if I took full advantage of the time. 

What a wonderful opportunity it has been.  I have been able to get familiar with the city and intimate with my particular neighborhood.  Revisit some old homes where my immediate and extended family once lived.  I got to see some of my great-grandfather’s surviving architecture in person.  Best of all I got the chance to get to know some of my distant relatives.  So much more.  The everyday stuff as well as the once a decade stuff.  Things I could never experience in the one week stays of the past, 1963, 1990, and 2008.

We are in close proximity to McGill, the English speaking university, and the last few days the sidewalks and restaurants have started to fill with the returning students. That is another stark reminder of the season’s end.  Just as the days get shorter and the evenings get cooler we are bidding adieu to another temporary home.  We have definitely grown fond of Montreal and know that we will be returning before too long.

Oh yes, one last event before we move on.  Wednesday we will go out to celebrate our 37th anniversary...our 3rd in Canada now.

Here are some highlights we captured:

A one up and one down duplex in Outremont designed by my great grandfather in the 1930s

Toni preparing for the hike home

Great BBQ from Cousin Sandy's farewell party

Old Montreal from the St Lawrence River ferry

One of the famous Montreal bagel shops

My Mom and a neighbour in 1948 superimposed on the same spot in modern day Verdun 65 years later

With Great Aunt Pat Moran...our second meeting with 50 years between

High tea at The Queen Elizabeth Hotel, famous as the site of John and Yoko's Bed-In

Habitat '67 up close on St Helen's Island, built for Expo '67 World's Fair

The entrance to our building at rue Milton et rue Ste Famille

Leonard Cohen's Montreal home since the 1970s

One room of the Chihuly exhibit

At the Jardin Botanique/ Botanical Gardens, 40 foot high sculpture of sedum

The original location of Juliette et Chocolat on St Denis

One of the views from the top of Mount Royal overlooking downtown, the St Lawrence River, and the South Shore

Alfred Nosworthy Designs In Outremont

My Great Grandfather, A.G. Nosworthy was an architect, first in Quebec City nearly 100 years ago, then in Montreal starting in 1920 through the early 1960s.  I recently found documentation of some of his early work in both cities.  With addresses in hand I tracked down six buildings in a cluster not far from where I am staying in Montreal.  This area was once a separate city north of the Mountain called Outremont.  It is now incorporated into Montreal.

A couple of weeks ago my cousin Sandy and I went on a car/walking tour to see them in person.  They are from a period ranging from 1926 to 1936.  Materials used were brick, stone, and cast cement.  The style would fall under the Eclectic Tudor Revival except he did not use the half timbers usually associated with that.  The doors, windows, and ornamental elements are all consistent with that style though.

Our first stop, a duplex at

45-54 Avenue Mcnider

Our favourite was this up and down duplex

650-52 Avenue Davaar

Sandy and me

This is The Chamberlain Apartment building. It is right next to the Lindy and they are nearly twins.

1640 Avenue Van Horne

The Lindy Apartment Building

1630 Avenue Van Horne

This was originally an apartment building, Mount Vernon Apartments, but is now part of the Universite Montreal campus which is directly across the street.

2101 Edouard Montpetit Blvd

The final stop on our tour University Manor Apartments at

2747 Edouard Montpetit Blvd

This appears to still be an apartment building.  It could use some spit and polish but holding up well.

Click the link below to see how these locations relate to the rest of the city.

Google Map with all six locations marked.

Finally here is the link to see all the photos from our tour: 
CLICK HERE

Searching For Leonard Cohen

I can't remember where but I once read that Leonard Cohen lived in The Plateau near a park and that he would often be seen walking the sidewalks of St. Laurent Boulevard.  I found that I kept thinking of this since that is the Montreal neighbourhood we are staying in for the summer.

We were stuck in the apartment one rainy afternoon and I decided to take that time to pound Google until I found out where his house was.  I figured there must be some reference to his address somewhere.

After about an hour I did come up with this one photograph on Flickr.  It did not include the address though.  I could see the house number was 28.  The foreground of the photo had a bench and wrought iron fence so I knew that it was taken from a park across the street.   St. Laurent is the dividing line between East and West streets so the low house number matched as did the park location.  I went back to Google and their maps with street view.  I took a virtual "walk" around the parks on either side of St. Laurent.  I found it on the third try. 

It turns out this is in a smaller area within The Plateau known as Little Portugal and the park is a tiny one, hardly an acre in size, named Parc du Portugal.  I made plans to go out the next day and take the twenty minute walk to check it out.  However, Toni was skeptical and wanted some sort of proof that this was indeed the correct house.  I went back to researching and came up with this video interview.  I had my definitive proof in first 30 seconds.  There was nothing to dispute.  Check it out.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHqbIuN1diE&feature=related

As you can see it is a modest house in an area that has not yet been gentrified.  Now, with the address in hand I was able to find even more information.  He bought the duplex and the adjoining building in the 1970s for only $7000 and he has never remodelled or renovated.  It still has the original kitchen cabinets and claw foot tub.  Being a Buddhist he lives very simply.  He splits his time here with another house in Los Angeles and I have read that it is in a similar neighbourhood and just as modest.  No Rock Star life for him. He even lets a Buddhist temple use the other building rent free.

Here are a few photos we took of the house and area including the next street "Marie-Anne Est" and his corner liquor store.  Perhaps drawing different kinds of inspirations for songs from both.  Just think of all the songs that came out of this little corner of the world.

Our Summer In Montreal

This is just a quick post to update you.  We have been in Montreal for just a little over two weeks.  Just getting settled into our three month stay.  We are in a hybrid apartment/hotel building.  I think it is from the 1960s but it is being totally made over to meet today's standards.  It is located in a neighbourhood of Montreal known as The Plateau which just east of McGill University and west of the St. Laurent entertainment district.  We are on the 12th floor and have an outstanding view of the St. Lawrence River and from our rooftop we also have a great view of The Mount, Mont-Real.  We are in one of the few midrises as most of the area is filled with walk ups that are very similar in style to what you see in Greenwich Village or the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  They have an added characteristic of curving wrought iron staircases on the fronts of the buildings to directly access the upper floor apartments.

We have been spending most of our time setting up the household and communications, locating grocery stores, restaurants, bank, liquor store, etc.  There have been a few bumps and we have found there are a couple of things we could use that are in storage in Toronto.  But overall we have what we need and very little that we don't need.  All in one suitcase, one carry-on, two briefcases.

Here are a few photos of the place and the views.

Allan Gardens

We have less than a week to go before relocating to Montreal for the summer.  We won't be back this way until October!  I thought I should get one more post in to showcase Allan Gardens, a dominant feature of our neighbourhood.  The current conservatory/greenhouse dates to 1910.  It replaced an earlier one that was built in 1879 and burned to the ground just after the turn of the century.

I can't believe that in all my trips here and living here over two years I just now got around to visiting the gardens.  There is no excuse as it is free and open seven days a week year 'round.  It is a "must see" if you are ever in Toronto.

There are many more photos HERE.  We didn't even go into the succulent wing as it was too hot!  We'll save that for the cool months.


And the slide show:

Second Apartment

Two weeks ago we started our third year here and simultaneously moved into our second apartment.  We are now pretty settled in and have managed to get through the learning curve.  It is a bit larger and gives us a full second washroom and second bedroom.  We enjoy an outstanding view of the CN Tower and a bit of Lake Ontario in the distance.  We are right next to Allan Gardens which has sprawling greenhouse that is over 100 years old.

The neighborhood is completely different even though it is only about eight blocks straight north of the former condo.  For Kansas City people I would compare it to moving from The Crossroads to Westport.  There is a lot more activity day and night.  We are across the street from the former Maple Leaf Gardens building.  The street level has been converted to a huge grocery store.  It is all state of the art as it just opened last year.  The upper floors are occupied by Ryerson University and they still maintain an ice rink for their team.  Ticket prices are about one tenth the price to see the Maple Leafs so that will do nicely when the season starts back up.

The condo owners still live in this unit four months out of the year so we have arranged with them to leave our belongings in their spare closets and locker area while we are away.  This first year they need it from June through September so we will be spending the summer in Montreal and in September we will split between Brussels and The Hague before returning to Toronto in October.

Believe it or not by not having to pay Toronto rent for those four months we will end up with nearly the same expenses including the round trip airfare.

Here are a few photos from the new place.

You can see more photos HERE or the slideshow below: