A Personal Amateur Photography Blog
The Montreal Botanical Gardens is one of the finest, if not the finest, botanical gardens in North America. It has a large number of specialty gardens, such as a Chinese Gardens (covered in a separate posting), as well as numerous thematic gardens – including one dedicated to poisonous plants!
Overall the gardens are amazingly beautiful, and well kept.
The city of Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics. The area that most events were held still exist in the east side Olympic Park.
A number of the venues are still used for sporting events.
While it has recently been remodeled, the pool complex dates from the 1976 games. It is used for competitive events, with seating for 3,000, but is also used as the neighborhood pool when not in competitive use.
The Montreal Olympics are the poster child for cost overruns often associated with hosting the games. It is estimated it cost 720% (not a typo) more than originally planned.
Much of the cost overruns was due to the construction of Olympic Stadium.
Today there is a small museum dedicated to the games and the construction of the stadium.
The stadium looks like a 1970s sci-fi movie space ship. The large tower on the left was originally built to remove what was to be the first retractable stadium roof in history. Unfortunately it was not completed in time for the games, and when it was eventually completed it didn’t work.
So for the first 12 years or so of the stadium it was open air, and after that a permanently closed dome.
Walking around the large concrete plaza on this day with very few people gives one the feel of desolation in the middle of a large city.
Many North American stadiums used to sit in the middle of large concrete plazas like this – the newer generation of stadium more integrated into the cities are far nice, even if one can question the cost for holding so few events a year.
After the Olympics the stadium became home of the Montreal Expos baseball team. Unfortunately in 2004 they left town, moving to Washington DC. leaving the stadium largely quiet, except for a few concerts and other events like monster truck racing.
The cavernous domes stadium echos with the smallest noises. I did have the opportunity to attend a couple of baseball games here (one with the open stadium, the other with the roof in place). It was a great experience, baseball in French, with passionate fans using their own unique to Montreal style of cheering on their team.
Hopefully some day major league baseball returns to Montreal (but to a more appropriate venue).
The tower is now a tourist attraction. The inclined elevator is billed as the longest in the world.
The top of the tower offers panoramic views of Montreal.
The view of the Olympic Pool, and other venues in the park.
The Olympic Village apartments are still used. The soccer stadium is a recent addition.
The day was a bit hazy, but made the views towards downtown interesting.
Montreal’s east side is a working class neighborhood with numerous row houses.
The view of the islands in the middle of the St Lawrence River, as well as some of the bridges crossing the river.
Because much of Europe is fairly far north, the port of Montreal is the shortest route between a European port and North America.
Olympic Stadium cost the city of Montreal and all of Canada significant money, but as with most things Canadian, they have made the most of it.
As the Capital of Canada, Ottawa has a number of historic government buildings. With their longstanding connection to England, they tend to have a similar look to those in London.
The majority of the buildings are located on Parliament Hill.
The large Central Block (right with clock tower) has just started undergoing a 10 year restoration.
They offer tours of the House of Commons. With the Central Block under construction they enclosed this former courtyard to make it the new meeting chamber.
One interesting fact – the seats are green because the seats in London’s House of Commons is green. Why is England’s green – nobody knows.
A committee room.
Many other buildings in the city have the same look.
The Canadian Supreme Court.
Another government building on Parliament Hill.
The Canadian Mint.
The entrance to the Prime Minister’s Residence.
The Canadian History Museum across the river in Gatineau, Quebec.
The Alexandra Bridge.
The famed Rideau Canal.
The Rideau Falls.
Our day in Ottawa ended with an impressive light and sound show, detailing the patriotic history of Canada.
The drive out of Toronto featured a stop along Lake Ontario as the sun rose. Our stop is the ‘Palace of Purification’ – the R C Harris Water Treatment Plant.
The sunrise was fantastic, as are the art deco buildings. All you have to do to get there is take the streetcar to the very end of the line near Scarborough (but we drove!)
The Toronto postings end with a more focused modern architecture tour. With more than 70 new skyscrapers more than 150m (500 feet) high built since 2000 (second in North America to New York), there are plenty to choose from, although a few of the more interesting buildings downtown are not skyscrapers.
Not all of the buildings below were built after 2000, but all have the modern architecture look.
In the 1960s Spencer and Rosa Clark started a collection that required a very large garden – they acquired architectural artifacts from large buildings in downtown Toronto that were being torn down and replaced with even larger ones.
This garden is located in suburban Scarborough, in what is now Guild Park and Gardens.
The archway from a long gone building leads you into the park.
What were once decorative pieces on the Toronto Star newspaper building are now giant building blocks.
Remnants from a Music Hall.
Smaller pieces are integrated directly into the gardens.
While others are added together to make a new sculpture.
Toronto’s second fire hall was located at Richmond and Portland Streets. Dating from 1871 it was torn down in 1968. In the background is a brand new events center.
The Greek Theater (also the featured photo for this posting). What was once the Bank of Toronto Building is now a theater in a park.
The grounds are immaculate, with the artifacts well spaced throughout.
The facing from the Quebec Bank Building has porcelain lions.
Additional random artifacts.
Easily the largest collection is from the former Bank of Montreal Building at King and Bay Streets in downtown Toronto. With this many fantastic items, this must have been an amazing building!
The Hockey Hall of Fame is filled with memorabilia of the sport. Easily the most prevalent are the jerseys from the various teams.
Let’s start with the NHL – both current and former teams.
The Toronto Arenas played the first two NHL seasons in 1917 and 1918. They eventually became known as the Maple Leafs.
This jersey is clearly a reproduction, with the modern NHL logo on it.
The Boston Bruins are another of the ‘Original 6’, with this jersey being one of the early ones.
The original Pittsburgh Penguins jersey, which made a return as an alternate jersey a few years ago.
The famed ‘Winged Wheel’ of the Detroit Red Wings.
The original NHL team in New York were the Americans, with the strange nickname of the Amerks – they were soon eclipsed by the Rangers and eventually folded.
Continuing with the short lived series of teams starting with the Cleveland Barons…
Kansas City Scouts…
Atlanta Flames…
And finally one that never should’ve been allowed to move – the Quebec Nordiques.
Some random cool Juniors and Minor League teams…
And finally an amazing collection of international jerseys, including many countries you wouldn’t think would have ice hockey – like India, South Africa and Argentina.
