Built in 1976 for the Summer Games and attached to the Olympic Stadium, Montreal Tower's height of 165 meters (541 feet) makes it the tallest inclined tower in the world. We took the funicular up to the top, where there's an observatory that provides views of the Olympic Park, Mont Royal and downtown Montreal.
One of the buildings which makes up Montreal's "Space for Life" is the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium. It opened in 2013, and features two full-dome theaters which allow visitors to tour the universe.
Located within a nineteenth-century shipyard in the neighborhood of Griffintown, Arsenal is a private gallery dedicated to contemporary art. We stopped by to check out the space, and see if we could make any sense out of the collection.
If you follow St. Laurent north, past the train tracks and Rosemont Boulevard, you end up in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which has long been home to Montreal's Italian expat community. With espresso cafes, pizzerias, upscale restaurants, and pastry shops, Little Italy is a place you should visit when you're hungry, and not leave until you're stuffed as full as a cannoli.
Opened in 1933, the Marché Jean-Talon is one of North America's largest public markets, with dozens of stands selling fresh fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses and more. For those lucky enough to live nearby, the Jean-Talon is a daily part of life. For the rest of us, it inspires fits of jealousy. Why isn't there a market like this in my neighborhood? It's a valid question, so somebody answer it!
As luck would have it, Jürgen and I arrived during what everyone swears is one of the worst Quebec springs in recent memory. For every sunny day, we've had six that were rainy and cold. But luckily Montreal has plenty of fun things to do indoors, and we still have a couple months to get outside and experience the city's famous street life. Here are our first impressions, after one month.
Montreal's largest religious complex, and certainly the largest we've seen in North America, the Oratory of St. Joseph is located in the heights of Mont Royal, and enjoys commanding views over the city. With multiple chapels, an underground church, a museum, and of course the crowning basilica, the Oratory is stunning in scale, impressive even to non-Catholic visitors.
As we approached the Marché Maisonneuve, our excitement grew. We love visiting markets, especially when they're set inside buildings as beautiful as this one. But within seconds of stepping inside, our enthusiasm disappeared. The market which once graced its interior is gone, and the building is now used as a community center. Today, there was an amateur arts and crafts show.
In 2012, Major League Soccer expanded to Montreal, finally giving the city another top-tier team to follow besides the Canadiens. The Montreal Impact play in the Stade Saputo, within the Olympic Park, and we decided to check them out for a Saturday match against the Colorado Rapids.
One of the largest gay villages in the Western Hemisphere is in Montreal. A square of blocks centered around Rue St. Catherine, Le Village has provided a place of acceptance and inclusion for the city's gay community since the 1970s.
