Montreal

My apologies for the radio silence, I have been busy the past four days exploring the wonderful city of Montreal.  What I loved most about Montreal {other than the amazing food -- more to come on that later} was how the city truly is a fusion of culture, architecture, and language.  The area we stayed in, Vieux Montreal, had beautiful European architecture, cobblestone streets, and a mix of cars and horse-drawn carriages.  However, in other sections of the city it was common to see a Victorian townhouse next to a 1960's post-modern building.  This fusion is extremely evident in the language; Montreal-ers fluently speak both French and English.  Some photos from my journey are below...enjoy!

We stayed at the L'Hotel, which could almost be classified as a Post-War Art Museum instead of a hotel.  It was literally overflowing with pieces such as the above Robert Indiana Sculpture, Lichtenstein paintings, and at least a dozen Warhol's.  The hotel is owned by Georges Marciano, the founder of Guess Jeans.  Apparently he purchased the building in 2010 to be used as a place to store his legendary modern art collection and act as a guest-house to his celebrity friends who come visit him in Montreal {oh-la-la}.

A few examples of the unique structures including the biosphere and condos created for the Worlds Fair Exposition of 1967.  

Apparently our neighborhood was so authentic they were filming a period piece on the streets, with old-fashioned horse-drawn carriages and dozens of actors in beautiful Victorian attire.

Notre Dame

While it was most certainly cold for the majority of our trip {it actually snowed for about 30 seconds on our first day} we had the best time getting lost on the little cobblestone roads.  It seemed like on nearly every block there was a secret corridor like the one above that took you into a little garden, lounge, or in one case a pumpkin patch!

We went off the beaten path to visit the Montreal Botanical Garden, and all I can say is WOW!  We could have easily spent a full-day in the park which comprised of ten greenhouses, over thirty gardens, and 20,000+ plant species.  It was so lovely to be able to enjoy the fall foliage, however my favorite exhibit we saw were the bonsai trees -- one of which was 270 years old!

Tomorrow I will post more photos of our favorite part of Montreal -- the food!