Montreal - Day 1 - Downtown

Setting off from the Delta, I enjoyed a nice stroll along Sherbrooke and through the grounds of McGill University - gorgeous. 

Further up the street I came across the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where I was lucky to catch a special Picasso show. Of particular note is a film of Picasso creating a painting of a goat, with every step of the process captured, for a very fascinating view of his creative process.

The Montreal Museum is quite large, but spread out over three interconnected buildings, with a layout that is a little confusing. There are lots of surprises, gems and "shake your head" pieces in the Contemporary exhibits, as is to be expected from a fine arts museum. A special treat for me was discovering two pieces from Chihully.

As I left I decided to backtrack to Crescent St, which turned out to be the right thing to do. The street is lined with restaurants and cafes with patios and it was well past lunch time. Casse-Croute did a very fine job of sating my hunger with a delicious bagguet and a latte.

Since it was the weekend of the Grand Prix, Crescent St was closed to allow for booths, patios and awesome cars - porsches and Lamborghinis, etc. Stunning!

Now I was ready to wander along Rue St Catherine, the premier shopping street. Busy and long, all the regular chain stores were represented and the odd new one of interest. After a fair walk I reached Place Des Arts, where the street was closed to traffic, housing several temporary bandshells, outdoor bars and patios for a music festival.

And all of this going on within a few blocks of my hotel - incredible!