Downtown Montréal

On our third and last full day in Montréal, Mom and I decided to take the metro to the downtown area of the city.  Based on their website, the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal seemed to have a pretty good Impressionism exhibit that I wanted to check out before we left.

We had to walk a few blocks after getting off the metro, but it was nice to get a feel of the area.  The wide sidewalks were crowded with people speaking different languages and bustling to get somewhere.  I love the energy of a city.

We turned a corner and walked another block towards this stone church with a strange and intriguing statue out front.  Behold Montréal native David Altmejd's 2011 bronze wonder, The Eye.

After admiring the oddity, we crossed the street and headed into the museum.  The entry fee included an exhibition ticket to a couture fashion designer, Thierry Mugler.  We figured we would check it out just for fun, and good thing we did because we were blown away.

The first room housed sketches and costumes from a 1985 French theater production of Macbeth, complete with a strange, holographic "performance" going on in the corner.  Really set the stage for what was to come.

The next room featured costumes from the 80s, following mermaid themes and grecian shapes, with a few taking after 50s hot rods.  Mugler is often described as designing with a futuristic, sci-fi bend, with many costumes having strong, architectural silhouettes.  The looks often evoke fantasy, eroticism, the animal kingdom, and Hollywood glamour. 

He directed music videos and short films, dabbled in fashion photography, costumed theater shows and Cirque du Soleil, and dressed many famous celebrities such as David Bowie, Beyoncé, James Brown, Lady Gaga, Diana Ross, and Céline Dion.

The next room showcased the 90s era: black & white themed, with faint shadows of lace projected on the starkly-lit white walls, making the black costumes, and the many-faceted details of each, stand out.

As a former professional dancer, Mugler felt right at home with the opulence and theatricality of high-end fashion, becoming the first Western designer to present his catwalk as a fashion spectacular and show event.  He sums up this sentiment, "I always felt fashion wasn't sufficient in itself, and that it had to be shown in a musical and theatrical setting."

The next room was my favorite, housing Les Atlantes, Spring/Summer 1989, and 1997's Les Insectes.  The curation of the ocean depths and deep, Avatar-like jungle wall projections made the costumes extra effective, and provided a setting for the animal-inspired looks.

The gill-like details and coral reef plant-shaped gauntlets were perfect in their simplicity, staying within Mugler's futuristic theme.  Can't you just picture a royal guard in those jumpsuits surrounding a duchess of the court in her ethereal glass and chiffon dress, followed by a host of shimmering fish-scaled handmaidens?

This practical power suit stole the Les Insectes spotlight, reminding me of a twisting kaleidoscope.

The final rooms transitioned into an era where Mugler was inspired by inanimate objects, such as cars and musical instruments, giving the costumes a more robotic, cyber-superhero look.  For being something that we stumbled upon, the exhibit ended up being a highlight of the trip.

I think what was most intriguing to me is the fact that these aren't just costumes, but part of an entire imaginary universe.  The different collections, particularly in the realm of fantasy and animals, lead into a very specific kind of futuristic society or hidden lands within our own world.  It is this transportation and setting for your imagination to take over that makes Mugler's costumes as relevant and avant-garde today as they were in the 80s and 90s.

(photos by e.hunt)

Exposition Depuis 1976

The museum was a nice, informational way to wrap up the visit.  Pictures, artifacts, construction models, and videos were interspersed through a timeline walkthrough of the park's history.

The banner highlighting summer Olympic posters was a promising start.  The earliest ones I remember watching were the Sydney Games in 2000, but I recognized other posters from research in one of my college graphic design classes.

Speaking of graphic design, the Montréal Games logo is a great, multi-fold piece.  The rings, the 'M' above, and the shape of a track signify the Olympics, the location, and the fact that it is the Summer Games.

And they had the actual torch!  This was the first year the flame was transferred to data-form, sent from Greece to Ottawa by satellite, then relit by laser beam to finish the journey.

The stadium used a complex cantilevered console system to make up its' base structure.  Each of the 34 consoles is made up of forty or so juxtaposed elements, and with different sizes and shapes, each console is unique.

I also learned that several movies have been filmed at the Park (and other places we went in Montreal!), including X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Blades of Glory (2007), and Catch Me if You Can (2002).

After I perused the museum, it was time to head all the way around to the other side of the park to catch the metro back to our hotel.  I've always loved Olympic lore and tradition so this was a really neat landmark to experience.

(photos by e.hunt)

La Tour

The place was empty; I only saw a handful of other people the entire visit, including the workers!  I was a bit surprised, seeing as how a similarly-touristy place like The Arch is fairly crowded year-round. 

I bought my ticket and headed to the waiting spot.  The gatekeeper guy asked me where I was from and when I said St. Louis, he started enthusiastically talking about the eggs.  "You know, the eggs to ride to the Arch.  We have a train car, you have the eggs."  Ohhhhh, those eggs!

At this point, the tram car arrived and I had my own personal ride to the top.

The car moved pretty fast, and it was neat to be able to see outside while ascending the 45º angle upwards.  

The view from the top was pretty amazing.  There were windows on all sides, with little binocular stands to see further.  I tried to find our hotel but I think it was too far away.

Seeing the Olympic Park grounds from above was exciting. You can really see the horseshoe crab resemblance to the biodome, how close the stair-step athlete quarters were, and the sheer size of the stadium.

After wandering around and looking out all sides for a while, I was ready to head back down and check out the museum.

(photos by e.hunt)

Mercredi

The next day we walked around the corner to a little coffeeshop, Mon Café.  It was bright and sunny and the guy behind the counter was friendly.  It was here that we experienced our first Montreal bagels!  Apparently it's a thing that they're known for, and I have to say, it was quite good.

After a quick jaunt through the Place Vauquelin (named for a famed French naval officer known for his bravery in The Seven Years' War) right next to City Hall, we made our way around the block to the nearest metro stop.  

I was very much looking forward to riding the métro, having loved the metro culture in Paris.  It was very similar, and I had great fun figuring out how to get to where I needed to be.

Which was Stop Pie-IX on Ligne Verte going towards Honoré-Beaugrand, aka The 1976 Olympic Stadium!

I walked out the door and turned around to see the tower.  The curves, cables, and simplistic shapes were beautiful and awe-inspiring.  I wanted to ride up to the top of the tower and look out on the city and the rest of the Olympic Park below but to do that I had to walk (from #5) all the way around to the opposite corner of the map (#2).

It was a nice day though, a bit overcast and not quite as cold, so I didn't mind the walk.  Dotting the sidewalk every one hundred feet or so were these information boards providing a timeline of the tower construction.  Good exercise and informational!

The Biodome was under construction but the curves and shapes lent themselves really well to the overall design.  I loved seeing the skylight ceiling through the windows.

And then I came upon the newest addition to the grounds: Place Nadia Comaneci, unveiled in 2017 honoring the youngest all-around gymnastic champion, who scored the first perfect ten in Olympic history at age 14.  The age restriction has since been raised to 16.

I had finally made it around to the other side and after many pictures of the monumental tower and surrounding curved buildings, I made my way inside.

(photos by e.hunt, r.hunt, and collected from stm.info.fr)