Image courtesy Flickr

MONTREAL occupies a 50-kilometer (30-mile) long island at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa River. The city core, where many sights are found, is fairly compact and lies to the south and east of Montreal’s main landmark, Mont-Royal. Vieux Montréal, the old city, is nestled on the shore of the St. Lawrence, while the modern downtown lies between it and Mont-Royal. Streets follow a fairly consistent grid pattern making the city easy to navigate.

Museums and Galleries

Musée Marc-Aurèle Fortin

THIS MUSEUM, housed in an old stone warehouse belonging to an ancient order of nuns, has an extensive collection of Fortin’s work, and it also mounts exhibitions of new painting by local artists.

Marc-Aurèle Fortin transformed landscape painting in Canada. He was born in 1888, when European styles dominated North American art.

Fortin loved the light of his native province, and used many unusual techniques. To capture the ‘‘warm light of Quebec,’’ for example, he painted some of his pictures over gray backgrounds. By the time he died in 1970, he left behind not only a staggering amount of work but a whole new way of looking at nature, especially the various rural areas of his native Quebec.

Centre d’Histoire de Montréal

THIS MUSEUM is housed in a handsome, red-brick fire station, which has a gracefully gabled roof built in 1903. The exhibits trace the history of Montreal from the first Indian settlements to the modern age, with the focus on everyday life. There are two floors of permanent exhibits. On the first floor, “Montreal, 5 Times” traces five passages in Montreal’s history, beginning in 1535 with the meeting of First Nations peoples and European explorers and ending with the cultural boom of the 1960s. The second floor houses “Montreal of 1000 Faces,” focusing on trade and immigration through the city’s history. News reel footage from the 30s, 40s and 50s is fun and informative, while a third floor observation deck offers a scenic view of the Old Port and Old Montreal.

Musée d’Art Contemporain

OPENED IN 1964, THE MUSEUM of Contemporary Art is the only institution in Canada dedicated exclusively to modern art. Located in downtown Montreal, more than 60 percent of the approximately 6,000 paintings, drawings, photographs, videos, and installations in the permanent collection are by Quebec artists. Works date from 1939, but the emphasis is on the contemporary. There are also works by innovative international talents, such as the controversial Bill Viola, Louise Bourgeois, and Andrès Serrano. The exhibits are in wide, well-lit galleries whose elegance helped to earn the Musée a Grand Prix from Montreal Council. The exhibition space is built around a rotunda, which runs up through the core of the building.

McCord Museum of Canadian History

LAWYER DAVID Ross McCord (1844–1930) was an avid collector of virtually everything that had to do with life in Canada, including books, photographs, jewelry, furniture, clothing, documents, papers, paintings, toys, and porcelain.

In 1919, he gave his considerable acquisitions to McGill University with a view to establishing a museum of Canadian social history. That collection, now more than 90,000 artifacts, is housed in a stately limestone building that was once a social center for McGill students. The museum has a good section of early history, as well as exceptional folk art. A particularly fine collection of Indian and Inuit items features clothing, weapons, jewelry, furs, and pottery.

A separate room is devoted to the social history of Montreal.

The museum’s most celebrated possession is the collection of 700,000 photographs that painstakingly chronicle every detail of daily life in 19th-century Montreal.

Musée des Beaux Arts

THE OLDEST AND LARGEST art collection in Quebec is housed in two dramatically different buildings that face each other across Rue Sherbrooke. The Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, fronted with four white marble pillars, faces the huge concrete arch and tilting glass front of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion. The former focuses on Canadiana, with Inuit art, furniture, and church silver from early settlers, and paintings from the 18th century to the 1960s. The galleries in the Desmarais Pavilion (illustrated here) focus on European art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, especially the Renaissance. Linking the two pavilions is the gallery of ancient cultures, with rich collections of artifacts, including Roman vases and Chinese incense boxes.

Centre Canadien d’Architecture

VISITORS ENTER through an unobtrusive glass door in an almost windowless façade of gray limestone that fronts this large U-shaped building. Well-lit exhibition rooms house a series of regular exhibits in rotation.

The three primary exhibits focus on architecture, design and landscape architecture.

The two arms of the modern building embrace the ornate, grand Shaughnessy Mansion, which faces Boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest. Now part of the Centre, the house was built in 1874 for the president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, and has an artnouveau conservatory with an intricately decorated ceiling.

The Centre is also a major scholarly institution. Its collection of architectural plans, drawings, models, and photographs is the most important of its kind anywhere. The library alone has over 165,000 volumes on the world’s most significant buildings.

Maison Saint-Gabriel

THIS ISOLATED little fragment of New France at first appears lost among the apartment buildings of working class Pointe-Saint-Charles. It was a farm when the formidable Marguerite Bourgeoys, Montreal’s first schoolteacher and now a canonized saint, bought it in 1668 as a residence for the religious order she had founded in 1655.

The house, rebuilt in 1698 after a fire, is a fine example of 17th-century architecture, with thick stone walls and a steeply pitched roof built on an intricate frame of original heavy wooden timbers.

Marguerite Bourgeoys and her tireless sisters worked the farm and ran a school on the property for native and colonial children. They also housed and trained the filles du roy (the “king’s daughters”), orphaned young girls sent abroad to be the women of his new colony. The house’s chapel, kitchen, dormitory, and drawing rooms are full of artifacts dating from the 17th century. These include a writing desk the saint used herself and a magnificent vestment and cope, embroidered in silk, silver, and gold by a wealthy hermit who lived in a hut on the property.

Image Courtesy Flickr.com

Mont Tremblant in Quebec is most famously known for having one of the best mountains in Canada for winter activities such as skiing and snowboarding. However, over the past decade or so Mt. Tremblant has grown into a 365 day tourist hotspot with plenty of activities for the family during both the winter and summer months. We’re going to go through a little bit of information which will guide you through deciding whether or not Tremblant is the next vacation spot for you now.

Arriving

Whether you’re driving or flying Tremblant is one of the most accessible areas to reach as it’s in a central location to most of Canada. The Trudeau International Airport is only about an hour and a half drive away from Tremblant and anyone in the world can access this airport. If you are flying then you’ll be able to rent a car or truck from the airport so that you can drive out to Tremblant.

Winter Activities

Tremblant is most busy during the winter months and this is because of the World Class skiing and snowboarding experience you can enjoy here. There are almost 100 runs at Tremblant with 13 operational lifts. You will also be able to enjoy acres upon acres of the best rails, ramps, halfpipes and a superpipe. Some of the other activities that you can enjoy while in Tremblant during the winter include snowshoeing, skating, curling, cross country skiing, ice climbing, dogsledding, horseback riding, sleigh rides, helicopter tours, tubing, snowmobiling, paintball and many other fun things for the family.

Summer Activities

As I mentioned earlier Tremblant has grown into quite the summer tourist spot over the years and this is because of the unlimited list of activities for families. Some of the activities you’ll be able to enjoy with your family include a gondola ride, Waterpark, tennis, golf, mini-golf, luge, bicycling, mountain biking, horseback riding, rafting, bungee trampoline, paintball, hiking, climbing, fishing, bird show, boat cruises, ATV rides, helicopter tours and so much more.

Adult Activities

After a day in the snow or in the sun depending on when you visit Tremblant most parents will want a little time to themselves so that they can unwind. Tremblant offers several great activities for adults including a great nightlife atmosphere with several busy clubs and a casino. Casino de Mont Tremblant was recently built and it allows adults to have some fun trying to win some money. You can reach the casino through a bus shuttle or a gondola ride.

Accommodations & Dining

Tremblant isn’t a small area by any means and you will have a wide array of options when it comes to where you want to stay and eat. With tons of hotels, motels and resorts in Tremblant you can have your pick at anything you want so that it meets your budget. I would advise visiting the Official Tremblant website if you’re planning a trip because they have lots of deals and packages for families. You should be able to plan your entire vacation on the website while keeping costs to a minimum.

If you are seeking a special place to cozy up this winter, you can enjoy a romantic Montreal hotel get-away. Enjoy a night IN and get served hot chocolate before bed and breakfast in bed the next morning. Check out late too (2pm)! Montreal luxury hotels aim to pamper you during your stay. With so many things to do all winter long, Montreal is just a short flight from Toronto, or a mere hour and a half from New York city.