L'Ancien Monde et le Nouveau: Day Two in Montréal

    On Saturday morning, the streets of Montréal were cold and icy. We had hoped the weather would be a little better, but we decided to brave the sidewalks and basically skated down Rue Sainte-Catherine, through Chinatown, until we reached the Place-des-Armes. 
Our destination? One of North America's most famous and most beautiful churches--the Basilique Notre-Dame. 

 This Gothic-Revival Basilica, designed by Irish-American architect James O'Donnell, was built between 1824 and 1829 in reaction to Ville-Marie's growing population, which the old chapel (built at the end of the 17th century) could not support. Its famous bell towers, affectionately called La Persévérance and La Témperance, were added later on, making one of Montréal's jewels really resemble its Parisian counterpart. 

Aside from its gorgeous façade, one of the things that really drew us to Notre-Dame was its history. Hundreds of thousands of people have passed through there, many have been baptized, wed, and given funerals there, and people from all over the world have flocked to the Basilica to see this amazing arm of the Catholic Church in New France--now Canada. When I visit churches on my travels, I can never stop myself from thinking about some of the amazing people who might have stood where I stood. In this particular case, when we entered the church, we walked the same path as Luciano Pavarotti (who held at least one concert there), Canada's own Céline Dion (who was married there), and Pope John Paul II (who celebrated mass there).

 One of the things I love most about visiting Basilicas and Cathedrals is the collection of prayer candles scattered around the perimeter of each church. As small as the building might make you feel, the little kneelers and candle-filled trays make the church feel even more peaceful and oddly intimate. And even if you're not religious, they provide a great place for quiet contemplation. 

Time in the Basilica passed quickly as we looked at the beautiful artwork on its walls (and ceiling), and we decided to move on.

Our next stop was in stark contrast to Notre-Dame--as the weather was still snowy and freezing, we decided to head to the Musée d'Arte Contemporain.

I will preface this by saying modern art isn't really my thing. Some pieces I absolutely love, and some just don't speak to me. The MAC was one of those museums where I was crazy about some pieces and bewildered or weirded out by others. However, it is one of the most thought-provoking museums I have ever visited. 

The first piece we saw I absolutely loved. It's a piece you can interact with, one that looks and is physically heavy but, in a fantastical way, seems rather light and airy. 

A piece we saw after that drove me and the man a little crazy, and I couldn't bring myself to take a video. Ann Lislegaard's Time Machine  involves a computer-animated fox which stutters as it tells a hard-to-follow tale of its trip to the future. It's a really cool concept (a talking fox in a mirrored box), and I love that Lislegaard mixed English and Danish to make the fox's story make less sense, but to be honest, the fox's face is haunting... and not necessarily in a good way.

After we decided to escape from the room which housed Time Machine, we happened upon an installation which I really loved. Given my passion for Economics, it probably won't be too surprising when I say I totally geeked out when I saw what the installation contained. 

Entitled The Prophets, this piece by Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens embodies what I love so much about my field--the amazing power of models in predicting future events. 

Overall, this was probably our favorite part of the MAC, but we saw some other weird and cool things on our way out, including some unexpected taxonomy (a deer and a fox, seemingly sleeping, on the floor of two different rooms), some sort of arctic sled, and lot of heartbreaking videos. 

We went for lunch at Eggspectation (which seriously has the best omelettes I've ever had) and learned that there would be a huge snow storm that night. Because we knew we probably couldn't eat out, we made our second venture into the RESO to pick up some groceries--emergency food if you will. The result? 

Butter Chicken, Wilted Garlic Spinach, and Naan, which we prepared in our room's kitchenette. Not super fancy, but not too shabby in light of the heavy snow outside.
 We paired this with Revolution White Wine (Rev Vineyards, Napa, CA), a Colombard-Chardonnay blend. (For those who are wondering, it's very fruit-forward, floral, and tropical with a medium body and finish.) While the wine wasn't quite dry enough for our tastes, we were still impressed with how well our IGA run turned out.

As Saturday night drew to a close, we were absolutely exhausted. So, we cleaned up, turned on Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys (excellent, by the way), and turned in on the early side as we waited out the snowstorm.