Day 58, 59, and 60 Lavaltrie to Montreal to Laval, Quebec

As I went from the hotel to the parking lot, I walked through the huge tent city in Victoria square close to the Montreal Stock Exchange. A protest in support of the occupy Wall Street campaign.

They are tearing down an entire city block on Beaver Hall/ Viger streets to make way for condos and office towers

The subway train, part of the Montreal Metro (STM)

Jeremy and I are on a top secret mission today, (next blog)

After our successful mission, we went through this neighbourhood close to Saint Laurent Boulevard on our way to lunch

There were many streets like this for pedestrians only

Art deco chicken sign for a restaurant or as us cultured people say "signe d'art deco de poulet pour un restaurant"

Lunch time , Schwartz's smoked meat restaurant on Saint Laurent, one of Montreal's most famous

lots of pictures and  memorabilia adorn the walls

yah, also home of the big pickle, yikes!

Smoked meat sandwich is the specialty, you can have it with or without mustard. Very basic dining, but the atmospere is great, like an old school diner from the past.

better walk this one off

always very busy

On Saint Laurent boulevard and the surrounding streets, there were incredible examples of graffiti by some amazing artists

Looking towards Mount Royal

They had all these bike stands in Montreal where you can rent a bike for as little as 5 dollars, and you can drop them at one of the many stands around town

This one is done by a guy by the name of Omen, one of many of his creations

Dusk on Saint Laurent boulevard,  nicknamed "the main" click on the link to learn more about the street, runs the length of Montreal island, symbolically dviding the east and west side .

Hi tech graffiti artists

The rain came down, lucky for us there was a pub close by!

Randomly walked by the Just for Laughs theatre, unfortunately there were no shows scheduled until November

I remember seeing this sign during the Olympic Torch relay, and there was a protest that night in Montreal

We found this funky clothing/thrift store that was gearing up for halloween.

It really was everywhere

This building was just outside our hotel.

Day 59 on the way to Olympic stadium in Montreal. Hank and I were part of the event team for the end of day celebration.

The Montreal Biodome in the foreground. It allows people to walk through replicas of 4 ecosystems found in the Americas

My ride today, there are two trailers for the events teams to set up their displays.

End of day was in the cafeteria at the entrance to the olympic staduim tower observatory 

Part of the tradition of end of day celebration is to put the Rick Hansen medal back in the box specially made for relay. Apparently it is made from salvaged pine beetle diseased wood. Today they forgot to take it to the stage and Hank had to run out to the vehicle to save the day.

This time the end of day included hors d'oeuvres and wine! My will power is weakening

Our region co-ordinator Natalie with Randy Ferguson, who was the emcee during the Olympic Torch Relay lunch time and evening events. He popped in to say hi

That evening, Don, Pat, Marylyn and I were invited  over to Michel's house in Brossard, Quebec.

Marylyn is posing with the Olympic Torch that Michel ran with

More snacks and lots of wine,

3 choices of french baguettes, it was a lot of fun, Michel and his wife were very gracious hosts and I even got to do a load of laundry! 

Day 60, today I am a shuttle driver today with Ross, we had two medal bearers groups, one meeting was at the Olympic stadium, and the other was at the Rehabilitation Institute of Montreal

Random Montreal pic, while dropping off medal bearers

The rehabilitation institue had 3 wards, one for spinal injuries, one for brain injuries and one for amputees, there were a lot of posters on the wall showing the patients in various poses

Another group of difference makers

George-Etienne Cartier Monument at Mount Royal

Relay time out

The medal bearer awaits her turn, Andrew and Ross keeping her company

Ahh yes, the stoic Ronald McDonald, another McDonald's sponser stop

I found this interesting, the medal bearer had to wait on the medium between two different roads with traffic all around him. Oh well, won't be the first one we have lost, (just kidding)

The power of the medal

Suzanne (right) (media relations) with her sister and mother, who was a medal bearer today.

The media shot, Ronald with two medal bearers who were picked by McDonalds, along with the manager of the store, and in the  middle is Alexandre Despatie, an Olympic medalist and world champion diver.

The long and winding road, leaving Montreal tomorrow heading to St. Jerome, Quebec