Olympic history

After yesterday's visit to the rowing basin I continued today on the same theme by heading to the Olympic Park.  Here the key events of the 1976 Montreal Olympics took place and many of the venues, particularly the swimming pool and the stadium, were there to visit.  The swimming pool is connected to the Olympic Stadium, and is now used as a public pool.  Had I known I would have brought my swimming things!  It is still very similar to how it was at the time of the games, only the addition of a children's play pool (which was there all the time, just under the podium) and the removal of temporary seating have changed things.  Access to the stadium itself was only through a guided tour.  The stadium is used for a variety of sports and other activities, but has no anchor tenant anymore (London, take note).  some of the seating has been removed, and it also has a roof - apparently one was always planned, but it didn't get built until 10 years after the games as a retractable roof, but that didn't work so it now has a permanent one.  It all made for a rather strange stadium experience.

Whilst it was only half there at the time of the games, the stadium complex is topped off by a viewing tower, which is the largest leaning tower in the world.  This gives views out across the Olympic park and way off into the distance through the main Montreal city and beyond.  Access is via a train which runs up the outside which is quite fun (and more spacious than the equivalent that runs up the St Louis arch!)

Also connected to the stadium complex is what was the velodrome.  I say was as the velodrome is now a biodome (that'll be why Canada only won one cycling medal in the 2012 games then (a bronze in the women's team pursuit)).  I went and had a look around - no sign of any banked track but a good selection of wildlife and plants in a number of different temperate zones.

From the stadium complex I headed over to the Botanical Gardens, which are just next to it (indeed they hosted some Olympic events themselves apparently!).  Being a sunny day it was a good time for a walk around, and as well as the plants and the themed gardens were several paper-based exhibits including a lot of colourful characters!

From here I went via a university art gallery (which took longer to find than it took to look round) to the McCord museum which had a fantastic exhibition of cartoons (focusing on their reaction to world crises) as well as a section on the history of Montreal.

Walk of Champions

My first full day in Montreal, and I've packed a lot in.  The day started (as ever in a new town) with a visit to the Tourist Information Centre, followed by a look round the impressive Cathedral Marie-Reine-du-Monde.  From there I headed out to the Canadian Centre for Architecture which had an exhibition about James Sterling with drawings and models from his archives.  (One odd thing about Montreal is that most museums etc don't open until 11am - obviously people like to lie-in!)

Next stop was the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.  Here, the main exhibition was of a pop artist called Tom Wesselmann who is less well known that Warhols etc but had some great pictures, particularly some made through cutting outlines from aluminium.  Another innovation in the main collection was the use of the audio guide not to tell about the pictures but to play pieces of music that relate to the time or the picture in some other way which was a great addition.  Lots of other aspects to the museum, including design elements and modern art.  Another gallery with lots in it, and another 3 hour visit!

I then headed out by Metro to St Helen's Island.  Here I first visited the Stanley Museum which had a Canadian History exhibit as well as a special display focused on kitchens and kitchen equipment over the past 100 years.  More interesting than it sounds (to me at least!)

The main reason for my being on the island is its neighbour - Isle Notre Dame.  This is the site of the Canadian Grand Prix each year and, when it isn't being used for motor racing it is open to the public as part of the public park.  I was therefore able to walk round the whole grand prix circuit which was very exciting.  Given the speed I went at (for the record, a 52 minute lap!) I can see why the drivers are given fast cars... Because it is a temporary circuit most things get packed up between races.  Therefore there were only a few grandstands still standing (and I think they were being taken down) and the pit lane looked like something for a low level support race rather than a Formula One paddock and the start/finish only had a small sign to mark it.  Key areas like the "Wall of Champions" were difficult to pick out (I think I found it, but then again it may just have been a bit of wall!).  Some parts of the track, such as the hairpin) were very recognisable though.  What you don't really get on TV is that the rack is very hemmed in, both by water on both sides and also by trees etc from the park - indeed I couldn't really see how they fit the grandstands in!  The track also has some changes of elevation (which you may not see on TV) and seems quite narrow in places!  I was the only person I saw walking the track, although there were plenty on bicycles (some of which went past me several times), a few on rollerblades and a few cars (there are car parks in the middle).  A great experience and one that you can get at very few circuits. 

Next door to the Circuit Giles Villeneuve is the site of the rowing events for the 1976 Olympics.  Part of it look quite tired (London 2012 organisers take note) but there was still some rowing taking place which was good to see that it wasn't totally abandoned!

Reflections on Ottawa

I am writing this post at the end of my time in Ottawa - sitting in Ottawa station waiting for my train to Montreal.  The station is like many US stations in that it has very few trains that go through it - the departures board in front of me suggests there are 18 trains in total (that includes varients where there are differences between weekdays and weekends), and 3 of them are being cancelled from the 3rd September.  It is a very spacious station nevertheless, and has free wi-fi (hence the blogging!).

When I first was thinking about this trip I had thought of Ottawa as a day trip from Montreal (the journey is only 1hr45).  However, having been here for nearly 3 days I can see that this would not have been nearly enough, as with the time I have spent here there is still far more that I could do.

Today I have been to the National Gallery of Canada, which had a special "Van Gogh Up Close" exhibition on (where the crowds were) as well as a large permanent collection and other temporary exhibits (where there were less crowds!)  Overall it took 3 hours plus to get round it all, which is a good sign! 

Also today I have called in on the Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica, Byward Market, the Ottawa Art Gallery and the Laurier House (although on the last one I did not have enough time to both take the tour and confidently catch my train!) 

Overall I have found Ottawa to be a very interesting place to visit.  During my time here I have stuck to the centre, with more time I would have liked to have seen some of the government and crown buildings that were further out of town, and there were also several more museums that could have been visited.  In a way it reminds me of Washington DC in that it is a place which is "there" because of the function of government, but also has a significant collection of national museums.  The highlight has been the access that was available to Parliament which was more than you would have expected.  Well worth the time I have spent here.

Civilization

For my second day here I wanted to find out a bit more about Canada itself.  Therefore I headed off to the Canadian Museum of Civilization.  Whilst this was within walking distance, it was actually in the city of Gatineau which is over a bridge from Ottawa.  Gatineau is in Quebec (as opposed to Onterio for Ottawa) and it is noticable that suddenly French becomes the primary language as opposed to the English spoken in Ottawa.

The museum itself is very large and includes the Canadian Postal Museum and several special exhibitions (including one on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and her relationship with Canada) as well as exhibitions that take you through Canadian history and through some of its notable people. 

When going to the Museum of Civilization I was sold a combined ticket to the Canadian Museum of War.  For a combined ticket the museum was a bit further away than I thought it might be (I am sure it is just round the corner if you go by car).  The museum itself was again a lot bigger than I expected, covering the founding wars of Canada, its role in the first and second world wars and where it has taken up international roles since then.  The interesting parts were to see the different perspectives that Canadians will have on the war, and particularly the role that the second world war had on the growth of Canada as a nation.  Also there was a special exhibition on the war of 1812 - possibly a forgotten war outside of Canada (it involved the US, Canada and the UK) but significant here on the bicentenary.

I then walked back along the Ottawa river, up the Rideau Canal locks and caught a small exhibition at the Ottawa School of Art.

The daughter of Parliament

For my first day in Ottawa I started out at the Parliament building.  As you may have forgotten, Ottawa is the capital of Canada and its Parliament building owes more than a little in inspiration to that back in the UK.  However, access to it is much higher.  Whilst the summer holidays help make this happen, through a free tour I stood on the floor of both their House of Commons and their Senate and in the fantastic library of Parliament.  There was also the opportunity to go up their clock tower (called the Peace Tower but looks a little like the Elizabeth Tower/"Big Ben" in the UK) which has a viewing platform at the top with some great views.  The grounds were also well worth exploring.

Also underlining some of the access available was a trip to the Supreme Court int he afternoon where again you got onto the floor of the Court.  Whilst the Parliamentary system is very much based on the UK, the justice system has more in common with the USA - like so much in Canada there is heritage from one or the other.  I also called in to visit a Currency Museum at the Bank of Canada and came across a small art fair as well.

In the evening I returned up to Parliament so see a "son et lumiere" type show called "Mosaika" which was projected onto the side of the Parliament building.  This was a fantastic show that covered Canada's history, their "Famous Five" key people, TV, music, sport and nature.  It also used the building very playfully, at one time even making the windows look like they were going in and out from the building.  All in all it was very impressive and made you proud to be a Canadian (what do you mean, I'm not...?)

Back on the train gang

So, time for another assignment.  This time is a trip around Canada (visiting Ottawa and Montreal) and then down to New York - all done by train.  Well, after all that driving last time (and indeed over the year since I was last here) it called for something different!

Olympic Legacy

A small detour from the travelling nature of this blog to visit an event closer to home.  The games of the 30th Olympiad in London were a literally once in a lifetime event, and therefore worth adding to the record.

My experience of the games started when the games came to me, through the torch relay.  Whilst it passed a way away it was good to see the excitement starting.

Before I actually got to go there, the fantastic opening ceremony started by swooping through the village where I grew up - broadcasting it to billions of people!

My first visit to see some sport was at the Millennium Stadium in Wales on the 1st August.  We had picked these football tickets because they were (a) down the road and (b) gave us two matches to see.  What we didn't expect at the time was that (c) we would see Team GB play and what we didn't know at the time was that (d) we also saw the overall winners Mexico play (and win against Mexico).  The atmosphere was great, particularly when Team GB won but even from the start when Bradley Wiggins' victory was shown on the big screen.  What wasn't so great were the travel arrangements at the train station on the way back - huge queues and no information - over 2 hours of waiting to get on a train.

The main event was a visit to the Olympic Part on Thursday 9th August.  Contrary to warnings (and Cardiff experience) getting there was an easy experience (we were even the only people on an Olympic train at one point!).  A visit up the Orbit was a highlight - whilst the viewing platform overlooking the stadium was crowded it was good to get a glimpse of what was going on within it and the rest of it was very impressive (although walking down the stairs may have been a mistake in the long run!).  We also did a lot of walking around the park to see the different venues - fighting through the crowds at some points.  Very impressive (and very hot - being a new park there was very little shade).  Also saw big screen dressage (!), a public appearance by Sir Chris Hoy (who had forgotten his tracksuit) and the BBC's Jake Humphreys being ferried around the park on the back of an airport buggy.

After all this walking in the heat it was a bit of sinking into our seats when we got to the stadium.  However the action (and the medal ceremonies) soon got us out of them. With field events going on (Decathlon Javelin, Men's Triple Jump and Women's Javelin) there was always something to see that was going on.  Limited Brits in action this evening, but highlights of the action included the Men's 200m final (where the stadium was on its feet from the minute Usain Bolt entered the track and didn't sit down until he had passed them in his victory lap) and the Men's 800m which was a fantastic, amazing world record-breaking race where everyone in the race broke some sort of record.  All in all a brilliant experience (not even dampened by the misadvertising as to how near West Ham station was!) which we were very fortunate to have from our names being pulled out of the original ticket ballot.