Place-des-Arts

We arrived in Montréal mid-vacation after a four-hour drive from Québec City. As we drove into town along rue Jeanne-Mance through neighborhoods filled with pedestrians and corner grocery marts, we passed rows of colorfully painted houses with unusual stairways that we learned are peculiar to Montréal. Most of the stairways are metal, and they reach from the ground to entrances about 1 1/2 to two stories up. The first floor is usually accessible through a separate doorway at or below ground level. Having read what winter weather can be like in Montréal, we can only guess that this ubiquitous architectural feature helps city dwellers negotiate feet of snow.

We will always think of  Montréal as a very friendly city. This is because four times during our sightseeing, elderly, English speaking men approached us to ask if we needed help in finding our way. In no other city during our travels have so many strangers offered us unsolicited aid. The first was a gentleman about 80 in a natty sports coat and tie who pointed us in the right direction and then insisted we accept some Werther's candy. "Do you know the best thing about Seattle?" he asked us.  "It's on the way to Montréal!" 

Montréal, first called Ville-Marie, was founded in 1642 by a group of devout French  Catholics who hoped to convert the native Iroquois to Christianity. This Catholic heritage is reflected in the numerous churches throughout the city.  The many Protestant churches reflect the fact that the British army took the city in 1760, and for many years the majority of residents were Protestant.  

Across the street from Place du Canada we found St. George's Anglican Church, erected in the late 1800s, interestingly framed by a modern highrise [left]. Delicately sculpted sandstone outside, inside its walls, floors, and pews are warm, inviting dark wood. Particularly noteworthy are the exposed framework ceiling and the woodwork in the chancel. 

However, mostly we felt rejected by the Protestants. We tried to enter the Presbyterian Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul across from the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts. It has a beautiful medieval stone façade and was enthusiastically described in our guide book, but it, like all other Protestant churches we walked past, was well locked.

Inside, worshipers walk through a soft, golden light that enhances the coffered vault. Beneath the cupola is the baldachin, a reproduction of Bernini's masterpiece in St. Peter's made of hand-worked red copper with twisted columns adorned with gold leaf. Above the baldachin, the cathedral's beautiful dome is lined in gold leaf and paintings. At the back of the apse a statue of the Virgin Mary appears to float on air. There are four side chapels, but the Bishops' Mortuary Chapel is most interesting, with Italian marble walls and floor featuring multicolored mosaic with gold inlay. All the diocese's bishops and archbishops rest there.