Christmas Lights Around Montreal

As the days get shorter and colder in December, Montreal starts to become a little magical as the various Christmas displays appear around the city. Here are a few neighbourhoods worth braving the cold to enjoy the lights.

Old Montreal

When you add some white snow and Christmas lights to the cobblestone streets, old stone buildings, Notre Dame cathedral, and Marche Bonsecours, Old Montreal transforms into a Christmas wonderland. It's a great neighbourhood to explore in early December to get into the holiday spirit.

Downtown

Every year, downtown Montreal has impressive Christmas light displays along and around St. Catherine's, McGill-College, Crescent Street and Place Ville Marie. Wrap up your walk with the charming classic mechanical window display at Ogilvy's, which has been a family destination for generations.

Plateau Mont Royal

Plateau Mont Royal has a different Christmas display in the square around metro Mont Royal. From there, enjoy the lights along Mont Royal, St. Laurent and St. Denis.

Square around metro Mont Royal, Dec. 2012

The Village

Each year, there is usually a colourful light display along St. Catherine between St. Andre and Papineau.

St. Catherine's looking toward The Village, Dec. 2012

While the weather is not too cold, it's a good time to grab your camera and get out and enjoy the Christmas lights while the season lasts. Happy holidays!

And Autumn Passes Into Winter...

Autumn is spectacular in Quebec.  Fortunately, I was able to get out and enjoy it in between work and attending a conference in Vancouver.  Since pictures speak a thousand words, I'll share a few of the photos I took over the past three months.

Anyone know what these are?

I concluded my monthly visits to the Montreal Botanical Gardens in late September, catching the last of the vegetable gardens and the Dahlias.  It was also the start of the Chinese lantern festival and one of the best displays in the past five years. Unfortunately, I forgot my bike light so I could not stay until it was dark.

Thanksgiving weekend, we did a roadtrip up to Bois Franc for the annual Balade Gourmande during which local farms open their doors and sell their harvest goodies.  We visited a cranberry farm, a game fowl (pheasants, quail, guinea fowl, etc.) farm, Fromagerie du Presbytère, a coffee roaster (for D, of course), a flour mill and concluded with a deer farm.

Colourful pheasant at Faisanderie St. Albert

Right before leaving for Vancouver, I participated in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk.  I joined a group that walked around Atwater Market early Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful day, but it was too early for me to feel particularly creative. 

Autumn at Atwater Market

That evening, I participated in my third Light the Night Walk. Our team raised over $2000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and we agreed it was the best walk out of the three years.

Although it's not Quebec, I thought I may as well share a Fall photo from my week in Vancouver:

View of North Vancouver from the Conference Centre

For the past three years, I have had perfect weather for a photo walk on the first weekend of November.  This year... it was freezing cold!  However, the light was perfect for shooting reflections in the glass skyscrapers downtown.  It was one of the most creative photo walks I've had in a long time.

Place Ville-Marie

As the Christmas lights came out, I started to carry my camera in my work backpack so I could snap pictures of the lights as I walked around work and home.  The display along St. Catherine in the neighbourhood where I work is particularly festive:

Christmas Lights leading into The Village

I hope to get some photos with both lights and snow between Christmas and New Year. 

Happy Holidays, everyone!

The funny thing about Christmas...

As my life turned upside down, my only thoughts about Christmas were about how to avoid it while not being totally alone. In the past few years, the weeks leading up to Christmas were often stressful for a variety of reasons, some of it self-imposed. This year I certainly didn't feel like having anything to do with Christmas. The funny thing is, though, that it managed to find me anyway.

I took the train to Toronto to spend the long weekend with friends - just hang out, talk, relax. That's pretty much what we did, but Christmas was still there with us. Instead of a tree, we had a Christmas ivy on the fire place mantel, surrounded with candles. Instead of children, we had three little black kittens running around the apartment and chewing on the ribbons. On Christmas Eve, we had guests, gifts were exchanged, followed by a couple of rounds of Cranium (even more fun with a couple of drinks). We spent Christmas day in our pajamas, watching Ratatouille, part of a Crossing Jordan marathon, and Horton Hears a Who. During a brief internet fix, I found the Santa Claus blog. It's wonderful and hilarious, so I put the link on this blog. It will be interesting to read what happens at North Pole, Inc. in 2008. We even had a Christmas ham, technically, though that dinner was the night before Christmas Eve. As with all Christmas hams, it was enjoyed in various forms throughout the weekend (sandwiches, snack platter, quiche... there will be a ham and pea/bean soup at some point in the future).

All in all, it was the best way to spend Christmas. I feel really blessed to have such good friends here and around the world. Everyone has been so supportive. I really appreciate it.