Walking Tour 2

Downtown Montréal

Start: Bonaventure Métro stop.

Finish: Musée McCord.

Time: 1 1/2 hours.

Best Times: Weekdays in the morning or after 2pm, when the streets hum with big-city vibrancy but aren't too crowded.

Worst Times: Weekdays from noon to 2pm, when the streets, stores, and restaurants are crowded with businesspeople on lunch-break errands; Monday, when museums are closed; and Sunday, when most stores are closed and the area is nearly deserted (museums, however, are open).

After a tour of Vieux-Montréal, a look around the heart of the 21st-century city will highlight the ample contrast between these two areas. To see the city at its contemporary best, take the Métro to the Bonaventure stop to start this tour.

Take the Métro to the Bonaventure stop. Emerging from that station, the dramatic skyscraper immediately to the west is:

1. 1000 rue de la Gauchetière

This young contribution to the already memorable skyline is easily identified by its copper-and-blue pyramidal top, which rises to the maximum height permitted by the municipal building code. Inside, past an atrium planted with live trees, is an indoor skating rink bordered by cafés.

Walk west for 1 block on rue de la Gauchetière. On the left is:

2. Le Marriott Château Champlain

The hotel's distinctive facade of half-moon windows inspired its nickname: the "Cheese Grater."

Walk 1 more block and turn right on rue Peel, heading north. When you hit boulevard René-Lévesque, bear right and you'll arrive at:

3. Square Dorchester

The square's tall old trees and benches invite lunchtime brown-baggers. This used to be called Dominion Square, but it was renamed for Baron Dorchester, an early English governor, when the adjacent street, once named for Dorchester, was changed to boulevard René-Lévesque. Along the east side of the square is the Sun Life Insurance building, built in three stages between 1914 and 1931, and the tallest building in Québec from 1931 until the skyscraper boom of the post-World War II era. This is a gathering point for tour buses and calèches. In winter, the calèche drivers replace their carriages with sleighs and give rides around the top of Mont-Royal.

At the northeast corner of the square is the main office of:

4. Infotouriste Centre

Many useful maps and brochures are in stock here, most of them free for the taking. Visitors can ask questions of bilingual attendants, purchase tour tickets, change money, make hotel reservations, or rent a car. Open daily.

From that office, go back to the other end of the square and turn left (east) on:

5. Boulevard René-Lévesque

Formerly Dorchester Boulevard, this primary street was renamed in 1988 following the death of René-Lévesque, the Parti Québécois leader who led the movement in favor of Québec independence and the use of the French language. Boulevard René-Lévesque is the city's broadest downtown thoroughfare, and the one with the fastest traffic.

On the right is the:

6. Basilique-Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde

Suddenly get the feeling you're in Rome? This cathedral is a copy of St. Peter's Basilica, albeit at roughly one-quarter scale, built between 1875 and 1894 as the headquarters for Montréal's Roman Catholic bishop. The statue in front is of Bishop Ignace Bourget (1799.1885), the force behind the construction. It was sculpted in 1903 by Louis-Philippe Hébert, who is also responsible for the statue of de Maisonneuve in the Place d'Armes in Vieux-Montréal.

Continue past the cathedral. In the next block, on also on the right, is:

7. Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth (Le Reine Elizabeth)

Montréal's largest hotel stands above Gare Centrale, the main railroad station, and buses leave for Dorval and Mirabel airports from here. Opened in 1958, this is where John Lennon and Yoko Ono had their weeklong "Bed-In for Peace" in 1969.

On your left, directly across from Fairmont Le Reine Elizabeth, is:

8. Place Ville-Marie

Known as PVM to Montréalers, this glass box of a building was considered a gem of the postwar urban redevelopment efforts in Montréal. Architect I. M. Pei (best known for his glass Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris) gave the skyscraper and indoor shopping mall a cross-shaped floor plan, recalling the cross planted by Cartier atop Mont-Royal that claimed the island for France. Completed in 1962, the complex has a fountain in its plaza called Feminine Landscape (1972), by Toronto artist Gerald Gladstone.

Continue on boulevard René-Lévesque to the end of the block and turn left on rue Université. As you're walking, look up to the top of the skyscraper a few blocks down:

9. Tour KPMG

Pink and postmodern, this glass office building was completed in 1987 at the Place de la Cathédrale. The two-peaked top is meant to resemble a bishop's mitre, or cap, but many see the ears of a certain DC Comics superhero's mask instead.

Walk 2 blocks to rue Ste-Catherine. Across the street is:

10. Cathédrale Christ Church

Built from 1856 to 1859, this neo-Gothic building is the seat of the Anglican bishop of Montréal. The church garden is modeled on a medieval European cloister. The cathedral donated the land for the Tour KPMG office building and the shopping complex underneath it, Promenades de la Cathédrale, in return for eventual ownership of both. During construction, the church was elevated on cement piles, making it look like it was floating on air.

Turn right on rue Ste-Catherine and walk just past avenue Union, where you'll see:

11. Carré Phillips (Square Phillips)

This plaza contains a statue of Edward VII and, during much of the year, a farm stand selling Québec maple products.

If you're in the mood for shopping, take some time to stroll west on this main shopping drag:

12. Rue Ste-Catherine

Many of Montréal's department stores are on this street, including, just across from Carré Phillips, La Baie -- or "The Bay," short for Hudson's Bay Company, successor to the famous fur-trapping firm. Head west of the Cathédrale Christ Church for the center of Montréal's shopping district. Be aware that several adult shops are housed alongside the stores and cafés.

To continue the walking tour, get to the corner of Ste-Catherine and avenue Union and go north on Union 3 blocks, to rue Sherbrooke. You'll be in front of McGill University's Schulich School of Music. Turn left and go 1 block. On your left is:

13. Musée McCord

This private museum of Canadian history first opened in 1921 and was substantially renovated in 1992. Named for its founder, David Ross McCord (1844.1930), the museum has an eclectic and often eccentric collection of over a million objects, images, and manuscripts. Folk art, beaded costumes, photographs, fine-china place settings, and more reveal elements of city and rural life from the 18th to the 20th century, and Amerindians are well represented.

Continue west on rue Sherbrooke. On your right is:

14. McGill University

The gate is usually open to this, Canada's most prestigious university, home to over 33,000 students. It was founded after a bequest from a Scottish-born fur trader, James McGill. This central campus mixes modern concrete and glass structures alongside older stone buildings.

Also on the campus is the:

15. Musée Redpath

Housed in a building dating from 1882, this museum's main draws are the mummies that are part of its Egyptian antiquities collection, the second largest of its kind in Canada.

Continue down rue Sherbrooke. About 30 feet past the front gate of McGill, note the large stone on the lawn. This marks the site of the Amerindian Horchelaga settlement that existed here before the arrival of the Europeans. Two blocks farther, on your left, is:

16. Maison Alcan

The street you're now on, rue Sherbrooke, is the heart of what's known as the "Golden Square Mile." This is where the city's most luxurious residences of the 19th and early 20th century were located, and where the vast majority of the country's wealthy lived. The Maison Alcan is an example of an office building that has nicely incorporated one of those 19th-century houses into its late-20th-century facade. Step inside the lobby to see the results over to the right.

Continue on rue Sherbrooke and:

Take a Break

If you're dressed nicely -- sophisticated casual is recommended, which means no jeans or shorts -- pop into The Ritz-Carlton Montréal (no. 1228), the city's "Grande Dame," for high tea at the Café de Paris. In warm weather it opens an outdoor terrace alongside its famous duck pond, complete with a family of ducklings. The Ritz Bar is another option, for cocktails and light snacks.

Continue another block on rue Sherbrooke, passing, on your left, the Holt Renfrew department store, identified on the side of its marquee only as HR. At the corner of rue Crescent you'll be at the:

17. Musée des Beaux-Arts (Museum of Fine Arts)

This is Canada's oldest and Montréal's most prominent museum. The modern annex on the left side of rue Sherbrooke was added in 1991 and is connected to the original stately Beaux Arts building (1912) across the street by an underground tunnel that doubles as a gallery. Both buildings are made of Vermont marble.

You've got a couple options here. If you're in the mood for the museum, by all means take this opportunity -- a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts should be part of any trip to Montréal. For high-end shopping, drinking, or eating, turn left onto:

18. Rue Crescent

This and nearby streets are the locus of the social and dining district of downtown, largely yuppie Anglo in character, if not necessarily in strict demographics. The first block of Crescent has pricey boutiques and jewelers. The next 2 blocks are a gumbo of inexpensive pizza joints, upscale restaurants, and dozens of bars and dance clubs, drawing enthusiastic consumers looking to spend money and, come darkness, party the night away. This center of gilded youth and glamour was once a run-down slum area slated for demolition. Luckily, buyers with a good aesthetic sense saw the possibilities of these late-19th-century row houses and brought them back to life.

Take a Break

Lively spots for coffee, snacks, and drink are abundant along rue Crescent. Thursday's (no. 1449, in L'Hôtel de la Montagne) is one, if you can find a seat on the balcony. Or head down a few steps into the unassuming Lebanese joint Boustan (no. 2020) for a filling shawarma sandwich. Yes, that's former Prime Minster Pierre Trudeau's photo at the register; he was a regular.