Montreal Day 4: Public Art and Street Art

The cruise ship was in.

After breakfast we headed out on the metro to a new area - the Plateau Mont Royal neighborhood.  We got off the metro and started wandering.  We have a nice map of public art.  If anyone is interested in any more details about the public art, go to Montreal Public Art

4 Blades of Grass

Le Malheureux Magnigique 

Le Chien du Quebec (The Poodle) 

Cool roof

Duck in the fountain

Renovations to the neighborhood homes

Decorations on a subway vent.

Fountain

Green space in the middle of some pedestrian street

Rabbit

Feeding the rabbit

"Coffee Break" 

Yummy!!!

Prepared for rain, which we did have off and on.

Mural

Cute baby ducklings!!!

Albino squirrel - well maybe not a true albino, it certainly was very light colored.

Every neighborhood had their own design of street lamps.  This is the Duluth street area.

The Gardens

We got to Schwartz's deli for lunch. It is a very popular place.  You can tell by the long line.  It moved pretty quickly. When we came out from lunch, the line was still long.

They were very quick.  What a delicious sandwich.  I am glad that we shared. 

 We walked to where the street art tour was to start, in front of Le Livart.  Amelie was our tour guide.  She was FABULOUS.

It just so happens that right now is part of  an 11 day mural festival.  New murals were going up all over.  There are more that 80 murals around in this neighborhood.  Some will get painted over and some are protected. Amelie was so full of stories about the murals, the artists, and the techniques used.  Very impressive.  I can remember only a tiny portion of what she said.

The artist drew this in response to his friend dying.

This chair is for the vegetarians.

This art was commissioned and it is about all the major celebrities of Montreal.

A bright door.

An alley green space.  This is due to the mayor.  He really wanted to promote community and slow down traffic.  

Close-up - note the parts of houses in the bird.

More green space and community gardens.  So some street art I think is gorgeous, some "tagging (or signatures) I am not so impressed with.  Some is just vandalism. The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of various Indigenous peoples of North America: winter squash, maize (corn), and climbing beans.

Every artist is responsible to maintain their art.  this guy is repairing his art from graffiti. 

Flower shaped mango Popsicle.  It makes it easier to eat a mango while walking along. 

'Grandma' was one of the first mural artists and was highly respected.  This mural was done to show their respect.  It is well maintained.

Jackie Robinson, this was done with a very complicated paint process with layers of paint.

Another famous street artist who died young from cancer.  This is his last piece. The 4 leafed clover in the upper right is the symbol for Montreal.

It depicts his battle with cancer.  Note the images of God and the Devil playing hand-paper-scissors.  The Devil won.

Not so pretty tagging

Pretty tag

This depicts the constant struggle between in English and the French. Are they joining hands or are they reaching for Molotov cocktails?

Artists in the middle of painting their mural.  They are taking a lunch break.

This was done entirely with spray paint, every wrinkle.  Such detail!

every hair

The two artists who did this always paint together.

By the end of the tour it was seriously raining.  Definitely, made it more challenging to take pictures.

When the tour was over we asked for a sit-down recommendation.  She recommended Le Darling's.  Whew!! My feet sure needed to sit down, by this time, plus we wanted to get out of the rain.

An eclectic collection of decor.  Not sure of the significance of this tower of books.  It was a "hot spot with a round bar and vintage decor."

We had a couple of glasses of wine before we headed home.  Since our metro pass was no longer active we decided to take the Uber home.  It worked out to be cheaper than the subway would have been, even with the tip.

We got home and started a couple of loads of laundry.  Relaxed and had some snacks.  Then about 8 pm we decided that it must be dinner time.  We chose a very close restaurant, since it was still raining.  

My French onion soup and Sharon's beet salad.  I had the soup first then the salad.  Sharon did it the other way around.

Jeanne had the fish and chips.  Kris had the lamb sausage.  I did not get a picture of her meal.

NYKS was a very good restaurant.  The name is from the initials of the owners. NYK and S.  It was an "unpretentious tavern whipping up comfort foods with a twist."

Nearly full moon.  It will be full when we are in Quebec City.

It is hard to believe that our time in Montreal is nearly over.  It is hard to believe.  So much to see and so little time.  It is fun to stay long enough to start to get to know a city and how to get around. Tomorrow morning we have to check out by 11 am.