Line Endings

I’ve been an enthusiastic user of the métro in Montréal ever since we first visited. Over our various stays, I’ve traveled most of the routes. I’ve been to the ends of the lines, or one stop short, on all of them.

Looking at the map, I realize we’ve written about fewer of these places than I had remembered. Maybe I’ll have to fill in some of those details.

Manon and I visited Côte Vertu on one end of the Orange line last year, looking at possible neighborhoods in which to live, and have been to Montmorency a few times en route to visiting friends in Boucherville.

We’ve written something about every stop on the short Yellow line, which goes from the northwest edge of the Gay Village to Île St. Helene/Parc Jean Drapeau and ends in Longueuil.

The Blue line starts at Snowdon. I thought I’d written about that area, which is in between a lot of stuff like my last-year’s language school and St. Joseph’s Oratory, but evidently I haven’t (yet). The other end of the Blue line is just starting to be extended, but I’ve only been as far as D’Ilberville (one stop short).

The Green line ends at Parc Angrignon on the southwest end, and, until yesterday, I’d never been further than Pie-IX on the northeast end.

So! Yesterday’s adventure was Beyond Honoré Beaugrand!

I took the métro to Honoré Beaugrand, and emerged to see a slightly more sprawly part of town. Notably, in one of these pictures, you can see the Olympic Tower from the other side, and in the faint distance, the top of Mont Royal.

From there, I took a Bixi bike down to the river, where there’s a long riverside park: Parc de la Promenade-Bellerive. It’s a pleasant park with grassy expanses, picnic tables, play equipment for kids, “beaches,” a series of un-mown bushes and wildflowers for birds and pollinators, and lots of signs describing how this was once a toxic industrial wasteland that has been rehabilitated by the city.

At the north end of the park, this industrial history became more evident. The park abuts a tank farm and docks for tanker ships. Heading north from there involved going through a fairly industrial area, where the air smelled of chemicals, although there was a really nice protected bike path that ran along Notre Dame Street East. It led to other parks along the river, some more industrial than others.

I tried to get to Parc du Fort-De-Pointe-Aux-Trembles take a biking break. There was an outdoor festival market going on, but in between me and the park, a small demonstration was occurring with red-faced people waving American and Israeli and some red-and-gold flag that I didn’t recognize, along with one that looked like a modified WiFi symbol but with a heart in the middle. I couldn’t understand what they were chanting or what their cause was, and I didn’t feel comfortable passing through the crowd, so I continued up the beautiful bike path through Parc de la Traversée.

Eventually, I got tired, as as I was nearing the end of the island, I turned back, cutting through the deep shady Parc-nature de la Pointe-aux-Prairies.

By the time I got back to Parc du Fort-De-Pointe-Aux-Trembles, the demonstration had evaporated. I went down through the market, and looked at the festive events at the park. Artisans sold crafts and foods, there were wine-tastings and people were picnicking on the sloped lawns overlooking the river. It looked like a very nice way to pass a lazy Saturday afternoon.

So now I know some of what’s at the end of that line.