Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Westmount Lookout

I took a sandwich and a bottle of water up Mount Royal for lunch today.

Mount Royal defines Montreal.  It sits alone and prominently on the south side of the Island, just northwest of the downtown core.  It's a kind of camel-back mountain with a pass that traverses the mountain on a southeast-northwest axis.  The southwestern peak belongs to the City of Westmount.  The Westmount Lookout gives beautiful unrestricted views to the south including Montreal's skyline, and, on a clear day, the Adirondack Mountains in the United States.
There are sighting guides cast into the lookout's balustrade to help you identify the landmarks.
To be honest, I didn't know that there was a Mount Johnson within sight of Montreal.  You learn something new every day.
Westmount is home to a good proportion of Montreal's well-heeled elite.  The palatial homes of every type and description perch on the mountainside and compete for the views.
If you look carefully at the river in the preceding picture you can see the Victoria bridge, Montreal's first permanent link to the south shore, completed in the nineteenth century.  Click here for my post on the Victoria Bridge.
A little further to the west, in the foreground, is Westmount Square, a group of buildings designed by famed Bauhaus architect Mies Van der Rohe.  He also contributed a similar grouping of sleek black boxes to the Toronto skyline, and I am certain, to many other cities in the world.

Beyond Westmount Square, there is the Champlain bridge, our mainstay route to the south and New York State, about an hour's drive to the south.

Here's another peak at a multi-million dollar view.
Refreshed by the quick sightseeing lunch break. It's time to head back to the office.

This video shot as usual with my Iphone, allows you to come along for the ride. Better mute your speakers because I didn't delete the noisy windy soundtrack.

1 comment:

SonjaM said...

Love the view. Have been there many years ago, back in October 1999 during fall foliage. It was beautiful. Please capture some of the autumn bliss for me.

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