Montréal - Day Two

My first real day in Montréal is now over, and I covered a lot of ground. Most of that ground was covered at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux Arts.

The museum's collections are free to peruse.  There was also a special exhibition for a fee, but I didn't partake - there was plenty to see for free, and I tried to see it all!

The collections include a temporary Napoleon exhibit (that's one of his hats, above), decorative arts, fine paintings and sculptures, and contemporary art. Some really cool stuff.  
The museum, like many others, is a collection of buildings. And in this case the buildings are connected underground. It was a constant case of going up or down stairs, or using an elevator. The staircase pictured below reminds me of the staircase at the Kunst Historisches pictured in my Vienna, Day Two post, except that this staircase is unadorned and lacks a giant statue at the top of a naked man wrestling with a lion.

 

I spent most of the day at the museum of fine arts. I had planned on visiting a second museum today, too, but I left the museum at about 3:30 PM and the museums all close at 5:00 PM.
Instead, I decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at Hurley's - an Irish pub I've been to on each of my last two trips to Montréal.

I had a hamburger and fries and I toasted friends who had hoisted a pint or two with me at Hurley's in times of yore.
 
I had taken the subway to the museum, but I decided to walk back to the hotel. Today was cold, but not frigid. Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be clear and cold - with a high of about 10 degrees.  
A couple of fun facts about Montréal's Métro system: first, the subway stations are heated. That's really welcome after a half-hour walking down windswept streets!



The second fun fact? The subway trains have tires and don't ride on traditional rail tracks!! Instead, the cars ride on the ground and are bracketed by side rails to keep the cars in their lane. There is a "third rail" for power, but it's between the two side rails.
The cars are quieter riding on tires, but they seem just as fast as more traditional subway trains. 
Stay tuned for the next installment - the Old Port and more!!!