Underground Montréal

Since the weather was looking questionable with intermittent showers predicted, I tried to see how far I could walk underground. It was also a good way to burn off all that Montréal smoked meat. Starting from the Eaton Place shopping mall, I descended down and headed south. The next area is the complex under Place Ville Marie with more shops and a food court. You can see daylight through the skylights. The Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel is next followed by the concourse of the Central train station. Place Bonaventure marks the southern end of the underground. Since Montréal is an island with slopes to the St. Laurence River, this part of the underground is actually above ground with large windows looking outside.

The passages east to Palais des Congrès are quite interesting. There's art works, and some passages would not look out of place in a science fiction movie. Palais des Congrès itself would make a good set especially its art installation of lipstick pink tree trunks. The underground turns north to through the government offices of Complex Guy-Favreau, on to the Complexe Desjardins shopping centre, and finally ending underneath the jazz festival site at Place des Arts.

It's been an over two hour tour under Montréal. Very nice to get out of the heat and humidity and I suspect during the winter the cold and snow. It would be very possible to live life underground without coming out into daylight or weather but it would be very strange.