Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/884046
T housands of little pink balls festooned Saint Catherine Street. A woman rapped in French, accompanied by a saxophone and break dancers. A guy passed me, his peacock tail made of balloons dragging on the pedestrian street while a man tucked a water bottle into his shiny metallic blue short-shorts. It was sum- mer, past midnight, the last night of Gay Pride, and it seemed like these rainbow party people would never go to bed. Dark build- ings hulked around them, remnants of the 1700s and 1800s, full of hidden stories of the city's Catholic past, and struggles between English, French, and the First Nations people who were already here. At this summer night disco party, I couldn't dwell on the past. But I spent subsequent days checking out both the old and the new that this fantastic city has to o er, from its early history to art to spas, and its astonishing number of vegetarian restaurants. Early Women's History Montreal is a secular city, ever since a backlash against Cathol- icism that started in the 1950s. Nowadays you'll nd more peo- ple at Pride than in churches. But on several trips to the province of Quebec, I've been drawn to the seventeenth and eighteenth- century women – most of them religious – who le settled lives in France, moved to the wilderness of early Canada, and founded the province's rst education and healthcare systems. Montreal has several museums dedicated to early women and religious orders, which I pretty much had to myself. To learn about early medicine, I visited the Musee de Hospi- tallers. Jean Mance, Montreal's founding mother, started the rst dispensary in what's now Montreal in 1642, and built its rst hos- pital in 1645. e Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum commemo- rates Montreal's rst teacher. Bourgeoys taught all the children of the area – the French speaking, the First Nations, and eventually the English. Bourgeoys is also partially responsible for populating Montreal. In 1668, she bought a farm and turned it into a self-su cient op- eration. At its most uneven point, Quebec had one woman for 14 men. But in France, Louis XIV had a surplus of orphaned young French women, too poor to a ord the required dowry to marry or become a nun. He gured he'd solve the problem by sending them o to Quebec to nd husbands. Eight hundred of these women, called lles du Roy, sailed to Quebec in the 1660s and '70s. Most stopped in Quebec City, but 100 continued on the two-week canoe ride to Montreal. " ey had to be courageous to come here," my tour guide, Charlotte Kelly, told me as she showed me around the Maison Saint Gabri- el, Bourgeoys' farm. I'd braved a rainstorm to get to the Pointe- Saint-Charles neighborhood and was one of only a few visitors. Bourgeoys and her sta of nuns watched over the girls and over- saw their meetings with the area's eligible bachelors. e young women usually stayed in the house for two to ve months before choosing a husband. When the men came to visit, Kelly said, "It might look like a speed dating session from the 17th century." I asked her if the girls chose the handsomest husbands, and she looked at me like I was crazy. ese girls knew enough about sur- vival to realize that in the Canadian wilderness having land and a house trumped looks. Many of today's Montrealers are descendants of these brave, sensible, and hardy lles du Roy. Art Scene While Canada celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2017, Mon- treal turned 375. An ambitious multimedia project that bridges art and history is lighting up Old Montreal. Every night, Cite Memoire projects 23 enormous images on buildings commem- orating important people and events in Montreal history. A free app lets people access narration about the tableaux, which range from Jean Mance's days to the 1967 World's Fair. Public art lls Montreal's streets. Each spring, 21 Balancoires reappears downtown, a set of musical swings which plays notes as people are swinging. People of all ages play on, composing im- promptu songs. Art highlights visitors can expect over the next few months include: • Lucid Realities (through Dec 16) at Centre Phi, a trippy show that simulates walking in space, inhabiting another person's body, and other altered sensory experiences. • Gabor Szilasi, e Art World in Montreal, 1960-1980 (Dec 8 – April 8) at the McCord Museum, featuring un- published images shot by one of Quebec's most famous photographers • Leonard Cohen — A Crack in Everything (Nov 9 – April 9) at the Museum of Fine Arts, about the imagination and legacy of this famous Montreal musician EXPLORING THE OLD AND NEW, PLUS LOTS OF GOOD MEALS By Teresa Bergen 24 wholelifetimes.com