Some notes on parks
Heritage Montreal is offering five tours of Montreal parks and their environs, and Metro looked through Google Maps ratings to find the five best and five worst parks – some of which are very small and likely unknown to anyone but nearby residents.
mare 12:21 on 2023-07-12 Permalink
Some parks on Google maps don’t even exist. Parc rapide de rivière-des-prairies for instance. (That island was bought by the city years ago, but is locked off with a big fence since years. Unclear why. A bridge that’s not safe? Been a dump of toxic waste in the past? Rare animal species found?)
jeather 12:27 on 2023-07-12 Permalink
My favourite park is in there! (Parc des rapides. I could bring a book and sit there all day.)
Nicholas 12:38 on 2023-07-12 Permalink
I certainly hope Heritage Montreal is choosing guides who did the tour guide course and passed the test (but are volunteers so won’t get paid or even reimbursed after all that work), or the guides could be fined and Montrealers could get exposed to uncredentialized history. I remember going on a tour given by the Westmount Historical Association, which is not subject to the City of Montreal tourist guide rules when giving a tour in Westmount, and though I enjoyed it at the time, having learned of these tour guide rules I now realize that without a tour led by someone with a certificate issued by an institution accredited by the Ministère de l’Éducation et de la Science, and designated by the executive committee of the City of Montreal, I was getting substandard instruction from the old lady who spends five hours a month in the WHA archives. Maybe the other on-island cities will realize the error of their ways.
mare 12:46 on 2023-07-12 Permalink
@jeather That’s how I ended up in the parc rapides I mentioned above. The Google maps app suggested/autocompleted it when I entered ‘parc rapid…’
Don’t trust Google maps, you might end up driving into a river 🙂
(Maybe only for me, I cycle past it quite often and it might read my location data. Also regularly been to LaSalle’s rapids though.)
Orr 13:19 on 2023-07-13 Permalink
I give a tour every summer of the Corten sculptures throughout Montreal, both in and out of parks.
Tour Guide association didn’t catch me yet.
Parc des Rapides is particularly amazing during spring high water period.
CE 08:45 on 2023-07-14 Permalink
The tour guide association (APGT) doesn’t care about people giving tours on specialized topics once in a while. It exists to ensure that professional guides are trained and certified.
Kate 22:36 on 2023-07-14 Permalink
Because I looked it up: Corten scuptures in town. I’ve always liked Porte de jour.