Mount Royal Park, Montréal, QC

The Georges-Étienne Cartier monument on the Park Avenue side was inaugurated in 1919 and the illuminated cross in 1924. The lookout chalet (1932) and Beaver Lake (1938) were the fruit of work projects created to help workers left jobless by the Depression. In 1954, many trees were cut down to try to “discourage immorality” in the underbrush, which is why so few of the park’s trees are more than half a century old.
1958 saw the addition of the Beaver Lake pavilion, a sweet bit of retro-futurist kitsch that functions as changing room in wintertime for skaters and tobogganers. This building has recently been renovated.
A major sculpture show was held in 1964 on the long gentle slope above Beaver Lake and some of the pieces are still in place.
Over the years, the perimeter of the park has been nibbled at by surrounding construction. Many trees also were lost to the January 1998 ice storm. Mount Royal was made a permanently protected site by a joint decision of the Quebec and Montreal governments in February 2003, and the demolition of the Park-Pine interchange has made access to the park easier from Park Avenue. But there is still stress on the park from surrounding institutions.
Mount Royal is where Montrealers go to get a breath of air on a hot day, to cross-country ski without leaving the city, to walk off a hangover or a bad mood, to picnic, to jog, to ice skate, to look out over the city, rest their eyes on the horizon and dream.
To get to Mount Royal park you only need to start up any hill from downtown and you’ll eventually find yourself there. A trail from the Cartier monument on the Park Avenue side (bus 80/435 or 129) winds gradually upward toward the top. Or go to Mont-Royal metro station and take the 11 bus. You can also drive up via Côte-des-Neiges and the Voie Camillien-Houde: there are various well-marked parking lots off the road.