With the sweet scent of spring blossoms in the air, Montreal begins a new season of activity and entertainment, not to mention plenty to please every mom for Mother’s Day, whether that’s being outdoors, going to the ballet or the theatre, eating fabulous food, taking in some art, or rocking out to live music…

(outdoor days) Montreal makes it easy to spend fun time outdoors with the family: on May 10, head to the Morgan Arboretum for Frog Songs: The Symphony of Spring to discover the nocturnal activities of amphibians. The waterways around Montreal are slowly warming up too and starting May 13, H2O Adventures begins its new season renting kayaks, pedal boats, canoes and other water ways to get out on the water around Montreal, including the St-Laurent River and the Lachine Canal. And even if it starts to rain, see the outdoors while inside at the Montreal Science Centre diving into the fascinating exhibition Planet Shark, with over 100 shark species including a life-size great white whale shark and two frozen specimens, or, on the lighter side of nature, seeing Flight of the Butterflies in 3D at the IMAX Theatre. Or just take mom shopping at La Virée des Ateliers, an open house event featuring the high-quality work of Montreal fashion designers, artists and artisans, May 9-12. Or go check out massive vintage boutique sale Old Wig at Bain Mathieu, May 10-11.

(dreams & drama) Les Grands Ballets  presents award-winning choreographer Stephan Thoss’ latest work, Dream Away, a highly physical yet surrealistic exploration of “the origins of movement and gesture,” May 16-25 at Theatre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts. Meanwhile, the movement of horses and their riders is given the theatrical treatment in Odysseo, a new show from the makers of the highly popular Cavalia, replete with drama, circus arts, music, a light show and more – starting May 14 in Laval – just look for the custom-made white tents that are home to the show until June 9. And get deeper into mysteries of Sherlock Holmes in a new adaptation, by Greg Kramer, of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic, starring Jay Baruchel, at the Segal Centre until May 28.

(art & bubbly) Why not celebrate spring with champagne?  Maison Veuve Clicquot throws it’s first week-long party in Montreal: Yelloweek, May 14-19, is a series of art, food and fashion events, including: an evening of fashion and Veuve Clicquot champagne at Birks jewellery store on May 14; dinners that pair food and champagne at restaurants such as Milos, Ryu, L’auberge Saint-Gabriel, and more; a night of art and bubbly at Galerie 203 in the Old Port on May 15; and the free Yellow Picnic event, marking the opening of the terrace at New City Gas in Griffintown.

(electrifying art) Two new exhibitions at the PHI Centre alter our perceptions of reality and imagined: Cereus Queen of the Night, an interactive video system by artist Philomène Longpré explores “the subversive spirit of the Lettrism movement” by enveloping visitors in its nocturnal world; and Gabriel Coutu-Dumont’s audio-visual Wonders of a Transient Universe uses elements of the electronic arts to create a parallel world from which to look at the visual language of music. Over at artist centre Eastern Bloc, The Sight and Sound Festival is underway, showcasing installations and live performances that blend art and technology, to May 29: this weekend, see and hear works by Nicolas Maigret, Steve Bates, Melissa F. Clarke and Nat Roe, Victor Mazón Gardoqui, Erin Sexton and many more. And interactive music-art installation 21 Swings let’s you go for a swing like no other with family, friends and people you don’t even know, outdoors in the Quartier des Spectacles.

(classical & traditional) Traditional classic music and jazz combine forces at the 18th edition of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, May 9 to June 1 at beautiful St. George’s Church in Old Montreal. Opening night brings the Boston Chamber Music Society to Montreal for the first time, followed on May 10 by Montreal jazz legend, pianist Oliver Jones, with musicians Eric Lagacé and Jim Doxas and opener, bassist Brandi Disterheft and her quartet. Master cellist Colin Carr performs on May 11, and Saint-Saëns’ chamber music comes to life in three concerts, May 14-16. Meanwhile, the Orchestre Métropolitain concludes its 32nd season with Strauss: 2 Orchestras, 1 Conductor, at the Maison Symphonique at Place des Arts on May 10. Also this weekend, Quebecois, Canadian, American, Belgian, Irish and more traditional music is in the spotlight at the 21st Festival La Grande Rencontre and at the Trad Montréal Conference, with four Grand Concerts, music showcases, workshops roundtable discussions and more at the Gésù Theatre in the Quartier des spectacles, May 9-12.

(more music) On Friday, May 10, UK indie rock band Foals tours their new album, Holy Fire, at Club Soda, while on Saturday night, see Canadian electro-pop artist Lights performing songs from her new album Siberia Acoustic, which is literally acoustic, with Sam Cash opening, at the Corona Theatre or dance hard to dubstep/electro-house producer Kill the Noise at the SAT. On Monday, May 13, Mötley Crüe return to hard-rock Montreal with Big Wreck, at the Bell Centre. Also good Monday options: the funk-soul sounds of Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires at the Corona Theatre; Stockholm, Sweden’s Shout Out Louds, along with opener Haerts, at Sala Rossa, or opt for experimental electro and hip hop with the amazing Flying Lotus  at the SAT. On May 14, it’s Airbourne at the Corona Theatre, and for a real local Montreal experience, check out a live taping of indie talk show Parc Avenue Tonight, featuring music, comedy and more, May 15 at Cabaret Mile End while Montreal klezmer-hip-hop act Socalled releases his new album, The Season, at the Rialto.

The post Things to Do in Montreal: May 10-16 appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

Feel like kayaking with 29 of your best friends? H2O Adventures – situated midway between the Charlevoix and Lionel-Groulx metro stations – have over 30 different kayaks of varying descriptions, both solo and tandem, at the ready. Pedal-boating more your speed? Both two-and four-seaters are primed for your pleasure craftiness. And if the sporting part of watersports doesn’t float your boat, the truly leisurely inclined can take a load off in the larger electric-powered boats, which can seat up to five comfortably and don’t require much beyond a steady hand to operate.

For hands-on fun, the kayaks are hard to beat. Close to the water and easy to manoeuvre, the fast kayaks make for brisk solo boating, and you can cover a lot of water in a short period of time. A good thing, because there’s a lot of water there to be covered: a 3-km stretch between locks 3 and 4 (there are 5 sets of locks along the 15-km Lachine Canal) is set aside for H2O use.

The electric boats offer a more laidback kind of buoyancy ideally suited for taking in the unique surroundings (pedestrian footbridges and old train bridges cross overhead at several points, while ducks, heron, beaver and range of fish are among the wildlife that is easily observable). But be warned: taking a NASCAR approach to the boat’s steering will only find you careening full-speed back into the dock – under the withering gaze of the H2O employee who just warned you not to do exactly that – you just departed from. A subtle steering touch and the patience to let the rudder do its job will get you where you want to go.

Lined on both sides by scenic bike paths and boardwalks, the Lachine Canal is a study in urban revitalisation. Opened in 1825, the Canal was cut through the southern part of the island of Montreal so that merchant mariners weren’t obliged to shoot the rapids of the St. Lawrence River that surrounds it.

For 145 years, boats snaked through the narrow canal. And then the tiny waterway became a victim of its own success, no longer able to support the immense amount of shipping attempting to squeeze through it. The St. Lawrence Seaway was built instead, and in 1970 the Lachine Canal was closed for business. Then some three decades later, after much in the way of clean-up and new construction along its shores, the spirit of re-creation has helped develop a network for recreation, and H2O Adventures were quick to participate.

“H2O Adventures started in 1996, and originally it was a kayaking school out of Hudson,” explains H2O co-owner and general manager Marc Bartschat. “But by about 2004, when the Canal re-opened for recreational traffic, we resettled on the Lachine Canal.”

In the years since the company has picked up no less than three Tourism Quebec awards for its efforts. “They’re all awards in eco-tourism and adventure tourism,” says Bartschat. “The first one that we won was for the eco-friendly electric boats – they emit no pollution at all. Being eco-friendly has always been a core value of our business.”

And it’s a business that’s sees consistent growth year over year, though this year Bartschat notes that there’s been a fairly dramatic increase in user traffic, due as much to reasons meteorological as increased exposure. “We’ve been featured in the Fodor’s and Lonely Planet guide books, as well as on a number of Quebec television shows, The New York Times and The Gazette. But it’s also obviously been the weather – it’s been sunny almost every single day this year.”

A

THE DETAILS
H20 Adventures, 2985 B St-Patrick, (514) 842-1306/1-877-935-2925

The post H2O ADVENTURES ON THE LACHINE CANAL appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.