Swimming Trials and exploring the city

A week in Montreal

We’d been to Montreal a few times before, but always in a rush. This time, we were there for a full week for the Canadian Swimming Trials, so we finally had a chance to slow down a little and enjoy the city.

Most of our days still revolved around the pool, with prelims in the morning and finals in the evening. But whenever we had some free time between sessions, we tried to get out and explore.

Canadian Swimming Trials

The Trials were the main reason for the trip, and they gave us some unforgettable moments.

Burton made his first Junior Final in the 50m breaststroke at the Trials, which made the week pretty special for us.

We were also lucky enough to be there when Summer McIntosh broke the world record in the 200m butterfly. Watching a world record happen right in front of us was something I’ll definitely remember.

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Old Montreal

Between swimming sessions, we spent some time wandering around Old Montreal.

We visited Notre-Dame Basilica, walked along the old streets, and simply enjoyed having a little more time to look around than on our previous visits.

With the old streets, colourful buildings, and historic architecture, there was plenty to photograph.

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McGill University

We also made time to visit McGill University and walk around the campus. It was nice to slow down for a while and explore another part of the city.

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Around the city

The rest of our sightseeing happened whenever we could fit it in between swimming sessions.

We walked around downtown, passed through Chinatown, explored different streets and neighbourhoods, and took in whatever we could without trying to pack too much into the week.

This wasn’t really a sightseeing trip, but somehow we still managed to see quite a bit of Montreal along the way.

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One last night in Montreal

On our last night, we headed to the Old Port for the fireworks over the St. Lawrence River.

A light drizzle was falling, but nobody seemed to mind. With La Grande Roue de Montréal glowing in the background, it turned into one of my favourite evenings of the trip.

I was also lucky enough to capture a few photos that I’m really happy with. It felt like a fitting way to end a week that had mostly revolved around swimming, but somehow still gave us a chance to see Montreal a little differently.

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