Olympic Stadium & Brother Andre'

These photos are from the bus tour I took on Saturday.  Another area of interest in Montreal is the site of the 1976 Olympic Games.  These are the games where Nadia Comaneci took the world by storm, scoring a perfect "10" in her gymnastics routine.  She went on to win 5 gold medals at the games, and charmed the world with her perfection and smile.

She was 14.  It was all downhill after that.

Don't peak too soon, I say.  

But, I digress.  These photos are of the stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies were held, as well as gymnastics and other events.  Today, it's used for concerts and conventions.  

This tower is the largest inclined tower in the world.  Inclined on-purpose, I should say.  The Leaning Tower of Pisa was unintentional.  

Notice the groove in the side of the tower.  About 3/4 of the way, you can see a long cable car.  You can pay $10 to ride up the car to the observation deck.  It apparently has great views of the city.

Or, you can view the tower from afar.  This was taken looking north on Mont Royal.  

Quebecois people make fun of Montreal to this day, for the money they paid to build the Olympics complex.  These days, the Olympic Village is now senior citizen apartment housing.  The velodrome is now the Bio-Dome, which houses 4 ecosystems.  Maybe I'll visit that today or Wednesday.   It's supposed to be very nice, and accessible from the Metro.  

Another church of significance in Montreal is St. Joseph's Cathedral.  We didn't get to go inside.  It's much newer than Notre Dame, having been completed in the 1960's.  The big story about this cathedral is that it was constructed with funds raised by a man now known as Brother Andre'.  

He was a humble doorman, working at the Catholic school across the street.  He started saving tips and collecting donations to build the church.  This regular guy raised millions.  And people say he is also responsible for many miracles.  So they go to this church, pray on each of the 99 wooden stairs leading to the top of the hill, and expect miracles.