Who, or what's to blame for lake's problem smell? - Local History ...

1
68 Travel
July
21, 1994
Grosse Pointe News
Montreal:
Explore the
underground
On a lovely summer afternoon
in Montreal, one of North
America's most charming CItIes,
I hoodly expected to be
spendmg time beneath the
streets But that IS exactly
what happened I dIscovered
the Underground.
Being a dIehard shopper IS
not necessary to el1Joy Montreal's
intricate and extended
Undelground but It certamly
helps After all, the many mlles
of passageways are primarily
hned WIth boutiques and retaIl
shops However, anyone who
apprecIates good planmng, good
archItecture and InnovatIve de.
SIgn must spend at least a cou.
pie of hours wanderIng through
thIS amazIng complex
Toronto also has some underground
passages WIth whIch
you may be famihar They pnmarJly
run In a straIght line
from Umon StatIOn m the
south to Bloor Street m the
north, about five kll(lmpte~ In
all.
But Montreal has done it so
much bIgger and better LIttle
wonder It IS called "La Ville
Souterrame" - The Underground
CIty.
It all began in the early
1960s when the area now re
fen-ed to as "downtown" - between
Mount Royal m the
north and Old Montreal and
the harbor to the south - be.
gan to be revitalIzed WIth the
Watch your vegeta
1RAVEL TRENDS
By Cynthia Baal Janssens
neuve, and as It was beIng
bUIlt, major new office bUIld.
mgs sprang up all along Its
path. Because Montreal must
endw'e extremely cold wmters
(as much as 100 mches of snow)
as well as blazmg hot bummels,
the subway system was
deSigned to delIver workers to
thelr office bUIldmgs mease,
comfort and m all sorts of
weather.
So Instead of runmng in a
straIght lIne, as In Toronto,
Montreal's Underground IS orgamzed
In clusteIS around each
downtown subway station -
each statIOn bemg connected to
I\U the office building" WhlCh
surround It Some of these
buildmgs have as many as four
levels underground TypIcally,
the first level wIll be shops and
bIstros, the second level down
WIll be a food court, and the
thn d and fourth levels WIll be
parkmg
So whIle there IS as much as
20 mIles of underground pas.
sageways, they are not contmuous
Sometimes you will have
w ride the subway (or waik) to
the next statIon to reach the
next portion of the Under.
ground
construction of the CIty'S first One of the most spectacular
modem skyscraper, the Place sectIOns of the Underground is
Ville MarIe. ThIS stnking known as the Cathedral Prome.
buildmg, shaped lIke a cross, nades and this IS why: Christ
was destmed to become the Church, the Anghcan catheheart
of the new cIty as well as dral, has been located on
the mitIator of a spectacular Samte.Cathenne Street for
renaIssance that mcluded buIld. more than a century. Unfortu.
ing a sophIstICated subway sys. nately, Its steeple collapsed
tern, known SImply as the some years back and had to be
Metro. replaced WIth one cast m alu.
The Metro, WhICh opened III minum (for lIghtness). Then m
1966, IS the key to the Under. the early 1980s, the founda.
ground It runs under a maJor tions gave way.
street, the Boul de Malson- So It was decldeo to Jack the
America's
most famous
traitor
The Man in the Mirror: A
Life of Benedict Arnold
By Clare Brandt
Randam House. 360 pages
$25
A deruzen of the Hudson Val.
ley, Clare Brandt devoted s?t
years to researching and wrIt.
ing a biography of the career
and trmes of that infamous
American traItor, BenedIct Ar.
nold.
Her Impressive result is "The
Man In The Mirror," a sad poI"
trait of a pathetic person, pursued
by demons of hIs own
making, who nearly derailed
General George Washington's
battles agaInst the BntIsh during
our Revolutionary War.
Arnold was born to a distingwshed
Rhode Island family in
1741. ilis family's uncertain fi.
nancial footing sharply influ.
enced Arnold, especially when
his schoohng was abruptly cur.
tailed and he was forced to become
a shopkeeper.
Brandt pomts out that "occa.
BlBLlO-FILE
By Elizabeth P. Walker
sionally, as he stood behind the
counter of his shop waiting on
his contemporarIes, the youthful
scholars of Yale, Arnold
may well have reflected on hIs
own aborted educatIOn. By now,
however, he studied a chfferent
text, whose primary lesson was:
never be brought up short.
Bankruptcy had destroyed his
childhood world and his confidence
in the future; therefore,
money would become his
shield."
In 1774 the Boston Tea Party
closed the port of Boston and
that became the impetus for
Arnold to Join the Contmental
Army to fight the hated red
coats, the Bntish. The eneI"
getIc and ambItIous Captain
Arnold of the ConnectIcut
troops quickly became Major
Arnold of the Massachusetts
Janet Marie and M'Archibald dig up some big fun from the carrot patch in "Rabbit
Tales:' a performance for children at the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Aug. 2,
The show is part of Showtime at the Play House, a series of outdoor theater programs
for children running every Tuesday evening in July through Aug. 2. The grounds open at
5:30 p.m. for faml1l.. to bring in their own picnic suppers before the performances. Tickets
are $4. Reservations are required. For Information and reservations. caU 884.4222.
Montreal's underground Includes shoppIng and restaurants.
church up and extend the Un. new construction was taking nected to the McGill subway
derground City beneath it And place. In 1986, the Cathedral station, the busiest in the city
that's just what was done. Square section of the Under- - 114,000 people use it each
There are pIctures in the lob. ground CIty, four levels deep, weekday.
bles of area bUIldings showmg was opened - a startling exam. The design of the Cathedral
the church on "stIlts" WIth a pIe of preserving the old while Promenades, with steeple-like
bIg hole beneath 1t where the mtegratmg the new. It is con- formations over the walkways,
troops in 1759 when he led hiS deeply rooted in hIS &Oul." ship. Later his family, consistmen
northward to an invasIOn Fundamentally, Arnold was mg of his wife, some of their
of Quebec via Fort TIconderoga everything that Washington children, and his maiden sister,
Dunng this historic march, was not. Even though Arnold were able to join him in un.
"the house of mirrors became a and Washington, "due to the happy exile, which was broken
private refuge ill whIch Arnold war, found themselves in the for a few years in Canada
could shape and misshape same boat, it did not put them where they tried, unsuccessevents
to correspond to his de. ill the same class." fully, to re-establish them.
lusions From within, he clearly As aD. Amencan officer, Ar. selves.
perceived that every failure nold led his troops against the Benedict Arnold died in Lon.
was the fault of someone else. British, winning some skir. don in 1801, aged 60, a broken
From the outside, however, it mishes but more often failing man. Fllled with self-delusion
was quite apparent that Ar. as a warrior and a leader. It and an inflated ego, his charac.
nold's perceptions were badly soon became obvious that hIs tel' was gravely damaged by fi.
skewed." He always attributed ''binary image in the world was nancial insecurity. His relahis
troubles to the jealousy and the sign of a binary being - tions with his peers were not of
malIce of others, never blammg the bright and shining Patnot- the best; most of them looked
lumself for his own misfor- Hero with the strange dIstorted askance at him although they
tunes shadow. To the end of his days, recognized his undoubted mili.
Therefore, in bold contrast, Arnold never acknowledged the tary skills Arnold's tragedy,
are the characters of two of the greedy, self-destructive, corrupt- both moral and historic, is a
partiCIpants of the war: "Even ible creature that lurked be- dispirIting saga of a gifted man
more Impressive than Washing- hind the cellar door of his priston's
policies and accomplish. tine mirrored house." Thus,
ments, however, was his pri- gradually, the Americans
vate character. The men caught glimpses of his true self
around him were consIStently which shook theIr confidence in
awed by lus natural authonty, hIs judgment and leadership.
graceful style and apparently While the Revolutionary War
endless forbearance, all stem- progressed in fits and starts,
ming from a vast reservoir of Arnold, lying wounded in a
personal assurance. Washing. military hospital, pondered his
ton was bedrock. Lose his tern- future: ''Were the Continental
per he might; become dIscour- Army and the congress of the
aged he might; but he never United States worthy of his sac.
wavered. His self-confidence, rifices and exertions? He was
VIrtually free of conceIt, was neither the fIrst nor the last
Continental officer to ask him.
self this questIon - but he was
the only Continental officer to
contemplate the dIre conwtlOn
of the troops and the pettiness
and ineptitude of the congress
and answer it by turning his
coat."
It took him two more years,
In 1780, to finally offer his ser.
vices to the British, via the spy
Major John Andre, and deliver
West Point into their hands -
all for a substantIal sum of
money. As Brandt pomts out:
"Typically, Arnold has already
begun to weave a complicated
web of self.jU::ltificatlon for his
treason ... No sooner had Arnold
decided to turn his coat
than he began to see it as a pa.
tnotic act."
Scornfully, the British ac.
cepted Arnold's servtces as a
spy and turncoat, but they privately
dended hIm. There was
no respect, even from the enemy,
for a traitor, and they
very grudgmgly paid him a
pittance for hIS information.
QUIte naturally, the Americans
were highly indignant and fu.
rious, but they were unable to
capture Arnold, who slipped
away to England or a BritIsh
refl~t8 a peculiarity of this
Underground City: Each sec.
tIon of it is privately owned, so
it does not look hke or operate
as a whole. It IS chfferent under
each building. What this means
to a visitor if, that it is difficult
to find a detailed map of the
complex and it is often difficult
to determine where you are.
For example, Eaton's department
store is located at Eaton
Centre, of course. But once you
are In the mam store you will
find few, If any, SIgns dIrecting
you to the adjoining mall.
"They don't want to make it
easy for you," explains Fiona,
our local guide "They want to
keep you in thIS store, so you
must wend your way through."
And they certamly don't help
you get to The Bay department
store, whICh IS Just across the
street.
Therefore, you will need persIstence
and a good sense of
dlr~tion to find your way
around. A mmimal map of the
Underground is included with
the main visitor map of the citv
and it IS Just about the only
one avaIlable.
When you are m the Under.
ground, it IS also sometimes dIf.
ficult to find the subway sta.
tIon, even though it has to be
close by. But don't nuss a nde
on Le Metro when you are in
Montreal as it IS one of the m.
cest systems in the world.
($1.75 per ride, or six tickets
for $7).
You'!! find no gr~sntl In
these subway stations as the
walls are tiled and advertise.
ments are covered WIth a special
matenal that can be
washed lmmediately should
anyone deface them. There are
also no rest rooms - the result
of a sUrvey indicating they are
a prime source of crime. The
cars are clean and glide silently
from statIon to station. And be
sure to note the artwork -
each of the 65 stations was de.
signed by a different artist.
They are just one more reason
to go Underground in Mon.
treal, summer or winter.
Cynthia Boal Janssens'
Travel Trends column runs on
alternate weeks in this sectwn
gone terribly astray.
Brandt's book is generously
funushed with detailed maps of
Arnold's most rmportant military
ventures, and through
them we follow his route from
the Boston Tea Party, the beginning
of the Revolutionary
War, Ticonderoga, Valcour !sland,
the Battles of Saratoga,
and, finally, West Point, which
sealed his doom. Arnold's two
wives, his mistress, and eight
sons and one daughter are all
shadowy figures which is disappointing
because through them
we could gain, possibly, a bet.
ter understanding of the man
himself.
Elizabeth P. Walker's Bibliofile
column runs on alternate
weeks in this section.
City of ~ttt'p.et' ~ nn~s Michigan
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE
WAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN
OFFICIAL ELECDON NOTICE
NonCE IS HEREBY GIVEN Ihal apphtallons for ab$en!ee ballots for th.~ Pnmary Elect~on 10be held
Augus, 2, 1994. WIll be _,vco! be"'ec" g JO I m IDd 5ilO p.m, Monday Illrough Fnday 1,1ll. Mo"'et!,,1
Bllllding. City Clerk s Offi~ 19617 Hl£ilCr A..... enue. Harpet Woods. Mlclugan.
Apphcallons Will also be received on Saturday July 30,1994 between the hou.n. or 9"00 un and 2..00
p m II lb. CIty CI.ri'." Ofro«.
The Polls fOT the Pnmary E.'ccllOn WLU 0pl=rt at 700 a.m and remdn open udlll 8-00 p m on !.he day or
t~Electton
GPN (The ConneC1LOn 07(21194
Posted. 01113,