It’s been miserable weather here, and when we had a few hours of sunny skies these past Saturday we hit the road to try out a new-to-us park in Lachine. It’s not your typical kids park, but my kids liked it and sometimes mom and dad need a little change of pace too.
We decided to head to Park René-Lévesque in the borough of Lachine. The reason we chose it was because it was different than any other park we’ve been to in Montreal so far. It’s located on a peninsula next to the St-Lawrence and the Lachine Canal so it’s completely surrounded by water. It’s also on the bike path, so those adventurous types can bike here, which would actually be very lovely.
The park itself is filled with 22 contemporary sculptures as part of the Musée Plein Air de Lachine, including many the kids can climb on including a stone installation somewhat reminiscent of Stonehenge, and a seesaw. My son is learning a lot about Salvador Dali these days so it was fun to see the giant feet, and the black and white cut out statue which reminded us of his famous, spindly elephant legs.
All the statues are pretty different so there’s a lot to talk about. There’s also tons of space to run, picnic benches, and a walking path next to the bike path so you don’t get mowed over by those speedy bikes. There’s also boats to look at at the marina across the canal, beautiful Old Lachine architecture even further across the river and lots of birds, ducks and geese.
My only negatives was a ton of goose poop on the lawn from those ever present Canadian Geese. Also, there were toilets at the tip of the peninsula but I have no idea what they look like inside.
My other tips:
-If you get Google Maps to take you there, it will actually take you to the Marina. Trust your gut and go past the marina into the park area.
-Parking is paid. There are two parking machines at the ENTRY to the park. If you want to park closer, pay first and then continue down the parking lot.
-I don’t think there’s much that can be done to avoid the goose poop, so perhaps bring sanitizer along if your kid likes to run after the geese and then fall down a lot….
Also, I’d like to mention that in these photos, and many other photos I take, it looks like we are having an amazing, educational, fun family outing. We are, yes, but not quite totally. It gets me super down when I see photos of kids and families having amazing times on family outings and my experiences never live up to what I expect in my head. I’d say about half the time we were at the park was spent trying to get my son to catch up to us, or trying to drag my youngest from climbing up rock piles over and over. There is a huge amount of frustration, and sometimes I wonder why we bother but I know I’d go crazy if we didn’t do this kind of stuff. So hey ho – and you never remember that frustration at the end of the day anyways, really…
Ps More kid activities are here, and more parks are here
Michelle Little
Writer & Photographer
