MONTREAL — Can't sleep?
You've picked the best night of the year to catch a dose of insomnia.
The ninth edition of Nuit Blanche, formerly dubbed the Montreal All-Nighter, comes to town Saturday with 170 cultural activities at more than 70 venues across the city. The event officially closes Montreal en Lumiere, a 10-day midwinter bash of food, family fun and performance arts. The Nuit Blanche activities begin Saturday evening and last till Sunday morning.
This year's midnight soiree boasts museum and art-gallery visits, ice skating, cinema screenings, live concerts, dance performances and outdoor activities held throughout downtown, Old Montreal and the Old Port, the Plateau and the Olympic Park neighborhoods. Many activities are free.
Here are some unique ways to stay up all night long.
Downtown
Place des Festivals, which hosted the main outdoor activities for Montreal en Lumiere and is adjacent to Place des Arts, closes the fest with a bang. Live music, DJ dome dancing, food kiosks and family fun are joined by the likes of frosted volleyball, where participants can play a winter version using illuminated balls. There's also "Choreograhic Freeze," a dance performance inspired by the themes of light and winter.
In addition, practically every museum in town is open part or all night long, including Musee d'Art Contemporain, which hosts Mac by Night, a free museum visit until 3 a.m.
Art Underground
Unique to the downtown core, Montreal's Underground City is a winding labyrinth of corridors and connector ways that transport urban commuters from Montreal's Metro subway system to area shopping centers, office buildings, performance-art venues and apartment complexes. Art Souterrain, or Art Underground, showcases temporary and permanent installation art, photography and public sculptures within the Underground City. This year's urban, underground artistic treasure hunt is appropriately dubbed "Passageways."
There's a lot of ground to cover: 15 art zones — about 4 miles in all — from Place des Arts to Complexe les Ailes, but many guides are on hand to point visitors in the right direction. Art Souterrain has become so popular a part of Nuit Blanche that it's now its own art festival. The event debuts Saturday night, and the art displays continue through March 11. For more information, visit www.artsouterrain.com.
Old Montreal, Old Port
Old Montreal is one busy place during Nuit Blanche.
A perfect stop for families, the Montreal Science Centre at the Kind Edward Pier hosts "Heat Break," free visits to its current exhibitions, "Science 26" and "Dinosaurs Unearthed."
One of Old Montreal's best-kept art-gallery experiences is the DHC/ART center, which is hosting "Chronicles of a Disappearance/Lost Rivers: La Petite St. Pierre" at 451 and 465 St. Jean St.
Pointe a Calliere, the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History, at 350 Place Royale, will also be open for free until 3 a.m. This year's theme is "One Thousand and One Nights: From Ancient India to Today."
If a little soul music is what you require, Notre Dame de Bon Secours Chapel offers "Gospel Heat," free concerts held on the hour from 8 p.m. to midnight at 400 St. Paul St. E.
Tours Kaleidoscope offers two guided tours that night: an Old Montreal Illuminated Tour for $10 and the Old Montreal Boutiques Hotel tour for $15. The tours depart at 6:30 p.m. at Palais des Congres. Reservations are required by calling (514) 990-1972.
Olympic Dipping
Montreal's East End also hosts a number of Nuit Blanche activities.
With 2012 an Olympics year, get into the spirit with a free dip in the pool that was used for aquatic events during the 1976 Summer Olympic Games.
Visitors can also enjoy a bit of underwater art. "Aquart: An Underwater Art Gallery" lets visitors don a mask and snorkel and admire an art exhibit while swimming. Snorkeling equipment is available to rent. The evening swim activities are held from 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Olympic Park Sports Centre.
Just outside, Olympic Park also hosts free outdoor bird-of-prey demonstrations on the hour from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. as well as night-sky telescope viewings provided by staff members of the Montreal Planetarium.
Next door, the Biodome dims the lights and presents its annual "A Moonlit Evening," a nighttime tour of the facility that allows guests to meet a few nocturnal creatures along the way from 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. The evening stroll's reduced admission costs $13 for adults.
For more information, call (514) 288-9955 or visit www.montrealenlumiere.com.
Steven Howell is the author of Montreal Essential Guide, a Sutro Media iPhone travel app available at iTunes.com.
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