des Vétérans Park

After dropping off my two big kids (42 and 8) for their first Tour de L’Ile experience, the little one and I puttered around waiting for their “pick us up!” call. 
We needed a park near the base of the Jacques Cartier bridge, and because of the closed streets all over, settled on this one because: It was the only one we could get to by car, and there was free street parking right around the corner. 
Score!

Walking past the basketball court and the couple of baby and big swings (in sand and off on their own), we came to the nicely landscaped playground. 
The big-kid play structure and the toddler area with products from GameTime are right beside each other, and both are on a poured-in-place rubber base. 
The larger climber has a stepping stone up to a small slide, and older kids can cross the Cosmix Climber to get to the taller slide. There are also Sky Wheels, ladders, a couple of seats, and a steering wheel at ground level. 
Right next door is the toddler area with a newly installed fence and gate. I like the scaled down version of everything including the two-step staircase up to the mini slide, the stratus climber, and the small climbing walls and ladders. Even the smallest kids should be able to use the equipment here. There’s also the popular ladybug spring rider.

We were too early in the season to see the splash pad/wading pool, changing rooms and bathrooms, but they are open June 17th to August 21, 2016. 10am-7pm.

According to the City of Montreal’s website: “Selon l’achalandage et les conditions climatiques, certaines pataugeoires peuvent ouvrir plus tôt ou fermer plus tard. Cependant, toutes les pataugeoires sont fermées lorsqu’il pleut. Informez-vous auprès des surveillants de pataugeoire pour connaître les activités qui s’y déroulent tout l’été.
Parc des Vétérans
Angle Papineau et Logan
Tous les jours, de 10 h à 19 h”

For some pretty, summery pics of the wading pool you can visit THIS LINK which brings you to the projects page of the firm who redid the wading pool and chalet in 2009.

If you’re still wanting to play, walk north along the path to Rue Dorion and you’ll find Parc des Faubourgs about a block away. We didn’t have time to visit, but there is plenty of space to wander around, some interesting topiaries, two large rope climbers, and another play structure.