Parc La Fontaine and Avenue du Mont-Royal
The Plateau's great park with its ponds, then the avenue of cafés and the leafy streets between. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Parc La Fontaine, southern entrance
Start at the park's southern gate, a short walk from Sherbrooke metro. Thirty-some hectares of the Plateau's lung — come in and pick a path rather than aiming for anything. The two linked ponds are the centre of gravity; drift toward them.

2. The ponds and the footbridge
The pair of artificial ponds, joined by a little waterfall and crossed by a footbridge, with rowboats in summer and skaters when it freezes. Walk the perimeter; the willows lean right over the water. The best slow loop in the neighbourhood.

3. Théâtre de Verdure
The open-air stage in the park's northwest, where free concerts and films run through the warm months. Empty and quiet most afternoons — sit on the grass banking even when nothing's on; it's one of the calmest spots in the Plateau.

4. Avenue du Mont-Royal
Leave the park at the northwest and join the avenue, the Plateau's commercial heart — the cafés, the record shops, the terrasses spilling onto the sidewalk in summer. This is where the walk turns from green to busy. Pick a café and watch the street.

5. The leafy cross streets
Duck off the avenue onto the residential side streets — Rue Marquette, Rue Garnier — where the painted triplexes line up under big street trees and the outdoor staircases curl out front. The quiet counterweight to the avenue's noise; walk a couple of blocks of it.

6. Mont-Royal station
Back on the avenue, the Orange line stop sits right under the busiest corner. End with one more coffee or a pastry for the metro; the avenue does both well. One stop back to the centre.

Parc La Fontaine and Avenue du Mont-Royal