Friday, October 30, 2009

Montreal musings

Sheesh.
Montreal was ages ago. And a long way from this poky little internet cafe in Alegria, El Salvador. Things are great here - people are really friendly, it`s warm, it`s cheap.
In a bizarre turn of events Jess and I were interviewed by Salvadorian national TV news today as there`s a big tourism event and we seem to be the only gringos in town. So, tonight we`ll be tuning in to watch ourselves wrestle with the Spanish language in front of a national tv audience. We kept it fairly simple ("it`s beautiful! people are very friendly! this lake is beautiful! we like El Salvador!") as we didn`t want to embark on an ambitious sentence then half way through realise we didnt have the neccessary vocab to finish the job. Or call everything by the wrong gender, or baffle everyone with impossible verb endings and tenses. It will be interesting to see.

But we will finish this Canada blog eventually, and Montreal is up.
The Fridge covered a lot of prairie as we rushed to get to Montreal on time following his Winnipeg breakdown. It`s a little quicker to head south onto the US highway and we rolled through a clutch of states in a hurry. I can`t really remember which ones they were (Illinois, Minneapolis, Indiana, and some others I think...) and the only memories that seem to stick from that time are the 2 and a half hour traffic jam in Chicago, the huge Mexican dinner in a sketchy part of Detroit, a fat Canadian border guard who, we`re pretty sure, could smell the aforementioned Mexican dinner and was pissed at us for not saving him some, and lots of Great Lakes Swimmers on the iPod.

In Montreal we met Ma and Pa Price, who came from NYC and surrounds, for about 2 weeks. Together we sublet an apartment for a week on the Plateau (Fitroyish) from a lovely lady Pascale. Also in Montreal were Aussie `couve crew Josh and Carly and `couve crew Dan, Mir and Kel. The Plateau flat hosted a dinner party for all: plenty of duty free alcohol and Portugese chicken were consumed, the banjo was played, fun was had.

It was excellent to see everyone one last time (until Aus) while making use of Montreal`s endless funky nightspots and restaurants, quality cafes, shady and musical parks, and seriously ridiculous amount of free entertainment. I don`t know if such a thing is possible - but I think maybe Montreal has too many festivals in summer. Every afternoon we would gather together the pile of pamphlets and try to decide what to do that night. There were always four or more options. Mostly the events were free. Admittedly, it is a nice problem to have.
During the two weeks we were there Montreal hosted: Just for Laughs comedy fest, Francofolies (biggest French language music fest in da world), an African music fest, a fireworks competition every Sat night, a gay/bi/curious fest, Elektronic Piknik (djs in the park every Sun), Osheaga (Coldplay, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, girltalk), and more I forget. Streets are closed across the city and everyone gets amongst it. It must be exhausting to do a whole summer in Montreal and work...
I love the idea of closing streets and handing them over to the people. It acknowledges that cities are for something more than shopping and working and efficiency. More street closures in Australia, I say! At least until I get a car.

For the street party to close the comedy fest thousands of people filled the streets watching buskers, drinking on terraces, getting surprises... At one stage we were surrounded by a troupe of performers in ornate white costumes on stilts. They came up from behind us quickly, so that one minute we were walking down the middle of a fogettable street, and the next there were twenty white figures, with plumes and horns and ghostly makeup, looming all around and peering freakily down on us. On long stilts, some of them were twice our height. Others were on springs and went bounding and jumping ahead. The herd trotted along while one guy wheeled a soundsystem playing suitably freaky music.
It was like we were suddenly among a herd of exotic animals - giraffes, but bizarrer. An exciting feeling, and hard to articulate.
Other Montreal highlights were a Fleet Foxes gig with Ma n Pa (they sweet talked their way into the best seats in the house), dancing in the mud at Elektronic Piknik during an evening thunderstorm, and damn fine coffee and bagels in Mile End.

After our week on the Plateau, Fridgey took us for a look at Quebec City - which is charming and historical and oh so French. It really does feel European. That Quebec City and the Yukon and Calgary are all the same country is amazing. (And we haven`t got to Newfoundland yet...) Canada can sure do diverse.
Quebec City is the centre of Quebecois culture, so our French was given a work out. In Montreal, most people speak both languages, but in the city many people don`t, or don`t want to, speak the English. Which is cool by moi.
A grand old castle/hotel stands at the top of the town and cobblestone lanes wind their way past colourful terraces and under fortified town walls. The city has a happening creative scene and we spent a few hours in galleries pretending we could afford bold works of modern art. Cirque du Soleil put on a free outside performance which was a highlight, and there was a really innovative show nightly - historical pictures and footage of the city projected onto huge silos and set to music. It was brilliant, better than it sounds.
There really is a whole lot of government money going to public entertainment in Quebec. Pretty clearly, it`s an attempt to keep the people happy to weaken the independence movement. In a 1995 referendum, the Province voted against seceding from Canada by only 1 %. Younger Quebecois we talked to didn`t seem too bothered about independence, so maybe the moment has passed, but the Federal government keeps pumping the money in just in case. Whatever, in Quebec the money is really well spent, and summer is a fun time to be around.

After 3 days in Quebec City, we headed back to Montreal and to a place in Ouestmont for a week. The place belongs to an old work mate of Ma`s and her husband and they kindly let us housesit while away. Ouestmont is the upper crust part of Montreal and the streets were noticeably different to the Plateau. They were quieter, more refined, there was more ivy on the facades, each house was a little larger, there were three ex Prime Ministers living up the road, and there was a lot more English spoken. In keeping with all of this, our place was beautiful. Very swanky indeed. It was a lot of fun to play at being wealthy types for a while and we had some beautiful dinners with the folks.
After Ma and Pa flew home, sadly early, Jess and I pottered around our Ouestmont mansion, occasionally stirring to go and fetch a cafe and pan du chocolat. We caught up on the blog, caught up with Kel at her new place, and took it easy for a bit before heading on.

Montreal was kind to us. It`s an amazing city - the best of France and North America all shaken up together. The locals are unnervingly attractive, it`s one of the best cities for bikes in the world, the music scene rocks and the rent is cheap. All summer they seem to have four festivals going at once. What`s not to like? If we could speak French we would have lived there for sure.
Vancouver, much as we liked the place, just does not have the energy of Montreal. Then again, not many places do.
Hope everyone is well. Sorry for the large style delay on this post. Write us some news!!
OK, I`m going to watch us speak bad spanish on TV. Adios!

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