What's better than soup so hot it burns? Almost scalding, sets my tongue tingling. Spicy to the point of a runny nose. Ahh, it's a beautiful thing.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Mont Royal
It's the name of both the mountain in the center of the city, whose summit is dominated by a monumental glowing cross (a remnant of the original settlement of French traders) and the source of the city's name. Mont Royal = Montreal
We mounted that edifice (by which I mean the group took a bus to the viewing point midway up and back down again) and conquered that city. It was beautiful. Not just the mountain or the view, though; the whole city is gorgeous. As was the experience.
In a lot of ways, Montreal reminded us of New York and other urban areas the group had visited. But, in a number of respects, the city is unique. Old Montreal sits right beside the minuscule Chinese Quarter and the Centre-Ville district (read: "Downtown"). A metro line exists that connects only three stations, one of which is mostly desolate island parkland and the farthest of which is "off-island" altogether. Extraordinarily useful tunnels connecting metro stations, hotels and shopping centers were austere and mostly empty, but magnificently well-kept.
It was like we caught the city off-guard. The Sunday to Tuesday visit is a bit eccentric, I guess. That was part of what made this trip what it was. We got something like an "insider's view."
I doubt, though, that any true insider would have chosen the particular combination of sites we chose to frequent. Best stop: an abandoned (and partially roped off) stadium leftover from Exposition '67 in the middle of a barrier island park. Post-industrial ruins - the new cool hangout. Take that intentional and advertised amusement parks! There was one of those on the same island complex, but we disregarded that altogether.
We mounted that edifice (by which I mean the group took a bus to the viewing point midway up and back down again) and conquered that city. It was beautiful. Not just the mountain or the view, though; the whole city is gorgeous. As was the experience.
In a lot of ways, Montreal reminded us of New York and other urban areas the group had visited. But, in a number of respects, the city is unique. Old Montreal sits right beside the minuscule Chinese Quarter and the Centre-Ville district (read: "Downtown"). A metro line exists that connects only three stations, one of which is mostly desolate island parkland and the farthest of which is "off-island" altogether. Extraordinarily useful tunnels connecting metro stations, hotels and shopping centers were austere and mostly empty, but magnificently well-kept.
It was like we caught the city off-guard. The Sunday to Tuesday visit is a bit eccentric, I guess. That was part of what made this trip what it was. We got something like an "insider's view."
We did a lot of that, overlooking the obvious hangouts, going for something "off-the-beaten-path," so to speak. We put on our adventurers' hats, or looped on our photographers' gear, in the case of the paparrazzi, and found our own Montreal. Go find your own; biospheres, Blue Dogs, bad beer, deserted parks, random sightings of teachers of music humanities, off-limits underground exploration, and killer poutine need not be included.
Canada, go another round? I'll be back.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
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