Quebecois

The New York wedding was over and everyone was starting their respective journeys back home.  I still had a bit more time though.  Since I was up this side of the world, I decided I would go and visit my friends Christina and Eric in Montreal.  The flight was short and I had always wanted to go to Montreal.  My last trip to Canada had been to Ottawa, so I wanted to see something a bit different.  The Quebecois side of Canada would definitely be a change.  On arrival in Montreal, I was immediately confronted by a Tim Horton's and reminded that even though I was seeking out a change, there were some things which would remain very much the same.

There was something very hipster about Montreal.  There was a love for old things and an old look.  Much of the city reminded me of life in the 90s, and this was made strikingly clear to me when I walked past a video rental store.  Here in Montreal, this lone outpost for past technology stood resolute against the onslaught of time and progress.  Even the people seemed to take a bit more of an old fashioned to how they dressed, with lots of dark colours and baggier clothes.  At times, I felt as though everyone was inspired by a Nirvana but when I saw a girl walking past me in a tartan skirt, knee length socks and a rock and roll t shirt, I realised that Nirvana probably didn't go far enough.  This was all just part of the Montreal look.

The weather in Montreal can get exceedingly cold, but it was still nice autumn weather for me.  One of my old bosses had lived in Montreal for years and he described to me how much of the city was designed so that it could operate "underground", with series of tunnels and underground malls interconnecting to allow for people to move about without ever being exposed to the cold winter winds.  Walking through some of these tunnels and looking at the maps, I was surprised at the sheer extent of them and how seemed quite organic.  There was no central theme or design, but it was instead very much different plans and designs that happened to then connect together.

The outside was a bit different.  The city had a much more classic look than I expected.  It felt a bit like a smaller version of Manhattan without any of the newer elements to Manhattan.  Whilst it was quite similar visually, it was definitely much quieter than New York.

One strange thing about Montreal was there really wasn't anything that stood out for me.  There didn't seem to be an iconic building or street which could be used to advertise it to the world.  Instead, it was just a whole series of relatively tasteful buildings, all arranged in a grid pattern for easy access and walking.

It didn't mean that there weren't lovely parts of the city.  At one point, Eric and Christina took me to this innocuous looking pub.  At the back, it had a courtyard surrounded by the high walls of the adjacent buildings, covered high with lush ivy.  It was a beautiful place to sit for a drink.

The rest of the city was all nice, but again, not all that memorable.  I liked the vibe and the atmosphere of the city, but there really was a greyness to everything that seemed to make it hard to distinguish the buildings.

We had been walking all day, so we left the city centre and went to get some dinner.  Eric thought that the best place to go would be an old Montreal institution called "Le Banquise".  This restaurant was open 24h a day and specialised in all things poutine.  We ordered some strange beers (I got an apricot beer which was quite good) and then we started looking through the poutine menu.  I love poutine, but I was only used to the simple form of chips with curds and gravy.  Here at Le Banquise, they upped the stakes further and also included various different topping options.  Given we were in Montreal, I thought that adding the Montreal smoked meat option seemed to be the best approach.  The plates arrived overflowing with chips, curds and meat.  It didn't look like all that much, but it was delicious.  Eric and I quickly finished our plates and then we moved onto cleaning up Christina's plate.  I contemplated ordering another plate, but then thought the better of it.

The weather was very chilly in the evening.  We started to walk back to their apartment.  In the night, the city looked much nicer.  The old style of the buildings seemed to suit the evening lights.  As we walked down the old streets in the suburbs, they pointed out to me the peculiarities of the split levels and the staircases leading from the outside up to the top floors and the metal frames made for scraping snow off of shoes.  Everything felt very cosy and I thought that maybe this was a city that would be best enjoyed in winter.