Waxing ecstatic about Montréal

Montréal is full of treasures and after a year and a half of living here, I feel that my list of favourite things about this lovely city is growing to a respectable length. This is as close to a love song about a city that I get, Montréal, and I have to tell you that I’m tickled with delight when I …

hear the “dah-dah-daaaah” as the Métro leaves the station, or hear the woman’s voice saying “Prochaine station, Berri-UQAM”; use one of the many Île Sans Fil free wireless internet hotspots in the city; eat a burger at La Paryse; visit the Expo ’67 relics on Île Saint-Hélène; see people sunning themselves in Parc La Fontaine, on a day that might not be considered a great suntanning day in most other cities; feel the incredible weight of a take-out poutine in my hand as I walk down the street; speak my slowly-evolving French to a stranger; stand on an escalator and realize that no one is abiding by the “stand right, walk left” rule; hang out in my studio at UQAM; drink a double mojito in charming company at Barraca; people-watch on the Main, maybe through the windows of Schwartz’s or Laika; hear some terrific local band in a complete dive (like the Arcade Fire last autumn in some forgettable place on Saint-Laurent); wander around Olympic Stadium with a bad coffee in my hand; have a smoke or three in a bar (my barfly habits will never be the same in smoke-free Toronto and New York, sadly); catch a glimpse of Mont-Royal at night with the cross lit up; drink a microbrew poured by an anarchist in a tiny bar; enjoy the company of one or many wonderful Montréalers anywhere in the city.

Sorry, this is a pretty sappy post – but that’s what happens when you’re in love.