bonjour mon amis, j'adore montreal...BUT je ne comprends pas ANYONE!
weather report: blaring blue skies, moderate air, the air that has no feeling against ones skin as it is the same temperature as you or I.
big things in montreal: bagels, poutine, wine, sex, cheese, cigarettes, music, butter.
day one:
we table scored cigars at a cafe and ordered coffee, and sat about for a few hours planning where we were going to stay. i phoned a couchsurfer, phil, and got through. he lives on Mont Royal and rue Parthenais. Took the bus, which if you have charisma, are free, to his place. later too the Metro to McGill University. This place is ancient.
The metro is really fast, and runs on actual car wheels rather than on rails. Its really loud, dirty, and windy while you wait sometimes hundreds of feet underground. Every so often you hear reverberated aliens screaming over the loudspeaker that bounces off the walls and carries down the tubes.
day 2
walked to the olympic stadium to see montreals glorious feats that were obtained through thirty plus years of debt. walked around inside the biosphere and the giant mouth with an elevator that goes up it to an observation deck. This place was void of any humans in what seems like thirty years. Vast pastures of cement and a few grazing skateboarders were the only things outside. Inside however was even stranger. Tonnes of neon lights going in all four directions overheard large enough walkways to accomodate thousands of people, but besides us, there were only two others in the building, two people in wheelchairs, seemingly lost, or forgotten, scooting around the foyer.
We left this place and went to the jardin botanique de montreal and the insectarium de montreal.
kept walking and ended up in a china town buffet. the place was huge and full of people gulping their mounds of food. the food ranged from sushi-jello-cake-chicken feet-pizza.
walked down st. catherines and found an abandoned block of buildings. we climbed the stairs to the roof and got a great view of the city 6 stories up. we hopped from one rooftop to the next seeing how the old blended in with the new.
day 3
we hiked mont royal. Its funny they call it a mountain, its really no larger than fraser street. But its a really nice park and was used as an ancient burial ground for the first nations before any settlers arrived. Half of the mountain is converted into a cemetary for the french. On top of the mountain is a huge cross with disco lights on it that lights up at night for the whole city to see. I even think it flashes. Went into the cemetary, the largest I've ever seen. Huge tombs and really old graves are scattered throughout the north side of the mountain some ranging from 1808-1810.
dave and i made borsht for the house. the house is really nice and old. there is a spiral staircase that leads to the front door off the street. 5 people share it, and pay $375 a month, everything included. phil said you can find rent for even cheaper in the city. fucking nuts!
scattered throughout the city is a bike station called bixi. You just swipe your credit card and for $5 a day 24hrs you get access to a bike. there are 300 stations throughout the city wherer you can drop the bike off. and for a half an hour its free! we rented bixis and went to a lame show at a space called lambi, then headed to a bar called barfly where 1940s blue grass was playing.
next day.
we were going to rent bixis when we found at the mont royal metro station a vast number of bikes painted green next to a tourist centre. we found out these bikes are completley free to rent! as long as you return them by 6pm. so we borrowed these and biked to beerfest at Bonaventure. Alot of free cheese, but the beer was expensive. There are alot of bike lanes here, two way bike lanes! Picked up some rolls of film that I hope to get scanned then added to this blog so you can see some of what I am describing. Ate mini burgers and poutine.
Had a few conversations where I just nodded while the other person spoke extremely fast in french, me laughing at the right points and saying au revoir at the end.
rode to this amazing park where people were playing all sorts of instruments while the sun set. we drank mead until it was dark. there doesn't seem to be any drinking laws here as everyone was drinking at the park, openly.
back to the house we had a conversation about how the city was made by freemasons. This guy who believed this studied symbology and could walk around the city studying old, really old statues that pointed in certain directs and how things lined up with one another and so on.
walked a really really dumb polish film called everything for sale. actually we had to turn it off.
turn this off.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
words
words, words, words, words, words,words,wrods, words, words, swords, words, words, words, words, swrod, words, wrpds, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, worts, wrods, words, words, words, words, wrods, wrods, wrods, words, worries, words, words, words, wrodls, wrodls, words, words, words, words, words, words is what i like is words.
Monday, June 1, 2009
catchup post vs. verbal diarhea
we moved to the delicious food co-op with martine and all the people that live there.
checked out the different types of beer that are being offered in the distillery distrcit. a milk lactose sugar based porter.
went to younge street. ive never seen so many people in one place at a time before. everyone was milling about as if transfixed by the heads in front of them, oblivious to their surroundings, bumping into everyone and blaring nonsense through their mouths. out of utter disgust we went into the eaton centre. inside young girls were getting make overs and being photographed in front of judges to become canadas next top model. it was horrible.
we met daves great uncle stan. he collects wicker furniture and other antiques. his house was like an antique shop found on main street. huge old paintings covering the entire walls, leaving no wall space exposed. the scent was moth balls. he was really a funny guy, he would walk up to average workers on the street and ask them if they could get him a job. he was 78. He had a lot of stories to tell, and took us to the beaches of toronto. if i hadn't known that there wasn't an ocean near toronto i would have thought this was one! waves, seagulls, soft sand, it was beautiful.
we then met my uncle and went to a good burrito place downtown called chipotles. apparently it is a chain across the usa, but this is the only one in canada. It was great to finally see my uncle again, and hope we can meet again in the future.
One night after a huge storm, man the storms are beautiful! Two clashing clouds of mixed colors collide from opposite ends of the sky, leaving the ground a warm, windy atmosphere high of static electricity. soon the environment turns a dark green then the lightning. bright flashes and fork lightning, following is a downpour that rips the skin off your arms and bounces 4 feet of the ground. thunder rattles the windows in their panes. then as soon as it started the sun is back out quickly evaporating all the water off the streets. this happened 3 times or so in toronto.
anyway around midnight or so after one of these strorms martine drove dave, lee, larysa, and I to her parents house in Georgetown, a suburb about an hour out of toronto, where the houses are all on acres in the middle of dense deciduous forests. We made like a ravenous pack of animals raiding her parents fridge and cupboards, eating everything in sight. since the whole house was empty each of us had our own bedroom to sleep in. we awoke early, as lee had to work that day. I went outside for a walk in the dense fog. there were mosquitoes everywhere and i was attacked about 9 times. we drove back into the city and stopped to get one of the best croissants ive ever had. i normally don't like them.
one day we were informed that george bush and bill clinton were giving a lecture at the convention centre. those who wanted to go bought tickets for $200 and went through intensive security before sitting down. needless to say there was a protest organized outside. we went, but it was extremely disillusioned, small, and no one (including myself) knew why they were there. later this day was critical mass. what a strange critical mass it was. the police were protesting bicycling laws, and made us stop at every stop sign, every stop light and obey every law, or else fines would be given out. this left the mass in groups of twenty or so at a time, weaving in and out of traffic, rather than owning the streets. how bizzarre it was though, riding down younge street with hundreds of people stopping and staring as hundreds of bikes replaced the cars on the road. people were getting tickets by the handful.
oh on younge street there is an all cross street. meaning you can cross regularly, or diagonally to the other side. so every few minutes when the "all cross" sign appears there is a swarm of people all over the place.
the night before we left toronto we made a wonderful dinner, had wine and watched twin peaks.
we caught a ride share in the morning that took 15 people in a van. obviously an illegal business and one that rakes in a lot of cash. he drives daily to and from montreal and toronto. it was cramped, and it sucked.
arrived in montreal, and immediately i cannot understand anyone! i went to the bathroom at a drug mart and was chased out by a clerk who was yelling in french, things i did not know! so we are having a hard time, but are managing the language barriers. everything is in french.
the metro is amazing, but expensive. we table scored some food after we ate ours, it was a very odd textured brown circle on a croissant. i turned out to be frois grois. horrible, i will never eat it again.
its funny people come up to us blabbering away and dave and i just nod and walk away. we will try to learn as much french as we can.
trying to find a couchsurfer to stay at tonight. the hostels are expensive.
checked out the different types of beer that are being offered in the distillery distrcit. a milk lactose sugar based porter.
went to younge street. ive never seen so many people in one place at a time before. everyone was milling about as if transfixed by the heads in front of them, oblivious to their surroundings, bumping into everyone and blaring nonsense through their mouths. out of utter disgust we went into the eaton centre. inside young girls were getting make overs and being photographed in front of judges to become canadas next top model. it was horrible.
we met daves great uncle stan. he collects wicker furniture and other antiques. his house was like an antique shop found on main street. huge old paintings covering the entire walls, leaving no wall space exposed. the scent was moth balls. he was really a funny guy, he would walk up to average workers on the street and ask them if they could get him a job. he was 78. He had a lot of stories to tell, and took us to the beaches of toronto. if i hadn't known that there wasn't an ocean near toronto i would have thought this was one! waves, seagulls, soft sand, it was beautiful.
we then met my uncle and went to a good burrito place downtown called chipotles. apparently it is a chain across the usa, but this is the only one in canada. It was great to finally see my uncle again, and hope we can meet again in the future.
One night after a huge storm, man the storms are beautiful! Two clashing clouds of mixed colors collide from opposite ends of the sky, leaving the ground a warm, windy atmosphere high of static electricity. soon the environment turns a dark green then the lightning. bright flashes and fork lightning, following is a downpour that rips the skin off your arms and bounces 4 feet of the ground. thunder rattles the windows in their panes. then as soon as it started the sun is back out quickly evaporating all the water off the streets. this happened 3 times or so in toronto.
anyway around midnight or so after one of these strorms martine drove dave, lee, larysa, and I to her parents house in Georgetown, a suburb about an hour out of toronto, where the houses are all on acres in the middle of dense deciduous forests. We made like a ravenous pack of animals raiding her parents fridge and cupboards, eating everything in sight. since the whole house was empty each of us had our own bedroom to sleep in. we awoke early, as lee had to work that day. I went outside for a walk in the dense fog. there were mosquitoes everywhere and i was attacked about 9 times. we drove back into the city and stopped to get one of the best croissants ive ever had. i normally don't like them.
one day we were informed that george bush and bill clinton were giving a lecture at the convention centre. those who wanted to go bought tickets for $200 and went through intensive security before sitting down. needless to say there was a protest organized outside. we went, but it was extremely disillusioned, small, and no one (including myself) knew why they were there. later this day was critical mass. what a strange critical mass it was. the police were protesting bicycling laws, and made us stop at every stop sign, every stop light and obey every law, or else fines would be given out. this left the mass in groups of twenty or so at a time, weaving in and out of traffic, rather than owning the streets. how bizzarre it was though, riding down younge street with hundreds of people stopping and staring as hundreds of bikes replaced the cars on the road. people were getting tickets by the handful.
oh on younge street there is an all cross street. meaning you can cross regularly, or diagonally to the other side. so every few minutes when the "all cross" sign appears there is a swarm of people all over the place.
the night before we left toronto we made a wonderful dinner, had wine and watched twin peaks.
we caught a ride share in the morning that took 15 people in a van. obviously an illegal business and one that rakes in a lot of cash. he drives daily to and from montreal and toronto. it was cramped, and it sucked.
arrived in montreal, and immediately i cannot understand anyone! i went to the bathroom at a drug mart and was chased out by a clerk who was yelling in french, things i did not know! so we are having a hard time, but are managing the language barriers. everything is in french.
the metro is amazing, but expensive. we table scored some food after we ate ours, it was a very odd textured brown circle on a croissant. i turned out to be frois grois. horrible, i will never eat it again.
its funny people come up to us blabbering away and dave and i just nod and walk away. we will try to learn as much french as we can.
trying to find a couchsurfer to stay at tonight. the hostels are expensive.
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