2010 Blogs

Montréal

08/05/2010

I arrived to rain in Montréal. I explored the Grande Bibliothèque until the rain slowed and then walked around Place Émilie-Gamelin and Saint Catherine Street. The central metro station at Berri-UQAM (University of Québec at Montréal) afforded me access to the Underground City, the largest underground complex in the world. A friend told me that in the winter, it is possible to stay out of the bad weather as much as possible just by using the metro and the Underground City. The Underground City is more than 20 miles. It contains 1,600 little boutiques, 200 restaurants, 34 cinemas and 1,600 apartments.

The Montréal Metro rocked. Each station was designed by a different architect.While I was riding the Metro, there was a temporary power outtage and a couple of minutes later, the subway was headed out.

Dinner with Sylvain was in the Latin Quarter of the city. I ordered a wood oven baked pizza from the Pizzeria Dei Compari and was not able eat it all. The food was very good, but the restaurant was so busy that we were unable to get refills on drinks. The noise was very loud in the restaurant and I had a lot of difficulty listening to Sylvain talk in French. Sylvain had just finished 24 concerts in 12 days for the International Festival of Jazz. He didn't take any time off from work, he just went to the concerts after work each day. I'm not sure that I would have survived that much activity on so little sleep.

-Dorotha