October 31, 2003


Bonjour! Halloween night and I'm missing atleast 3 hip-hoppin parties in New York City. Instead, I'm in a hotel, the a business center, writing on this blog. Don't ask why. If I could, I'd be somewhere drinking and dancing the night away. Preferrably somewhere in Manhattan with my crazy women. But no. I'm stuck in 'poor man's Europe' - Montreal.

Montreal is not as prim and proper as I thought it'd be. Seems that all the years of modernized society has taken its toll on this old city. Most of the architecture kept its old-charm feel to it but vandals managed to ruin it all. Quite sad to drive down East Ste Catherine, or Rene Levesque and look at the mix of old and new buildings mostly accentuated with colorful graffiti. Even worse is walking down Old Montreal, full of character yet not a lot of souls walking around to experience it.

Old Montreal reminds me of Fisherman's Wharf of San Francisco, City Walk of LA(?), South Street Seaport of New York... by the water, cobblestone roads, nice shops and restaurants. One thing missing is the hussling and bustiling of the tourists or even locals enjoying the atmosphere and scenery that others can only dream of. Old town Montreal is empty. Even on Halloween.

It's quite sad to walk around Old (town) Montreal. It's beautiful and full of character. So much potential yet it seems unappreciated. While north of it on Ste. Laurent the bars and lounges and clubs are full life, Old Town is exactly the opposite. With the sound of a harmonica in the distant concerting with the silent hums of the wind from the river, it almost felt a bit ghostly, eerie. A very fitting ambiance specially for tonight.

I'm hoping that I came at the wrong time.

The rest of Montreal isn't as sad. I actually took a 3-hour bus trip around town where I experienced some of the more glorious sites like the Notre Dame basilica, Mount Royal Park, and St. Joseph's Oratory to name a few. Let's just say that the tour was aimed to showcase the best part of town. My favorite was Mount Royal. Its not only gorgeous specially at this time of the year when all the leaves show-off its fall colors, but atop of it you can view most of Montreal and its grandeur. It was awesome. Reminds me of the bay area's twin peaks. I could just sit there and ponder about everything but our visit was halted by the film shooting of a French-Canadian movie 'Machine gun Monica' (or soemthing to that effect). Don't know much about the film itself but I will definitely check it out since I think I ran into the filming in 3 different locations on the same day. That in itself is interesting coincidence.

Anyway, I realize I am rambling on and on about this trip. I do look forward to going home tomorrow - all 5 hours of driving should be fun. I dont care if it rains. I dont care if its snows. I'm going home. For now, I'm done with Montreal. I will definitely go back and hopefully enjoy the trip even more the second time around. But I have seen all that I can take at this point. With that said, I'm ready to go home to my Tiny.

P.S.
While here, I was able to speak a bit (we're talking like 3 phrases - ok maybe a bit more) of French I learned from my French language CD. I'm still kicking myself for not taking it with me. It would have been good practice, yah? Oh welps, I'll learn to pack it ahead of time next time around.

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