Getting to know quirky Montreal

Having lived in Montreal for a few weeks now I have come to notice a few interesting (to me anyhow) things about the city, its people and way of life.

- Pedestrians will treat the red light more like a suggestion rather than the law. Basically everyone jay-walks whenever possible. People will cross the street even if they don't need to, just to jay-walk.
- Bikers, rollerblading and pedestrians have no fear. You see people zooming down hills on roads, that have potholes which would make Polish sidewalks blush, with no helmet and a latte in their hand.
- Wine, beer and most other alcohol can be purchased along with your bread and produce. This is a VERY nice transition from what I was used to in Europe.
- The metro is RIDICULOUSLY hot, always. I'm not sure how their ventilation system works here (perhaps it doesn't) but it's freaking hot on the trains and in the stations. Not looking forward to the winter.
- It is much colder here than in TO. You know, you hear about it but you don't really believe it till you get here. The wind is colder here, so even when they claim it's 20C outside it feels like it's 10C. Oh yah, we had frost one morning last week...
- Montreal is teaming with life and quirkiness... There is a general sense of ease about the people and their way of life. It feels like the city just knows how to live. Look at the pictures below to see what I mean...

Overall, I have to say that Montreal has not won my over yet, but the city is definitely growing on me. I've been told that it won't be long now...

Anyhow, a few weekends ago, Chris came up to visit me in my new place and we spent an amazing Sunday exploring Montreal on our bikes. It was a beautiful day so we headed up Mont Royal to enjoy the views of the city and take in some of the activities happening in the park.

A view of the downtown from the look out point on Mont Royal (almost the summit). You can see the river in the background.

Another view, this time through the trees. Despite it being early September and still technically summer, the colours have started turning. Another week or so and the view should be spectacular.

Every Sunday during the summer, a small part of Mont Royal turns into a hippie zone also know as the weekly tam-tam. Basically people show up with various drums and jembes and throughout the entire day a steady sound of percussion can be heard in the vicinity of the Mont. There is also a lot of dancing, chanting as well as other recreational activities.

Another very odd and quirky activity on Mont Royal; medieval sword fighting. Yes you heard me right. There are groups of people who meet every week and have mock sword fights. They dress up, bring their foam/cardboard war weapons and basically smack one another for hours. They split up into two teams and on a signal given by someone with authority each side charges forward and the fight begins. It appears that they have rules, because after about 5 minutes they retrieve to their respective sides and the whole process repeats. There are a lot of kids/pre-teens who participate, but there are also some adults and they always seem to take the game the most seriously. Although it looks and sounds weird, after about 10 minutes of watching them I kind of wanted to steal someone's sword and get into the action myself. Maybe next time...

This guy was by far the best dressed of the bunch.

We were on our way back down from the Mont when we noticed that there was a plane parked in the middle of the street. Turned out that the pilot had to make an emergency landing and luckily due to favourable traffic light at the moment, could safely descend onto Park road. Naturally people were curious and also a bit confused. One guy that was over by the tam-tam hill said that he saw the plane fly right above him and land on the street. "I looked over at my friend and said 'Yo man, what are we smoking??!'" - he joked as he shared his story with us.

A neat shot of one of the statues in the park near the top.