We explore Montreal – looking up, down, and all around — but mostly UP!

Washing Clothes

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 – The inevitable happens.  It is time to wash clothes.  After more than a week on the road, we are running low on essentials.  The washer and dryer are modern stacked units too many steps down from our apartment, tucked into the wall of one of many landings.  Down the stairs with my first load, looking up I realize that I can’t reach the soap — positioned two feet above my head, my fingertips barely graze the bottom.

Needing help, I call loudly up the winding stairs, “Michael.” I left the door open, I hope he’ll hear.

Searching for Lunch

After laundry, the POD is a heavy lunch and a light dinner, with a tour of Notre Dame, somewhere in between.  We head up Saint Laurent, looking for lunch.  And walk. And walk. And walk. Climbing the hill to the end of Vieux Montreal, passing stately buildings that shout this is where we govern and judge, we walk beneath buildings of business and commerce.  We walk through China Town where restaurant after restaurant lines the sidewalks.  Small grocery stores showcasing wilted produce stacked outside their doors graze our elbows. We walk on, heading toward glitzy-glass-encrusted high-rises. Tiring of St. Laurent we turn left on a whim. Heading west we pass by what seems to be a good choice, outdoor tables galore, bright happy. Too sunny for Michael.

We find the shade in a place called St. Hubert’s.  Finally, we are among the locals.  A grandmother with a very young grandchild in tow is seated next to us.  Two mothers with as many children sit beyond.  Businessmen.  Businesswoman.  Just Montrealers. We pretend to be one of them, although we do not speak a word of French, and mispronounce what we read; Save Water Drink Beer – Terlingua on Mike’s baseball cap, might, just might, give us away. However, there are odder sights to see around here.

Montreal’s Place des Arts

Stumbling along, we discover Montreal’s Place des Arts, an all-important cultural hub, made up of six performance halls. It also includes rehearsal halls, a costume workshop, warehouses, and office space; it is a true crossroads of cultural life, located — appropriately — at the heart of an area called the Quartier des Spectacles.

And we happen to be on the fringes of their latest event, a Just for Laughs Festival. We stop and tour a mobile gallery of satirical cartoons, both political and non-political, from illustrators around the globe.  Because I am an artist I can’t resist snapping a photo of a somewhat crude — although I understand the sentiment — illustration of an artist’s palette. We explore, looking up, down, and all-around (but mostly up) till our feet turn toward Notre Dame.

Notre Dame

I am unprepared for the quiet beauty.  This basilica is approachable, not diminishing. It is like walking into the middle of a painting—a place full of color and muted light. Mike says the columns are like giant rolls of Christmas wrapping.  I hadn’t thought of it that way, but he is right.  An exquisite dream, impossible to capture, but I try.

Our feet turn toward home. We stop off at a small church down the street from where we are living. Simpler, quieter beauty.

(International) Pyrotechnics Competition

At nine o’clock we just think we are tired as we head for books and bed. Closing up the apartment for the night, Mike hears a lot of activity outside the front room window.

“Something’s happening,” he says.

We remember the fireworks display scheduled for 10:00 p.m.—the largest  (international) pyrotechnics competition of its kind in the world, it apparently has been going strong since 1985.  This year we are here in the middle of it, getting to see four of the eight competitions, with fireworks lighting the sky every Saturday (and sometimes Wednesday it seems) from June 28 – August 2. Tonight it is the Canadians turn to amaze.  Grabbing warmer clothes we descend the stairs and enter the fray. We find a better place to watch — closer to the action, further from our apartment. We wait an hour for the spectacle to begin.