Art on the Streets of Montreal

My yearly visit to Montreal has been rather quiet this time around. The friends I had when I initially left almost three years ago are slowly drifting away from each other and myself, so it's been harder to gather them together like I used to during earlier visits - but I guess that makes me grateful for the ones who do show up. That being said, I ended up a lot less busy than I had originally thought I would be.
 Thankfully, though, my visit this year was in Summer, coinciding with the yearly line-up of festivals that take place in Montreal one after the other during the warmer season. My hometown of Montreal is nothing if not a city of celebration, with high media-attention-gathering events such as the Just for Laughs festival of comedy, or the Jazz Festival. There's always something going on in Montreal, unless it's too damn cold.

 As it so happened, practically just out my doorstep, the city-wide "Nuit Blanche" event took place. Nuit Blanche (literally "White Night" but signifying "All-Nighter") is an event spanning three nights in a row where the streets fill with art and performances during the hours between sunset and sunrise. The trains run continuously, uninterrupted by their usual curfew, allowing commuters to get home easily. My friends themselves did happen to have a curfew, though, so I didn't wander the streets too late into the night, but I did get to see what was happening in my own area as part of the event.

Princess Mononoke!

On Mont-Royal street, painters were turning the very pavement into their own canvas, boldly displaying large pieces of art. This year, the theme was cinema posters. It was a little inspiring to see people go at it, with each artist or set of artists in various stages of completion, surrounded by crowds of wandering in between them. Though many apply for the chance to have a spot on which to paint well in advance, very few do get chosen, so it's a great honor to be chosen by the city to have the spotlight shine down on you.
Unfortunately, it appeared two artists chose the movie poster for "Jaws" as their subject. They must've been quite exasperated to find out afterwards. Like my friend said, that's kind of like finding someone's wearing the same prom dress as you are on the night of the event. Ouch.
 Regardless, I'll probably walk up the street one last time once the event is done with, just to see what the finished results ended up being.

This is Montreal (part 2)

 I still have a couple of things to write about when it comes to the city where I was born and raised, and I don't like to leave things unfinished. Here are a few more things you can do in Montreal that I personally recommend. You can read part 1 here!

5: Montreal Biodome

This is my brother, by the way.

The Montreal Biodome was once the Olympic Stadium's Velodrome. Seeing as it was put out of use, the city did the most sensible thing in order not to let the building go to waste: they filled it with dirt, trees and animals, and gave it new life as an interior zoo. The Biodome is separated into 4 parts: tropical jungle, forests of Canada, the Laurentian Bay, and the Arctic waters. It's very much worth it to see these ecosystems reproduced indoors. I got a 40% discount by showing my Tokyo resident card and saying it was my student card. Suckers!


6: The Olympic Stadium

Additionally to the Biodome, the Olympic Stadium and its surrounding area have a number of interesting stops. The stadium's tower itself was once the tallest inclined tower in the world (eclipsed only recently by a new one in Dubai.) At walking distance, one can also visit the Insectarium, Botanical Gardens and the other impressive outdoor gardens such as the Chinese and Japanese gardens. They're genuinely nice, and you can visit all of them at a discounted price if you do them all in the same day.


 
 7: Chinatown

 I love Montreal's Chinatown. Though it's only a couple of blocks in terms of size, strolling across Chinatown gives you the impression of being somewhere other than a Canadian city. Tiny shops stand shoulder to shoulder, cram-packed with trinkets and useless, cheap merchandise such as unlicensed Hello-Kitty stuff or anime figurines or old Chinese music albums.
You can also get a fairly cheap American-Chinese restaurant meal, complete with waiters with broken English and cheesy-ass fortune cookies. You and I both know it's nothing like the actual China, but it is awesome.

Yeah I know, I'm no longer in Montreal. I've been back in Tokyo for a week now, the beginning of which I fought hard against the jet lag. But I've had an enjoyable time in the presence of old friends I haven't seen in the last year. I'll be relaying back to Montreal once a year, though, checking on my family and my goons. Cheers!

Montreal's Zombie Walk

While relatively small for a city, Montreal is known for its great number of festivals and municipal events taking place throughout the year. The annual Jazz festival and Just For Laughs festival are examples of events that draw people from around the world, but many smaller events also take place that are relished by the locals.

 Due in no small part to the approach of Halloween, it just so happened that my stay coincided with Montreal's annual Zombie Walk. This year, the event drew an approximated 3000 people. Yikes.

And so I left home after throwing together a quick outfit, and joined my (usually) lovely lady friends, Roxanne and Marie (pictured) for their own preparations. Shortly after, we were off to join the horde.

It would feel very authentic if not for the photographers!

With my trusty frying pan in hand, I went dressed as a struggling survivor, and that was great fun. I had a blast running up to photographers and just yelling stuff like "evacuate!", "run!", and "they're coming!" in their faces at the top of my lungs, while darting in and out of the zombie horde. I was often chased around by rather outgoing individuals who took their role-play to heart, and I safely assume that I can treasure those moments as some of the few where I'll ever have several women on top of me at a time.
 Once in a while I would also encounter another rare survivor who would grab me by the arm and we would go running together.
 I fancy the thought that there may have been some people who woke up at this time and looked outside and thought this was actually happening.

Game over?

This is Montreal (part 1)

When I first came to Japan, I had a return ticket due for in six months. Six months was the "trial period" I had allocated myself, and, upon make a few friends and getting involved with my job, I had then decided that I would be staying in the country for a lot longer than that. And so I pushed my ticket back as far as I could be allowed to, and it just so happened that the allowed period between entry and return was one year. It's been one year now since I've left Montreal for Japan, and here I am again in Canada, the land of greasy fries, Chinese convenience store owners and potholes sized like they're meant for you to hide your babies inside.
 I wasn't really going to blog about Montreal at first, but it occurs to me now that there are probably, like, two or three of you who're reading this blog from Japan. So here's a quick run through of a firs set of things you can see and do while you're in Montreal.

Courtesy goes to Ken for most of these pictures. I don't take many touristy pictures of the city I was born and raised in, so that'll fall upon him. Oh, and yeah, Ken did come to Montreal with me. That decision was made by him on a drunken night. Possibly one of the only ways a decision to come to Montreal is made.

 You can do the following in Montreal.

1: Eat Poutine

The steamy mass of lard and soggy french fries is something I have attempted to find in Tokyo with disappointing results. Poutine is served everywhere in Montreal. It's kind of like the Magna Carta when it comes to figuring out the local taste in food amongst the commoners. It's greasy, vulgar, unapologetic about its own existence, too much exposure to it isn't good for your health at all, but you find yourself going back to it more than you'd like. Kind of like Montreal people.



2: St-Joseph Basilica

It's the biggest domed church of its kind in North America. To me, the Basilica inspires a bit of a sense of awe, if for nothing but its size and the quietness inside. I won't go into its history too much, but a small chapel behind the basilica itself displays an impressive number of crutches left behind by people who claim to have visited St-Joseph Basilica and to have been healed. Today, it's considered to be one of Montreal's signature landmarks and can be spotted easily as you approach the city by highway.


3: Go Raccoon Feeding

Actually, few Montrealers even know about this, but on top of Mount-Royal (which offers a nice view on the city, by the way) the raccoons come out every night and are fed by a handful of people. They come out in droves and will actually eat from your hands. So long as you have food to offer, they don't mind if you pet them and are actually very docile. Reportedly, rabies has been eradicated here in Montreal, but keep safe and sanitize your hands afterwards.


4: Old Montreal

Montreal's not the most beautiful city in Canada (that would be Vancouver) but it is the most interesting one, which can be accounted for due to its cultural heritage. Old Montreal offers a lot of 16th and 17th century European architecture, complete with brick roads and horse carriages. You can also drop by the Old Port, which is nice and scenic especially for the elements noted above. On weekends, performers come out and act, juggle, play music and do acrobatics. Bring a date here.



There's actually a few things more, and I'll be periodically posting about those during my stay here in Montreal. I'll be back in Japan on the 29th.