Last night we went to see a bangin’ all-girl brass band in Parc Molson, just a few blocks away–one of the many City-sponsored summer events we love so much here.
Below is a little video snippet (1:40 long) from the finale, just a taste of some sassy, brassy musicians and the rare delight of a typical Montreal summer happening.… [Read More]
Montreal is notorious for its ragged infrastructure: aging water pipes, fragile electrical grid, but especially the nasty potholes that damage hundreds of tires (and people) every winter.
The mayor elected last year, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, blamed the former mayor Valérie Plante for the poor state of the roads.… [Read More]
Sylvain and I have long heard legends of the snow removal siren–an eardrum-crushing klaxon that sends Montrealers staggering into the street to move their cars before the tow-trucks and snowplows come through.… [Read More]
There is a mystery on the streets of our neighborhood. It involves stop signs.
I thought I’d discussed stop signs in a posting in some prior year, but couldn’t find it, so first, let’s talk a little about them (if you don’t want to nerd out on this topic, skip down to the pictures below).… [Read More]
Warning: long, long rant ahead…
The time has come to pack up some boxes and start nudging the orbit back towards southern California. But if you have a few large boxes you want to stash somewhere in the city, you need a means of transporting them.… [Read More]
It seems that when you live in a certain place, you become the default consultants for tourism in that place. People contact you, sometimes on behalf of people you don’t even know, wanting to hear about the best restaurants or most exciting local experiences or whether the weather is weathering, etc.… [Read More]
Sadly, this post is late. The experiences in question happened during the Olympics, and would have been so much more appropriate to post then. But such is life.
I’d gone many times to Île Sainte Hélène, but I’d never been to the other island that includes portions of Parc Jean-Drapeau: Île Notre-Dame.… [Read More]
Sylvain and I went to the MTL Pride parade yesterday; it was a homegrown affair but with abundant color and music and smiles.
Here are a few photos and three short videos of an Irish-dancing rainbow, two-stepping white hats, and a good ol’ cheer squad going to town.… [Read More]
We have arrived in Montreal and are at a hotel, we’ll check into our Airbnb tomorrow and hope for the best. You’ll hear about how it all goes soon!
Montréal has a couple of sites that guide-books inevitably label with the overused adjective “iconic.” St. Joseph’s Oratory tends to be near the top of that list.
It’s one of the largest cathedrals in the world, perched high on the southwest-facing Côte-des-Neiges side of Mont Royal.… [Read More]
