We drove across the country to Montreal. Arrived late in the day – initially a bit of disappointment. At first glance Montreal lacks the wow effect of Quebec. But after we’d driven around I began to see the place with new eyes. It’s the difference between, say, Sydney and Melbourne. One is showy, the other is sedate and dignified. It turns out there were lots of lovely things about Montreal. The most bizarre though was the underground shopping mall. Down some stairs (like going into the underground in London) and there were shops and coffee shops – all the things you would find in your local shopping centre. All under the ground. Meanwhile, above them, the cars and things are all travelling along the roads, there are other “normal” buildings, traffic lights – the works. They call it (with no real creativity) the Underground City. Apparently it’s the largest one in the world – I’m not sure how many others there are in the category.
The Old City was pretty with French looking buildings and cobbled streets again. In the Harbour (I presume the St Lawrence river again) there was a Greenpeace ship which you could go and explore – sadly we didn’t have enough time. And lots of artists sitting around and selling their wares and doing portraits. What I like most, though, was a sculpture called “The Illuminated Crowd” up near McGill University. It has 65 people. Each with his/her own features – different races, different ages. It is meant to depict how fragile the human condition is, and it was enormously moving. In the late afternoon one of the other travellers, Julie, and I walked back down into town and wandered around for ages. I was exhausted at the end, but I felt I had absorbed some of the atmosphere of the city – and liked it very much.
