Travel Blog: Montreal, Day 2

I had hoped to get a second update up sooner than this, but the constant sightseeing has left me too tired to compose anything of substance until now. With the bulk of photos and stories I’ve acquired, I’ll probably end up breaking this post into multiple parts.

Sunday morning in Montral was spent on Rue St. Catherine, amongst the saints and sinners. It’s the classiest co-existence of old-world churches and strip clubs I’ve ever found in a major urban district. Notably, it’s cleverly designed places like this that make me want to re-evaluate my public perversions – who wouldn’t want to go to a gentlemen’s club with a marquee like that?

After partaking in a bit of shopping, it was time to answer the lunchtime calls of our guts, and partake in some of the city’s famous local fare: smoked meat sandwiches from Schwartz’s. Everything you hear about their fame is true. While some may decry the place as being overrated, similar to East-Central Albertan views on Stawnichy’s kielbasa (though the oversized meat monument was notable absent from Schwartz’s), it’s still worth buying into the hype. The layers of shaved and spiced beef outdoes anything you can find at your local Arby’s, and the out-the-door lineup into the tight little diner only adds to the charm. For dinner, while I wasn’t able to get a shot of my poutine, rest assured that I couldn’t leave Quebec without indulging in the obvious once again.

I’m not sure what this city’s affinity is for fake protests, but I came across another on St. Catherine, this time, against the faux pas of tightie-whities. I think it was either a marketing campaign or an awareness drive for some kind of fundraiser. Either way, it’s a fun spectacle to find a flash mob marching against hammer huggers.

These public bike rental racks are everywhere in the city. It’s not necessarily a new concept, but it’s very well implemented in Montreal. Everything is completely automated, and though I didn’t take a close-up look at the costs or structure, I assume there’s some sort of system in place to assure the bikes don’t just disappear once rented.

Also related, many of the streets in and around the downtown core have dedicated bike lanes, separated by concrete medians and/or designated lines on the asphalt. This is a city that gives a lot of respect to its cyclists, and it’s the sort of infrastructure I’d love to see Edmonton eventually build towards.

That’s it for now; I’ll post the next set of photos from Halifax and west Nova Scotia later this evening.