Montreal... Again...

Wrapping up my first day in Montreal, I'm easily reminded of why I dig this city so much. It's funky. I like funky. Cities like Toronto and Vancouver are certainly cool places to visit, but they don't have the fun-factor that you find in Montreal.

The day started out with a lunch meeting, and then a visit to a client not far from the Vieux Port. As I've mentioned here in the past, the Vieux Port is the touristy part of town. Cobblestone streets, buskers, restaurants galore, and more souvenir shops than you can shake a stick at.

Lunch was good, but it was actually breakfast. I don't think I'm breaking any news when I say that I dig breakfast. I'm not talkin' Wheaties and a piece of fruit here. I'm talkin' eggs, sausage, some potatoes, toast and some OJ. Honestly, if lunch and dinner would, somehow, disappear from our existence, I'd be completely cool with that.

After my client visit, I took a walk down to the Vieux Port. My main goal was to visit Alejandro, an artist who I met the last time I was here:



Alejandro painting along Rue des Artistes back in June...



I really dug his paintings, but I didn't want to have him ship it from here after I left. As nice a guy as he was, I'd still prefer to ship it myself. As I'll be at my Dad's this weekend, I can do that. So, today, I was here to buy one of his paintings.

When he painting, it's pretty obvious he'd rather not engage in small talk with people regarding his work. His paintings aren't inexpensive, so it probably gets old thinking that someone's talking to you because they want to buy your work. He's not rude, but he is somewhat terse with his casual conversation. I found him to be that way to me today, when I told him I was here two months ago, and that I really liked his work. I then uttered those magic Alejandro-attention-getting words: I'm here to buy one of your paintings.

His entire demeanor changed. Immediately, he sat me in a chair and pulled out about a dozen paintings. He sat with them in his lap, about six feet from me. He wanted me to see them from a distance, as I'd already been looking at them up close. His patience was amazing. I knew what I wanted; well, kind of. I knew the colors I wanted, and I knew what I wanted as the subject. As he went through them, I'd tell him "that one" or "no", and he would set them aside in different stacks. After we went through the paintings in his lap, he went and got another group of paintings. We finally narrowed it down to two, and I couldn't decide. I asked which one he liked most, and I went with that one.

Rue des Artistes is a pretty cool street (well, more like an alley) in the Vieux Port. Painters, photographers, jewelry makers, hell, you name it; they're all there. This was a guy I'd not seen here during any of my previous visits, but he was busy today, as well, with a steady stream of customers. This was shot during a seldom seen lull in his traffic:



An artist along Rue des Artistes...

 From Rue des Artistes, I made my way over to the "main drag", Rue St. Paul. This is where you find the majority of restaurants and bars in the Vieux Port, and it's always crowded. It's a good thing this street is closed to traffic because, if it wasn't, there would be only two possible outcomes: There would be a traffic jam of a magnitude unseen since the Canadians won the Cup, or the street would be littered with, um... "road kill". The sidewalks along Rue St. Paul are simply far too narrow to handle the tourist traffic that hits this area every single day:

Pedestrian traffic along Rue St. Paul...

I worked my way back to Place Jacques Cartier (the plaza in the Vieux Port), where the buskers were out doin' their thing. Today's crop of buskers included a guy who juggled flaming bowling pins atop a five foot high unicycle and a guy who is rather handy with a bullwhip.

Another staple in the Vieux Port is the horse-drawn carriage. They're damn near everywhere. For thirty or forty bucks (I'm guessin' here) you can get a private tour of the Vieux Port. You can tie up traffic and hope the horse doesn't rear up as drivers honk their horns at the carriage driver. I'm sure it's lovely, but I'll pass. Also, the drivers (is that even the right word?) get really pissed if you take pictures of their carriages and/or horses, so one must employ stealth:

A horse-drawn carriage along de la Commune in the Vieux Port...

From de la Commune, the next stop is over along the quay, where there are even more shops at which to leave your money. What the quay also offers is a cool view of the Vieux Port:

The Vieux Port as seen from the quay...

I can only imagine that one of the worst decisions a person could make in their life is deciding to drive in the Vieux Port. It just doesn't make sense. Driving in Montreal is a study in patience as it is. Driving in the Vieux Port could only compound that.

Well, apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks that way. All over Montreal, and especially in the Viuex Port, you can find automated bike rental stations. I haven't the foggiest idea how they ensure you actually bring it back, but they must have something figured out, because these bikes are everywhere:

Bike rental station in the Vieux Port...

The area along the quay is great for people watching. Every manner of pathetic soul is sure to pass by at some point or another. The quay is also home to the Centre des Sciences de Montreal, or the Montreal Science Center. I've yet to venture in but, one of these days, I probably will:




Centre des Sciences de Montreal...



It's Indiana Jones. And it's in French...

Now, given the nature of the Vieux Port, it's not really possible for the local police to patrol in cars. There just isn't a place for the cars to drive in the majority of the Port, but they still need to have a presence. Leave it to the Montreal Police Department to solve such a problem with savvy and ingenuity:

And he will totally put your sorry ass in Golf Cart Jail, too...

I finally made my way back to my hotel, and opted for an evening of relaxation and the Discovery Channel. Tomorrow will include some more client visits, but no more walking in the Vieux Port. I think I'm done with that.

Maybe...