Sunday, August 20, 2006
Montreal, Day Two
Started the day late. Ate at Tim Horton's, Canada's largest fast food chain. The twist is that sandwiches, not burgers, are the main dish. And combos include a choice of soup...or donut! (And no, you can't super size it.)
It rained all day. Nima and I stayed indoors most of the time. Fortunately, there is no end to roof-covered diversions in Montreal. We spent some time in the "underground city". This is a series of subfloors under office buildings, which are connected to each other and to the Metro. The underground city is a sprawling subterranean shopping mall, replete with stores, eateries and even movie theaters. It was quite busy on this wet summer day, but I imagine it's even busier in the brutal winter.
After emerging from the underground city, we walked to the Museum of Contemporary Art in the Place d'Arts. Exhibitions of note included an "artsy" rock video compilation and a retrospective of a contemporary artist from British Columbia named Brian Junger. Junger sculpts objects evoking prehistoric times using materials from the modern era. (Works include Native American masks made of Air Jordan shoes and whale skeletons constructed from white vinyl patio chairs.)
Never buying another goldfish
Our day of going back in time was extended by a visit to the Archaeological Museum in Old Montreal. The highlight was an elaborate 20-minute multimedia show about the history of Montreal. The presentation was carried out with two translucent projection screens, dioramas on the floor and even dry ice.
After the museum we walked to Chinatown. I had heard about a tropical fruit available in Canada called the mangosteen; for pest control reasons, the mangosteen is illegal to import into the U.S. I bought a bag of them in a grocery store for C$4.99/lb. The fruit looks like a small purple persimmon on the outside. On the inside, the white flesh resembles lychee. The flesh is juicy, but not as wet as a peach. The flavor is citrusy, very pleasant. I can't wait for the next opportunity to taste one.
Mangosteens (Copyright by The New York Times; photographer David Karp)
For dinner Nima and I went to the Plateau Mont Royal, a bohemian (bourgeois) neighborhood two Metro stops from our hotel. The restaurant we dined at was Les Folies on Rue Mont-Royal. Although the place was almost empty on this Sunday night, the ambience was nice and our waitress was friendly. (I passed by this restaurant a couple of days later when it was completely full.)
After dinner we met a Couchsurfer that I had contacted prior to our trip. Her name is Noemie; she is starting university in the fall. We went a couple of blocks up the street to a neighborhood bar called Le Boudoir, which serves Quebec microbrews. Noemie is friendly and a lot of fun. She gave us a few suggestions for the rest of our visit.
When we said goodbye to Noemie it hadn't yet reached midnight. We went back to St-Laurent. We revisited some of the places we had checked out the night before, and even stopped by one we hadn't: a club called Radio. All of these spots were pretty quiet tonight.
Noemie and I toasting the town
