I am definitely a tourist in Montreal; much more so than I was in America. Not really because the things I have been doing are different. I think it is more that I was on the lookout for interesting anecdotes and sociological moments in America. And, I realise now, looking especially for those which would reinforce my preconceptions of the country.
In contrast, here I have walked past a fair number of people begging, and met a guy selling books of his jokes on the street, while essentially refusing to let them colour my picture of Canada as a civilised country with universal health care and few social problems.
Which is obviously only half true (the universal health care...). Even museum exhibits frequently refer to the city's divided nature (both in terms of income and of ethnicity - French and English, as well as various more recent immigrant groups) and various social problems. It has been a lesson to me in the power of unexamined prejudice to influence the way one sees things.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Montreal V
This is becoming seriously addictive. The previous post took me to 61% female... I wonder if it's the exclamation marks that give me away...
Montreal IV
Ha ha! Since adding cake pictures I have gone from being 75% male to being 51% female! Sorry for the confusion folks. Will endeavour to keep the cake stories coming.
New York re-cap
I present a brief selection of cakes from New York.
Seen only through the window, and unfortunately unsampled, lurid cakes in Spanish Harlem:
The selection in a strange, ultra-modernist cake bar (!) on the Lower East Side:
And, my favourite, the cakes Nico and I enjoyed at Podunk, the most wonderful, retro, homely teahouse I could imagine - thank you Sarah for the recommendation (mine already tucked into before I remembered to take a photo)!
Seen only through the window, and unfortunately unsampled, lurid cakes in Spanish Harlem:
The selection in a strange, ultra-modernist cake bar (!) on the Lower East Side:And, my favourite, the cakes Nico and I enjoyed at Podunk, the most wonderful, retro, homely teahouse I could imagine - thank you Sarah for the recommendation (mine already tucked into before I remembered to take a photo)!
Montreal II - Fran's true gender revealed!
Adam sent me this. According to GenderAnalyzer this blog is written by a 75% man...! I guess my secret's finally out.
Montreal
My first two impressions of Montreal are:
1. It's very French - the streets even smell like streets in France
2. It's very cold
On the train here we were stopped at the border
for two hours while border officials conducted a surprisingly thorough check of each passenger. Including removing three from my carriage alone and taking them away in a van while the rest of us continued on our way into Canada. When I walked through the train after the guards had gotten off, there were frosty patches in every vestibule:
And this morning, after a shower I went out to buy milk for my breakfast and after about two minutes found that my hair was all frozen! It hadn't even occurred to me that it could be cold enough for this to happen!
1. It's very French - the streets even smell like streets in France
2. It's very cold
On the train here we were stopped at the border
for two hours while border officials conducted a surprisingly thorough check of each passenger. Including removing three from my carriage alone and taking them away in a van while the rest of us continued on our way into Canada. When I walked through the train after the guards had gotten off, there were frosty patches in every vestibule:And this morning, after a shower I went out to buy milk for my breakfast and after about two minutes found that my hair was all frozen! It hadn't even occurred to me that it could be cold enough for this to happen!
New York VI
So, I discovered my inner journalist and battled selfconsciousness to take this picture of a man, just outside Grand Central station:
I guess he was deliberately referencing the men made famous in photos of the Depression. But with a modern twist - endorsements from his media appearances.
I also saw this sign in the East Village which made me giggle:
People are obviously aware of the worsening situation. But at the same time, luxury businesses seem to be continuing to thrive: the
photo's not great, but I saw this advert for a helicopter taxi to the airport on a taxi on Fifth Avenue.
I guess he was deliberately referencing the men made famous in photos of the Depression. But with a modern twist - endorsements from his media appearances.
I also saw this sign in the East Village which made me giggle:
People are obviously aware of the worsening situation. But at the same time, luxury businesses seem to be continuing to thrive: the
photo's not great, but I saw this advert for a helicopter taxi to the airport on a taxi on Fifth Avenue.
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