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I arrived safely and uneventfully back in Sweden yesterday evening. I've now got a bunch of work to catch up on, a ton of laundry to do, and a whole lot of pictures to sort, but I'll try to update more on the rest of my trip to Montreal soon.

Montreal Day 6

Sore from the gym and on my own all day, so I started by taking the subway to an abandoned church that we’d walked past the first evening. I thought it would make an interesting subject for photos in contrast to all the magnificent churches I’ve seen here. I’m glad I didn’t procrastinate because while I was there, they blocked off the street and set up a crane with a wrecking ball on it. I talked to the construction guys who said the church was being inspected to see if it was salvageable or not. This was a side of Montreal that most tourists probably don’t see, but I’m glad I had the time to experience it.

From there, it was back on the subway and off to the historical museum again. By the time I got there, I was rather hungry since all I’d had was a banana and a cup of tea for breakfast. This was clearly the expensive part of town, so I walked for about 2 hours before I found something I wanted for lunch for a reasonable price—a Subway sandwich. This might seem kind of anticlimactic after all the fantastic food here, but I really do like Subway, so I wasn’t disappointed.

The historical museum had a nice display on the history of Montreal, but the main reason I was there was a photo exhibit on Industrial Montreal. Most of the photos were excellent and a fine reminder that art is all around us, even in the mundane subjects such as factories and warehouses. It just takes a good photographer to bring it out. They also had an interactive display on “Who burned down Montreal?” At first I was not so interested in playing the game, but it turned out to be a great way to get a feel for the culture of the period.

More walking, more churches, more photos, and another subway ride back to the Latin Quarter. There's a quote attributed to Mark Twain along the lines of, "You couldn't throw a brick in Montreal without breaking a church window." That certainly rings true. Even in Europe I have not seen so many churches in such a tight area. Some of them were magnificent, and others not at all well maintained.

I had thought of doing some shopping this afternoon, but I was too tired. There’s a restaurant dedicated to chocolate, which I simply had to try. I ordered a chocolate fondue, but one could only get an exotic fruit mixture for dipping. I asked if I could get just bananas instead, but they refused. Instead I ordered a brownie. It was probably the best brownie I’ve ever had, but dinner it wasn’t, so I resumed my quest for a salad. I eventually settled on a small salad and soup from Quiznos eaten in my hotel room with my feet up.

Montreal Day 5

I started the day in the hotel's gym. It was not nearly as impressive as it seemed in the picture, but it does have a few treadmills, some free weights, and a whole lot of mirrors. I've been walking so much that I skipped the treadmill and focused on arms and abs.

There are no Target stores here, but I did locate a Walmart that's right by a subway station. I spent the morning shopping at Walmart, then I spent the afternoon photographing and poking around the Latin Quarter. It was nice to be able to move at my own pace instead of rushing by in search of food that's agreeable for a large group. For a late lunch, I went back to my favorite pastry shop. This time I chose a cylindrical creation that was layered vanilla cake and hazelnut cream wrapped in dark chocolate and topped with meringue. Yum again!

Besides the funky shops, I really enjoyed the variation in architecture. I took a lot of pictures of houses and balconies and street scenes, then I returned to the hotel in time to meet the guys for dinner. My husband was tired of crowds and in the mood for pub grub. We saw an appealing yet quiet looking pub down a side street in the Latin Quarter, and it turned out the food was great. I’d been planning on a nice healthy salad, but couldn’t resist the Raclette d’Atlantique (smoked salmon covered in melted Raclette cheese) which luckily did come with a side salad. It was great, and I figured I’d abstain from dessert. Then the guys ordered coffee and chocolate mousse cake, and I just couldn’t resist. It turned out to be the best chocolate mousse cake I’ve ever had. It was so light and smooth and melted in my mouth. Pure chocolate paradise.

Montreal Day 4

My husband's conference started today, so now I'm on my own to do what want. I went back to Old Montreal with my camera, but since my feet already feel ready to fall off, I invested in a Metro pass. It was only $20 for the whole week, so I'm sure I'll get my money's worth.



So I took the Metro to downtown then walked through Old Montreal. My first stop was the Historical Museum where they had a photography exhibit on Industrial Montreal. Unfortunately, they were closed Mondays. So I walked and took pictures, repeat as needed. I'd had a salad for dinner the night before and a croissant sandwich for breakfast, so I had a brownie sundae with cinnamon bun ice cream and caramel sauce at Ben & Jerrys. It was divine! This was a new flavor of ice cream for me, and I was not disappointed. I ate on the patio in the sun with my book, and life was good. It was 64 degrees F/18 C with a slight breeze, but the sunshine beckoned for people to bask in it, and a lot of people did.

I was pleasantly surprised to find an exhibition by a local wedding photographer, so I spent quite a while there getting a lot of ideas and inspiration. The other place that I'd planned to visit was the photography exhibition World Press Photo 2008 along with a showing by Montreal photographers. I decided to walk there via China Town. China town was full of fascinating little shops and restaurants, but I managed to restrain myself to a barbecue pork bun for snack and a couple of bananas for later.



World Press Photo 2008 was very interesting. There were first, second, and third place winners for both single pictures and multiple picture stories, in categories such as news, people in the news, daily life, portraits, sports action, sports features, arts & entertainment, and nature. The variety of style and technique was enormous. Some worked more for me than others, but all compelled a closer look. The Montreal photographers exhibit was equally interesting. Again the variety was impressive, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

That evening it was dinner with the guys again. I had a Thai chicken salad, yum! The guys kept talking and ordering more beer. It was very loud in the restaurant, and I don't think I could have followed the conversation even if I could hear it all. So I opted out and went down the street for a pastry and a cup of tea. The pastry I chose was called a doudou, and it did bear some resemblance to a turd tart. It turned out to be 3 spherical éclairs (covered in chocolate and filled with custard) on top of a chocolate ganache tart. I thought I'd died and gone to pastry heaven.

Montreal Day 3

This morning a colleague from France joined our group for breakfast. We went to the same restaurant where we’d eaten crepes the first night because it was one of very few that was open before 9 AM. Breakfast was very good. I had a toasted baguette, brioche, and a bowl of hot chocolate. The omelets also seemed to be very good. The French guy had been to Montreal a couple times before, so it was interesting to get his opinion on the differences between Montreal and Paris. He didn’t think they looked at all the same because of Montreal’s skyscrapers. He thought Montreal looked like Boston or Philadelphia.

I took three years of French in high school, but I can’t say it’s been of much use to me here. I think I was expecting people to speak French with an American accent, but it isn’t that at all. The French guy confirmed that Canadian French did not sound like European French, probably like the difference between American and British English. Not only does it sound different, but there are some variations in terminology, and some expressions while spoken in French, are actually translations of American expressions and would not be said that way in France. There was also a bit of a twist noticeable even with breakfast: one could order crepes with maple syrup, and the baguette was served with jam and peanut butter.

After breakfast, four of us took a cab up to the top of Mount Royal. From there, we walked a loop around the top of the mountain, stopping at viewpoints, squirrels, and antenna towers. The guys were amused to discover that at the very base of the transmission tower, their phones had no reception. The view of the city was fantastic. It was a very nice walk on a brisk and sunny morning. A few trees were beginning to exhibit the first of their fall colors.

Next we walked down to an enormous church, St. Joseph’s Oratory. We took a few minutes to bask in the sun at the base of the structure before facing the 282 stairs. From the outside, I was expecting something ornate and European looking on the inside, but I was surprised by the modern interior. Construction began 1924 and wasn’t completed until 1967.

Montreal Day 2

I managed to sleep until 6 AM on Saturday, but our early start to the day was slowed down by a prolonged search for breakfast. We were quite surprised that breakfast was not included with our hotel room, and the hotel restaurant was really expensive. Last night we'd noticed a restaurant offering a breakfast special just a block away, so that's where we started. We were disappointed to discover that they didn't open until 9 AM. We decided to walk through the Latin Quarter again to see if anyplace was open for breakfast, but we found only McDonalds and places like Starbucks. So we walked back to the first restaurant and waited for 9 AM. At 9:05 there were still no signs of life, so we tried walking in the other direction. After just a few steps, we found a place that turned out to be very nice. I had crepes with maple syrup. Yum! The waitress was very nice, and when she noticed me looking at the map, she gave us a bunch of suggestions.

My husband's priority was auto parts while his friends were after clothes and electronics, so I went with his friends to the shopping district. Once again, it was quite a walk to get there, but very scenic. I got bored while the guys looked in one electronics store after another, so I went to a neighboring shop to look at leather jackets. I've wanted one for many years, but I thought they were rather expensive. Had it not been for the skill of the shopkeeper, I certainly would have left empty handed. But he was very attentive, helpful, and persuasive. I tried on mid-length black coats one after another, and while we did find one that looked great on me, I just wasn't sure. I liked a short beige coat that was in the window, so I took a closer look at that rack too. They didn't have beige in my size, but they did have a very similar one in white. I loved it! It fit me perfectly, and I was suddenly sure that it was just what I'd been looking for. It was a splurge, but at 1/3 it's original price it was also a bargain. It is now the single most expensive article of clothing I own.

We proceeded on to mall after mall and discovered that there is a huge network of underground malls running under much of the city. The top floor would be at street level and there would be offices or a hotel above, but then there were several floors of mall underneath. Some were connected to each other with pedestrian tunnels (also lined with small shops), and others were connected by subway. One could spend days like a shopping crazed gopher never seeing the daylight!

The guys were fascinated by the concept of food courts, so we ate lunch at the largest of the malls that we'd been to. There were easily 20 restaurants to choose from. The guys chose Subway, and while I also like subway, I went for Thai food instead. Yum again. There is a food court at the new mall in Lund near where they work, but it has only 4 restaurants, 3 of which are similar and all of which are over priced, so this was a real treat. After lunch we were soon too overwhelmed to shop any more, so we started walking back to the hotel. By the time we got there, we were quite exhausted.

After a couple hours rest, it was time to meet for dinner. Back to the Latin Quarter this time to the Mexican restaurant. I was pleased that we actually had a goal instead of just wandering around seeing what struck somebody's fancy. Unfortunately there was a line out the door, so it was back to wandering. We ended up at a rather mediocre Italian place. The guys are now at the bar trying to meet up with other colleagues. I'm relieved to be up here by myself blogging instead. Now, let's hope I can keep my internet connection functional long enough to publish this....

Montreal Day 1

Whoever said Montreal was a lot like Paris was wrong. Montreal is so much nicer! The architecture is a lovely blend of new and old, the prices are reasonable, the culture is lively, and the streets are free of excrement. We've done a LOT of walking, and while we have seen a few homeless people, we haven't seen anyone peeing on the street, and there's no dog doo.

Let me back track a little. We got up at 3 AM in Sweden, drove to Malmo, and took the train to the Airport in Copenhagen. We had been planning on driving over the bridge to Copenhagen, but when we tried to reserve a spot in long term parking, we found out that both long term parking lots were closed for repaving at the same time. Brilliant! We met up with three of my husband's co-workers, and we were all on the same flights to Frankfurt and then on to Montreal. The flights were uneventful. The long flight was on Air Canada, and they had personal video players for each seat. It was really nice to be able to chose your own programming, and with my new Bose noise-canceling headphones, I could actually hear the dialog. I watched Sex and the City (better than I'd expected, but definitely a chick-film), Iron Man (not very believable, but then, it's based on a comic book), an episode of CSI and a couple other shows that I'd never heard of before. For the first time I can remember, I did not sleep on the flight.

It was about noon when we arrived in Montreal, and almost 1 PM when we got to the hotel, but then we found out that check in wasn't until 3. So we stashed our luggage and went for a walk. We were thrilled to discover that we're only a couple blocks from the Latin Quarter. It was a wonderfully bohemian type of place with dozens of restaurants, cafes, and funky little shops. We chose a pizzeria with a sunny patio for lunch. It was about 70 F/21 C, so the sun was wonderful. My husband and I had salads, something that we miss in Sweden. We walked a large loop back to the hotel. Our hotel room was on the 15th floor with a lovely view of the downtown skyline.

After getting settled in, we met up again to go for dinner. We weren't really hungry after our large lunch, so the guys visited a Starbucks and we walked all the way down to the old part of town. It was really gorgeous. I'll definitely have to go back with my camera.We did a large loop by the Notre Dame Cathedral and the waterfront, then we stopped at a Creperie for dinner on our way back to the hotel. The Latin Quarter was rocking for a Friday night, but we were so exausted that we went straight to bed after returning to the hotel at 8 PM.

Remembering September 12th

The horrors of the previous day dominated conversation at my workplace as I imagine they did all around the world. As we sat in our lunchroom drinking our coffee (or tea in my case), a colleague from another department stopped by to drop something off. I don't remember the specifics leading up to this, but this person said, "Those arrogant Americans, they deserved it." I was speechless, a condition I've regretted ever since. I suppose I was waiting for my Swedish co-workers to say something, but nobody did. A few looked a bit uncomfortable, but the others didn't react as if this was anything out of the ordinary. So there I was, surrounded by people I thought were my friends, and I've never felt more out of place.

I spent a lot of my time trying to verify that everyone I knew was alright. As it turned out, I did not know any of the victims. I was really worried about my friend who was a pilot for American Airlines who frequently flew between LA and New York. As it turns out, he was preparing for take off from LA when air traffic was halted. Good friends had flown through New York the day before. They recalled looking down at the twin towers as they were leaving and commenting that they really should spend some time to see the WTC next time they were there. Another good friend sat in an airplane in Denver wondering why his flight home from vacation wasn't allowed to take off.

Things were a bit different for my husband. He was away on business at a US army base in Germany together with his American co-workers for a defense subcontractor. The base went into lock down as soon as they received the news, so they were all stuck in the one building until well into the evening. When they returned the next morning, the now heavily armed guards at the gate laughed when they saw his Swedish passport. Only critical personnel were being allowed on base, and that couldn't possibly include foreigners. Eventually they were persuaded to check the list, and much to their surprise, he was on it (the Coca-cola delivery guy who came at this time to fill the vending machines was not--probably a big mistake). He was still one of the guys, but in retrospect, that was the beginning of the end. It became increasingly difficult to be a foreigner in the defense industry, no matter how valuable his skills were.

Weeks earlier I had ordered plane tickets to spend a long weekend with my husband and his co-workers in Germany. So I got to experience first hand the joys of air travel just a few days later.

Remembering September 11th

For me, September 11th came and went like any other day this year. I might not have noticed it was the 11th at all if I hadn't looked at the calendar that evening to see which day was our cats' birthday (9/13). I read the local newspaper every day, and it does include a few pages of international news, but it's not often I catch the news on TV. We get only one radio station, and it's not worth listening to. So in many ways it's easy for me to be quite oblivious these days. It was not so seven years ago.

I remember I was at work in Malmo, and about 4:30 in the afternoon the guy in the office next to mine came in and said that his wife (who works at a newspaper) called to say that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I envisioned someone in a small private plane trying to go out with a bang and shrugged it off. I did find it odd however that my colleague and his wife found this so newsworthy. I looked around the building to see if anyone else had heard anything, but since most people leave at 4, there was nobody else. On my way home, I put on the radio in my car instead of listening to music. By the time I got home an hour later, I understood. I spent the evening switching back and forth between the 3 TV stations that we got with the phone in my hand. My husband was away on a business trip. So were my best friends. I eventually got a call from my husband, and I got through to my mom, but I was still very alone in a totally different way than I'd been the night before.

9/11 will be one of those defining moments for a generation. The type of thing that people will always remember where they were when they heard the news, like when Kennedy was shot. Sure, I remember where I was when Reagan was shot or when the space shuttle crashed, but 9/11 was more. In the days that followed, it changed the way I saw the world. It changed me. I'm pretty sure it changed the world.

To be continued...