Hi gang. Any Montrealists on Philly Blog? I am visiting your great French-Canadian city for the next few days. As I'm sure it is in Philly it's unusally warm here, in the 70s today.

You should give a full report upon return because I've always wanted to visit.

Hmmm, featured speaker at the next happy hour....

I was in Montreal in August. Interesting city. Similar to Philadelphia in that it has an "Old City" near the river with a modern business district (tall buildings, traffic, stores) nearby. Terrain is mostly flat. Lots of museums. Very tourist oriented. Most people seem to speak English in the places that visitors are likely to go.

I had a destination* in the 'burbs, however, so we did find ourselves among French-only neighborhoods. My experience was not comprehensive, but I had the sense that French-only speakers seemed to be low-middle to lower income. Imagine a Pennsauken in which everyone speaks French.

*Fort Chambly, in the suburb of the same name. The Abenaki grabbed one of Dad's ancestors from a town in Massachusetts in 1677. Burned him at the stake at a site now occupied by -- sigh -- a cloverleaf and fast-food restaurants.

Um, except for the mountain the city is built on?

That's cause you were in a low-middle to lower income area
There are plenty of very exclusive, very tony, very French areas of the city.

As I recall, there are mountains (well, big hills) that rise up beyond the city. But downtown itself is on a flat plain along the St. Lawrence.

The next time you're in downtown Montreal, look north and 760 feet up. That's Mount Royal.

Trust me, if you ride a bike in Montreal, you'll know exactly how painfully hilly it is. Not as bad as SFO, but still some decently steep climbs.

Center City Philadelphia is flat. Downtown Montreal is definitely a bit hilly.

Other observations, which may or may not be based in any sort of reality or greater truth:

There may be more homeless here in Montreal than in Philly. Not sure, but it surprises me how much I have seen.

Also many more homeless people with dogs, sometimes several.

Being hit up for change is much more charming in French than in English. :-)

People here are very kind to strangers with disabilities. I was surprised on a number of occasions to see people in wheelchairs get assistance from others that weren't with them in a way I don't think I have seen in Philly very much.

ATMs seem harder to find here than in the States. Odd.

The gay bars are much more "open" to the world with windows, open doors, etc. whereas in Philly they all seem to be behind shutters or without windows altogether.

I'm being cruised by other gay men much more here than
I get in Philly. Don't know why, but I'm not complaining. :-)


More to follow....

I saw in one of the free City Paper-type papers up there that Montreal is concerned about its streetwalker problem. The rest of the story is that prostitution is legal in Canada, with restrictions against things like streetwalking and brothels. (Basically, individual women are allowed to entertain men in their homes.) The powers-that-be thought legalizing it would help end the street activity, but it hasn't worked out that way.

Not saying that this is linked to gay life, but it does seem part of the openness that cccamac describes.

I'm back home in Philly now. What a lovely trip it was. This may sound strange but I often felt like I was in a French movie during my time there. Just something about the lovely lazy weather, the beautiful architecture, the excellent food, some of the fun things that happened along the way. I kept thinking: I've seen this/felt this in French movies (in the kind of exuberantly celebratory ones, not the ones that never rise above the level of muddled depression...).

Anyhow...

A few other observations:

• Amazing the number of film festivals in that city.
• The city seems to be booming, but there are also a fair number of dilapidated/boarded up buildings, not unliike those scattered around center city, though in smaller number.
• I love the clothes, even more than NYC.
• The bilinguality of the city is astonishing.

So, I highly recommend it as a vacation destination. I can't wait to go back.