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Published: July 27th 2008
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Montreal has a lot of things going for it, the scenery, the old town and a lot of French speaking people. Which is a little strange at first as you're in Canada not France. But it is a nice touch to walk into a shop and be greeted with bonjour hello, as they have an each way bet as to how you're going to answer them back, and there are some shops you just want to keep walking in and out of to hear the accent over and over again. One of the beautiful things about Quebec City though is that it's got everything Montreal has but on a much smaller scale, so you don't have to taxi or subway from one end of town to the other as it's all there in front of you as you wonder around aimlessly.
The main reason for dashing back to Montreal from New York was to see the Canadian team compete in the International Fireworks Competition at La Ronde. It's arguably the most prestigious fireworks competition in the world, with eight companies being invited to compete each year. Having competed there a couple of times it was very novel to go there
as a punter/spectator and not be worried about setup or competing. The only downer on the whole experience was that it was a little damp, with a nice drizzle coming down for the duration of the show. This did lead to a polite suggestion to the person in front of me with the golf umbrella that it may not have been the most appropriate fashion item to block my view with! But it was great to catch up with a few of the local crew and the organisers in the Pyro Lounge after the show, it was like I'd never left, although the organisers did a double take when she spotted me as I'd organised my visit with her colleague and so she wasn't aware I was coming. The Canadian show by Garden City Fireworks didn't disappoint, with some really cool effects.
Montreal is also one of those cities that really has it's act together when it comes to festivals during summer. Although if you only have a couple of months of a decent summer then one would hope that you'd have your act together. I just managed to miss the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs
Garden City Fireworks
The Canadian team put on a nice show comedy festival, but was there for the opening night of the Francofolies Festival. Which roughly translated is the French music festival of Montreal, unfortunately I only managed to take in a little of it as I had another engagement to go to.
So how exactly did I end up at the Missy Higgins' gig in Montreal? Well the story begins with the great World Cup and Pyrocomp tour of '06 whilst I was kicking back in a little piazza in Makarska, Croatia listening to a duo singing and a decision to take in more live music back home. Fast forward to now, and the Monkey, which is conveniently located within walking distance from home, has a great line up of live music most weeks of the year and serves a sensational tiramisu. Prior to going to Montreal I did a bit of internet research to find something to do for my last night in Canada, given my limited knowledge of French the search wasn't all that fruitful and up until now it looked like I'd be hanging out listening bands singing in French at the Francofolies Festival. But with the tip that Missy was touring North America a quick
search of her site turned up the coincidence that she'd be playing Montreal the same time as my last night in Montreal. As luck would have it I managed to make it to the gig at Les Saints conveniently located two subway stops from the Uni where I was staying and what a fantastic gig it was. Now there is a little more to this story but I'll leave it off the world's stage. The only drawback of the evening was the thought of waking up in five hours time to catch the train back to Quebec City for the long trip back home.
At least with the train plane connection it meant that I had a few hours in Quebec City to have a civilised last supper before making the dash to the airport and on the big bird home. Definitely one of those planes, trains and automobiles trips back to the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Particularly the taxi ride from the train station to the airport in Quebec City. The taxi driver thought it would be a good idea to teach me French on the way. This was very handy, seeing that I was going
to the airport to fly out of the country!! But she was keen to teach so it made for an eventful trip, although she did declare that she was a bit cuckoo when I got out at the airport, somehow I tend to agree with her.
All going to plan the passport won't be in the top draw for long with the Middle East edition of the blog coming your way soon, it's that 100 day thing I've got going, sometimes the planets just align a little too well.
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