Montreal, baby

I just returned from a 4-day weekend in Montreal... the city now ranks up there as one of my favorite places in the world. The culture, the food, the joie de vivre all around - irrésistible! I went to visit a friend, my old roommate from San Francisco who I hadn't seen in about 7 years. But time is irrelevant as we picked up right where we left off. It was a non-stop weekend of fun, friends, and fantastic music. On Sunday we went to the Osheaga festival and saw, among others, Devo, Weezer, and Snoop Dogg, who was ridiculously entertaining in his own ridiculousness. We sat up on the hill and it was awesome to see tens of thousands of people waving their hands and singing along. I would have had some amazing pictures, but they copped my camera at the entry because my zoom lens was not allowed in... at least not without a photo pass. Grrr.... so there's another reason to break down and buy a point-and-shoot as a backup.

I'm still on a travel high, one which started on Friday as I hit the road and I'm sure will continue for several days at least. I think I'm addicted to exploring and learning; few things get me as pumped as traveling, really. And even though I've been to Montreal several times, it's somehow different every time. As soon as you get there you're surrounded by dozens of languages and cultures - English, French, Greek, Portuguese. It's like a mini-U.N. Thanks to one of Cord's friends, even the visit up to Mont Royal was new. Apparently there are these raccoons that hang out there during the day and you can go right up to them and feed them by hand. What an experience to look a wild animal in the eye as he takes a piece of bread from your hand with his cute little paws. Communing with nature - nothin' like it.

The other thing that just blows me away is how different the vibe in Canada is from the U.S. We share a border, a language, some cultural norms, and yet Canadians are so much more chill than Americans. An example: I witnessed an accident that took place between a car and a man on a bike. After it occurred, the man got out of the car and as I was expecting a big shouting match or some scene to ensue, both the driver and the biker began apologizing to one another. ??? Maybe I'm wrong, but in the U.S. I would expect both parties to be a bit more aggressive, blaming each other, and at least one threatening to sue by the end of it all. Oh, the many things we could learn from our neighbor to the north.

So there you have it. Montreal rocks. Here are some pics...

On the way home I hit some rain, but it was all worth it when I saw this rainbow.