About a week ago the MarJ and I returned from 7 glorious days in Montreal. I have been silently stewing on the major and minor differences between the major coastal island town of Montreal and the coastal industrial town of Cleveland. I admit the MarJ and I only saw 7 walking days worth (most of which I spent complaining about the humidex and WALKING) but I think we experienced enough to start drawing some conclusions.
I have also been organizing my photos. Dear god I took a lot of photos. There was some really interesting intentional, um, features say, such as the winding stairs, that really made me giggle. Those that have been in the inner suburbs of Montreal know what I am talking about. Most apartment buildings (up to 4 stories) do not have interior stairways, instead they have exterior circular or winder stairs that exist within the 24 - 72 inches from the sidewalk to the front of the building. Moving must be a major pain, but the personalization and privatized entrance for each unit (including a proper stoop on which to set) should more than make up for the physical inconvenience. Besides Montrealers (or whatever they call themselves) make up for the inadequacies of the aspect of moving by choosing to live in smaller living units. Almost as if they can and do treat the entire city as their living room.
Oh, I guess that is about how it works.
We were astounded by the well kept and integrated park system as well as the the logical and fully functioning (oh and convenient) public transit system that stitched it all together. Throw in free healthcare and I welcome socialism with open arms.
We did miss the food of Cleveland. I will admit that my stomach keeps me here more than anything else. I have formed some opinions based upon the relationship of food and depression as it pertains to industrialized cities that have, well, imploded which I eventually hope to share.
However in the upcoming week(s) I hope to organize some of these photos, compare them to what we currently enjoy in Cleveland and perhaps jump to some conclusions (its a mat... with a bunch of conclusions written on it!). In the meantime I am still catching up at the office (fun) and trying to figure out why it was so very easy and relaxing to get into Canada but flying out was a complete nightmare. Also we wanted to take the train but American rail travel doesn't make a half ounce of sense. Who wants a 6 hour layover in Buffalo? Seriously, Buffalo!
