Bonjour
Keep in mind all of this is a lot for a kid who moved from a semi-small town (the 18th largest population wise in its country) to a pretty big one (the 7th largest population wise on its continent [Wikipedia]). I could take a very spiritual route here with how much personally I have grown and changed over the last two years, but that is something maybe for a diary. I have thrived with this independence and living with Abbey has been constant fun together all day, everyday but that too is a whole post in itself. What I wanted to accomplish here is showcase my love for, and how grateful I am to have been able to live in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, over the last two years.
If you had told me seven or eight years ago that I was moving to Montreal I would have told you that you are fucking crazy. I didn’t, and still don’t know French and at the time thought it was quite silly that part of my country spoke a different language. Extreme ignorance. I wanted no part of Quebec and had no interest. I hated the Habs growing up and still think it’s stupid they only have French Canadian coaches. Then Abbey and I took a trip here a couple months into dating. I couldn’t believe I was in Canada, even off such a small sample size. All the different areas we touched made the city feel enormous. She then got accepted into McGill and so the last two years happened, motivating me to write this.
A very pleasant place to start is I currently feel more Canadian than I ever have in my life living here. A portion of that is where I came from. Detroit was always so close to home. The border being such a large part of Windsor’s infrastructure. Very light winters compared to the rest of the country. Our staple food is pizza; what is Canadian about that?
Moving here I realized that the French heritage is so, so, so special and we are so lucky as a country to have it. The four nations game against Sweden might’ve been the most Canadian I have ever felt in a moment, but last year’s winter as a whole was the definitive most Canadian time of my life. Walking through the snow to work everyday. As a Canadian it should be illegal to complain about snow and harsh winters. Embrace that shit – our ancestors did it with less resources.
Feeling the passion that everyone, and I mean everyone here has for the Habs is truly patriotic shit. The history they have is remarkable and I guess that logo isn’t so ugly after all. Quebec easily has the greatest provincial flag, and seeing that shit fly, eating a poutine, eating maple syrup or even just over hearing a conversation in French just means so much more to me now than it did before, as a Canadian.
The culture and lifestyle here from top to bottom here is so fascinating. Its hard to really know what it is, that sets it apart from anywhere else I’ve been. Is it the tangible parts of the city? The food? The People? I’m going to get to all of these but I think its worth noting I obviously didn’t bring my truck here. I never owned a bike and I never bought the monthly metro pass. Needless to say I spent a lot of my time here walking. Just like fucking walking anywhere here is awesome. Walking up, down and all around in the two years there wasn’t one single time I didn’t not feel safe. Not once. But walking in general leads me to my first part of the city I’d like to shed some light on;
THE PHYSICAL
Coming here for that very first time the mountain just blew me away. Mont-royal I love you so much. Just such an amazing breather from the chaos in a big city. After a few minutes of walking you have no idea there’s just a few trees in between you and some sky scrapers. It is the focal point to everything here. It is the sun of the Montreal solar system. No matter the season. With the snow – gorgeous. The leaves falling – gorgeous. I wouldn’t even be close to half the runner I am right now if it wasn’t for that beautiful piece of earth. The incline. The shade. The chalet and look out at the top. It is the first thing I recommend someone do when visiting the city. I am yet to have a dull moment on that thing every time I find myself filled with joy.
How about the fucking Bell Center? One year working a driveway distance from it. I believe I was lucky enough to have went to nine different hockey games while here (I made sure to never say no). I strongly believe there isn’t another hockey barn in the world that is even close to it. Seriously a magical sporting experience. After that, Habitat 67 is my favorite piece of architecture in all of Canada. There’s literally nothing else like it in the world. I love the concrete look of brutalism and that piece is just so spectacular. It’s maybe my dream home and just another feather in Montreal’s cap. Its also worth mentioning I would’ve really loved to have just taken one picture of Notre Dame not under construction. Just to see it once with all its beauty, but what can you do?
The parcs I spent the most time at. Jeanne Mance, Lafontaine, Jarry. Every time walking around these just being overwhelmed with an energy I never felt once my whole life from a park in Windsor. These parcs are alive. So peaceful but such a beautifully electric atmosphere at the same time. You are gonna find sports you didn’t know existed and family gatherings of all walks of life. I can only hope to live near a parc like any of these later in my life. Obviously the significance the St Lawrence has on our country is profound but over my last few months here I fell in love with the Lachine Canal. The absolute gold standard for a path to do some cardio on. After the mountain it’s the place I’ve spent the most of my time running here for sure. The energy is through the roof. The places you pass and the view of the city. The locks. Being along the still water the whole time is just so calming. I would love to be a resident along that canal someday.
And that leads me to the place we actually lived for 95% of the time here. Our Viger apartment. The first home I ever really had away from home. Perfect – aside from the months with no air. Came for that big city, high rise taste and left satisfied. I’m going to miss being isolated with Abbey there. Walking the walk of living downtown was fun, but, I wish we got to live in the plateau longer, as we quickly found out that’s actually where all the cool people our age are. Chalk it up to a learning experience. The last month here across from Jeanne Mance has been a joy but when we look back, its always going to be that 23rd floor apartment.
THE FOOD
Where do I even begin? The Bars, the Cafes, bakeries, the ice cream shops and brunch spots are each a blog in its own right. If I had to choose a favorite for each (in the same order as above) to look back on I would say; Hurleys, Osmo x Marusan, Hof Kelsten, Iconoglace and Arthurs. You just can’t go wrong. The level of competition amongst these places in the city is insane. Take the Ice cream scene as an example; places having to constantly create something a step above the others, create something you’ve never had before or an atmosphere that blows you away. I realized it just creates multiples of a superior product that is so much better than where I came from.
In terms of the foodie staples; Ma Poule Mouille, Kawha, Shawrtz and Bossa have never let me down and I don’t think they ever could. Every time just the gold standard of that take out restaurant meal. Perfect for lunch or dinner. Couldn’t recommend enough I would die for any of these joints and all are a must stop any time I am back. These are what I will miss the most.
Talking restaurants, Mckiernen may be my favorite ever. Looking back I think I have had the five greatest meals of my life here in Montreal. And the worst part is I couldn’t tell you which of the following it was from, but does it even matter? Mon Lapin. Kitano Shokudo. Au Pied Du conchon. Liverpool House. Le Violon. L’express. Joe Beef. Park. Fleurs & Cadeaux. Satay Brothers. Vin Papillon. When is the next time I am going to have a dining experience like any of these? It’s sad because it might not be for a while. Just a serious whole level above anything else I have ever had before. Every time I’ve picked up a bill at any of these places I have left willing to pay so much more than I just had to. The prices for what you’re eating are truly the cherry on top. Shoutout to seriously every place that made even just one of our nights special here. I don’t think it’s of any ignorance whatsoever to name Montreal as the greatest food city in all of Canada. By a pretty large margin as well if you want to factor in price.
THE PEOPLE
I’m fully convinced the coolest, nicest, most genuine people live here. Obviously the relationships I made through work and the friendships I’ll have for the rest of my life here but that’s not what this is really about. I’m talking about in general, the people of Montreal and more specifically the people living in the plateau, mile end area. Genuinely the people I just want to be around. Doing their thing and letting it rip.
Everybody is cool and its really fucking inspiring. The people you pass by look good. They are confident. They have taste. Nobody ever gives the typical Toronto dirty look. There’s never any negativity. A lot of people with amazing tattoos, haircuts that make you want to dye your hair and a unique level of swag. But it’s just everyone. The people here know who some one easy such as David Lynch is, like that’s really not much to ask for, like these are my kind of people.
I only scratched the surface with the tattoo scene here, but its fucking amazing to see modern day artists, innovating, curating styles and creatively pushing boundaries in really every way possible. I can’t get enough. It’s just next level. There’s obviously so many artists I haven’t even been to, but it’s such a genuine competition where only the best of the best are the ones on top here and they stand out. Some of my generation’s finest artists. Shoutout to the guys I spent time with; Christian, Tomas and Emerik, all three are seriously some of the coolest and most inspiring people I’ve ever met in my life.
It might just come down to something being in the water here. The clothing shops are a reflection of this. These curated vintage stores gave me the biggest fomo (fear of missing out for the older folk reading) of my life when we came here on that first trip. Just thinking damn, everything I could want is there and I’m here, with absolutely no where I want to spend my money. There is a surplus of curated vintage stores here that are all just fucking ridiculous and I’m so happy I got to take advantage the past two years. Even Dime. Just so fucking sick. As I said before, the best clothing stores, the best restaurants, the best tattoo artists, the best stupid ice cream shops are all just a genuine reflection of how cool and amazing the people of Montreal are.
Au revoir
A few final thoughts; How is there no NBA team here? It still blows my mind. You have the arena, an obvious fanbase and you even had two starters from last year’s finals, born and raised inside the city. Yet there’s teams in the league with three times less of the population? Its a serious shame and I really hope one day this city gets a team here because the fans would be fucking amazing and the league would be better for it.
I am really going to miss going to the independent cinemas here. I was seriously so happy and filled with joy every time getting to walk into a theater like cinema du parc, cinema moderne or cinematheque Quebecois. These places are truly special and I never took a single film for granted. I really hope I can find theaters like these in Detroit, if not hopefully create an atmosphere something like these in Windsor someday down the road. Movies are my passion and Montreal really opened my eyes to the world of film so much more than I could have ever expanded back home. Hell every show we saw in the basement of the forum was a great time.
Who let me date the McGill medical physics social coordinator? Now, I’m a believer everything happens for a reason and I don’t want to say I would change any experiences I’ve had to date, because I wouldn’t be who I am without them. With that said, I couldn’t count on my hands how many times I said to myself, “holy shit I couldn’t imagine going to fucking McGill for undergrad at 18” The McGill undergrad experience specifically, but any time really, on campus, in the city must be fucking unreal. What a school. Can’t help but think knowing what I know now, I would’ve at least tried to pursue a stronger education here and taken things a little more seriously than I did in high school. You can bet your ass my kids are going to know about all the schools in Montreal, and hopefully are driven enough to be able to attend one (if they want too of course and hopefully its McGill).
I’ve honestly enjoyed being so far from Windsor this time. If it was Toronto it would be so much easier to go home or have visitors make an easy trip up. Being so close to Vermont was great too, I am going to miss the quick fall trips. All in all I’ve really loved the isolation away from Windsor but truth be told I am of course excited to be back with family. I’m not even excited to save money because I’d rather spend it living this life I have been here, but financially it’s definitely the right decision for the time being. While obviously I didn’t do everything possible, I feel so fulfilled with soaking everything up and never taking a second for granted.
Hopefully it is just one quick year back. I am really excited for where it could be to next but fuck it’s really going to be hard to beat this shit. I will never say a poor word about Montreal. I already feel quite sentimental about the city and seriously think I will be back someday. Straight up if you’re reading this and ever plan to go to Montreal feel free to reach out. I would love to be able to provide some advice for the right spots to hit. I’m excited to check out the western part of our country soon, but I feel very comfortable in saying, Montreal is the greatest city Canada has to offer.
