Montreal
We hired these amazing bikes called Bixi - which is a cross between bike and taxi. They only cost $7 for 24 hours but the catch is that you can only ride the bike for a half hour at a time and then must re-lock it into a Bixi station which are scattered throughout the city. Of course you can then immediately unlock another one. I guess this just stops people from leaving bikes scattered throughout the country side. Montreal has a real bike culture and there are cyclists everywhere. This means there are bikes padlocked all over the city and those along with the Bixi means that that the city has relaxed bike friendly traffic. In fact I only saw one guy roar through the crowd - no doubt he was from New York! We stayed at the Novotel right in the heart of the city. The most amazing thing about this hotel was that the men's toilet had a waterfall down a glass panel that acted as a urinal and in the words of an inebriated American, 'Wow. Dude! This is amazing! Ohhhh, Man! This is worth the entire price of the hotel. You know, just for the experience. Ohhhh dude! This. Is. So. Cool!' (I'd had a couple of beers but I'm pretty sure we weren't in the foyer!) The American then went straight to the Dyson hand drier without visiting the wash basins first. Either he got too close to the waterfall or he...actually I don't want to think about it! I just hope he didn't lick his fingers after supper. Montreal is a serious party town and has a very cool music scene. There were lots of talented buskers - all of them playing Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. Maybe they were being ironic because along the main drag, called Rue Sainte-Catherine there were lots of bouncers guarding grimy stairwells decorated with black chewing gum, cigarette butts and faded pictures of girls dancing in their underwear. We also saw a tight rope walker and a fabulous magician, who managed to eat 18 razor blades and a piece of string before asking a girl from the audience to pull them all back out again. Not a drop of blood! Kind of gross but very impressive. Now that I think about it I could probably do that trick. The three women I was traveling with all seemed to be carrying razor blades every time I even glanced at the grimy stairwell posters. Josephine's was like a Sergeant Major, 'Dad!' Eyes front! Down at the old port we actually watched some belly dancers and rode back to our hotel at midnight. What is it with the French and people dancing without much on? Sadly, the best dancer in the whole troupe was a guy. Perhaps that's why I didn't get into trouble. Actually I found it all a bit depressing. Maybe it was just me but watching a rippling well muscled torso just makes me feel fat. The bike riding was seriously good fun and a great way to see the city. It also made me feel like I was being proactive and catching up on lots of missed exercise. I think Montreal would be a good place for a musician to hang out. I'd love to catch the Jazz festival which is in July. Maybe next time.. |