"So, how is it there?"
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| Montreal staircase in the Plateau |
I've held off writing about Montreal, aware that my observations will be those of an impressionable newcomer. But... I love this city.
The dynamism does not refer to the business dealings of the respective cities, but to the rhythm of human interaction, most noticeably on display via summer street life. The three colours of winter (grey, black, white) give way to bright skirts, mounds of market produce or accessories like commenter lagatta's flowered panniers.
Le Duc had lunch with a colleague who has recently moved back from Toronto, and Olivier nailed the difference: "It is at once more dynamic and more laid-back", he said.
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| Charming bike panniers |
The laid-back sense comes from the noticeably longer time people take to acknowledge and transact everyday tasks. It's the half-beat, the half-minute or half-hour, depending what's happening, that allows some breath and human contact.
A place for us
One film solidified what I was looking for with this move, Louis Malle's documentary, "Place de la République", in which he deftly captured the essence of an atmospheric but populaire part of Paris.
His film became my playbook. I knew, at 62, that I wanted to live–and would need to live–in a neighbourhood with life and colour, with a square in which to sit and a bus stop at my door.
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| Scene from "Place de la République" |
My father, a native Chicagoan, always said "When I get old, I'm going to live on State Street." By moving to a lively neighbourhood in the midst of a culture unique to North America, I've achieved his wish, which is also ours.
The bakeries!
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| Navarino bakery; photo by C. DeWolf |
This is the City of Bakeries: from ethereal mille-feuille to hearty olive bread, bagels to cannoli; it's all here, vast, varied and fresh.
A bakery is a metaphor for the city, yeasty, open late, always beckoning, sometimes decadent.
Christopher DeWolf's photo of Navarino Bakery says "Montreal", with its French signage, bike at the curb and welcoming wide windows. (The photo was retrieved from his compelling blog about cities, Urban Photo.)
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| Photo by Christopher DeWolf |
I have not set foot in a mall. (For those who like them, there are plenty, including about 25km of connected underground territory in the centre of downtown.)
There is a deep sense of neighbourhood, with local businesses doing okay, if not achieving prosperity, in sections of the city that have seen worse times.
I'm eagerly awaiting lunch tomorrow with bloggoddess Rubiatonta, visiting Montreal for a few days. Wonder what we'll get up to!
August Holidays Passage des perles closes today for the month of August, as usual. See you on Sept.1 with more style, culture and life. I wish you a glorious, sweet August, wherever you may be. I leave you with Jean Leloup's infectious Franglish tune, "I Lost My Baby". You might get it out of your head by the time the Passage re-opens! |
Comments
Have a lovely "vacation" and give Rubi a hug for me!
I wish you a wonderful August!
To your point about knowing where/how you wanted to live at your age. I'm only in my early forties, but often wonder how/why older people retire to the country. It seems counterintuitive to me considering it is a time of life when you certainly don't want to isolate yourself from society, proximity to quick medical care, bigger hospitals, being able to buy groceries nearby without having to drive, going for walks in a vibrant neighbourhood with lots of people around.
My husband and I (and two kids) live in the St Lawrence Market neighbourhood of Toronto and I often think to myself that after we've done the house/backyard thing (still working on it, still in a condo) and the kids are gone, it would be a great place to retire. There are many older people in my neighbourhood who enjoy all that the city has to offer.
Sorry about the long post... Caroline
Have a lovely August, and we'll meet back here in September. Now I'm heading off to iTunes store to investigate Monsieur Leloup and do some downloading. Thanks for the tip!
You are a wonderful role model for me, Duchesse. I really admire how you are asking yourself a version of 'what is right for me now.'
Bonnes Vacances!
I am happy to hear that you are settling in and enjoying Montreal. It's been years since I visited and must go back sometime soon.
Admittedly the panniers were bought in Amsterdam but there is a lot of cycle chic hereabouts. http://montrealcyclechic.com/
Like some who have posted here, I wouldn't want to retire to a small town unless it was possible to run errands on foot (or by bicycle or elder tricycle, weather permitting) connected to a larger city by train and not too far from medical care. I do have a friend who has retired to a small, compact town in the Laurentians north of here - there is a train link and the supermarket has wisely remained in the old town centre.
Christopher de Wolf does lovely photography and commentary about cities - he had also recently been living in ultra-urban Hong Kong and has looked at many other cities. You will find his insights and those of others at Urban Photo as well as Spacing Montreal. Outremont writer Mary Soderstrom also has great urbanistic insights at her blog Reinventing Eden.
Susan: Thanks! I like to spend August as unplugged as possible.
une femme: Will do and excited that you might be here. (See materfamilias' comment- maybe a meetup?)
coffeeaddict: Big country- hope you can visit one day.
Anon/Caroline; That is a wonderful neighbourhood; Toronto is also a very liveable city. Before moving, I had met some people who had moved from the far suburbs to the Market area and were delighted.
(We lived in Leslieville.) And long replies are always appreciated.
LPC: That's it exactly. I grew up in a small town and did yearn to see a different face every day.
Susan Tiner: That's a great image, car full of sleeping kids. We used to wake our kids to do that, we called it "being kidnapped by your parents". They loved it.
materfamilias: I would love that- and see Pesu's comment.
laurieann: The NYT ran an article a few years ago about seniors who had retired to Florida and then returned to NYC. That was their word too, "invigorating". Though not quite senior by our government's definition, anyway, I did want that effect.
hostess: My gentle joke with my friends from Vancouver Island is that the place must have a giant magnet under it as they rarely want to leave. Another very special place.
Jill Ann: There are many good reasons to loosen the grip of car-dependency. I've always been an urban type even thought I grew up in a town of 6000.
lagatta: Rubi is coming *here*. The link to Urban Photo is on the post, hope it introduces others to de Wolf's writing and photography.
frugal: It is not beyond the realm of possibility- remember, I emigrated!
Your description of the kind of neighborhood you have found, and Malle's documentary, portray the kind of neighborhood I have been dreaming of living in someday and hope to find as I get older. Luckily that is a few years away yet so I still hope I will find a similar spot of my own, should that still be my dream when the time arrives. In the meantime I am looking forward to my next adventure and giving my spouse the time to fulfill a few of his dreams. Odd that I grew up in a small town and yearn for cities, my spouse grew up in Vienna, Paris, and New York and yearns for isolation; it is one of the very few things about which we differ.
The place we are moving is certainly more accessible and easier to get around than where we live now with everything close by, although a car would still be necessary. I am getting rather excited about the possibilities.
A bit of yard and a porch are very pleasant and relaxing. We live across the street from a square, a small park with a gazebo where people practice tangos on Thursday nights in summer.
I totally agree with your perception of Montreal as both more vibrant and more laid back.
There's a saying in French: Qui prend mari, prend pays. Since I've just come across your blog, I don't know whether you speak French or not, but for others who definitely don't, the expression means that basically one follows one's husband wherever he goes. And so, after 26 great years in Montreal, my husband got a job that he could not refuse in Toronto and we moved.
We used to go back at least twice a year, for summer vacation in the Laurentians and to visit the MIL. The MIL died two years ago and the kids are teenagers now and so it's harder to find a time when we can all travel together. I haven't been back in two years.
I'm looking forward to a few weeks from now when I'll be in Montreal for a short business trip. I hope to see some old friends and maybe mosey up rue St-Denis.