Montreal - Day 2 Wanderings

One thing that has surprised me where my hotel is, and in the Old Montreal section as well, is the lack of small establishments such as a pharmacy, a coffee shop, a deli where you could have them make you a fresh salad or sandwich, and the like. It is especially bad when we stumble out of the venue at 10:30 at night starving. As it is the off season, everything is closed by 6 and there is no food to be had anywhere within walking distance. I take that back.  One enterprising group found a Macdonalds open. Fortunately when I got back to my hotel after the Day 1 shows, the owners were chatting with friends in their small restaurant and seeing my famished face, welcomed me in and whipped up the best egg salad sandwich on toast and green salad with home made dressing I have had in a long time. I ate it all with relish, but struggled to get to sleep after such a large meal. It was wonderful all the same.

Another example of new going up beside old.

Bright contrasts made getting details tough today.

Every day I try to get out and walk the city for 2 hours.  What drove my wanderings on Day 2 was the fact I managed to lose the one comb I brought. It is a very small room, so how it disappeared is a total mystery.  I just had my hair cut so managed to get down for breakfast looking somewhat presentable by finger combing it, but that would not be good enough to take me to the shows tonight.  I set my alarm for 8 a.m. like usual, turned it off when it rang and slept until 9:30 (remember the time difference is 3 hours).  Breakfast did not happen until 10.  While I leisurely nibbled on fruit and bagels with cream cheese, and drank numerous cups of coffee, I enjoyed the chance to just get some writing done.  It was close to noon before I made it out the door.





                                                         
I walked out into a stunningly bright, sunny day.  The only problem was, with the clear weather it was very cold.  I was dressed for it so not a problem overall, but the slight breeze really bit into my exposed cheeks and I had to keep wrapping my neck scarf up over my face.  The problem this caused was it sent my warm breath upwards and once I managed to fog my glasses. Directions to a drug store were incorrect so it took about hour of wandering and before I found it.  Was I upset? NO!  Exploring is tops in my books and that long and rambling route took me to areas where all those little things I had missing above existed.  Here were the streets of old buildings filled with coffee shops, small cafes and more.  A little far from the hotel to drop by, but still good to know it is there.  Instead of a pharmacy, I decided to shop at a large grocery store so could stock up on small nibblies to keep in my purse.  When you watch runway shows back to back for 4-5 hours, you really need a power blast of easily accessible food once and awhile.

                                                       
                                                                                                                    
(The left photo above is the main entrance to this large church.  The right photo is of the side of the church is taken all the way around the corner.  All the newer brick building surrounding these structures look to be new additions.)

The walk also let me see more wonderful architecture - especially a few very old and beautiful churches - as well as an art installation in a snowy park created from see-through coloured panes.  The sun shining through them cast beautiful coloured shadows on the snow.  If the day has not been sunny, I am not sure I would have liked it as much.  The snow also added that extra dimension.  The colours on grass would not have been as spectacular.  There was an extensive light set up I am assuming is turned on at night.  I am intrigued to see the effect, but I don't think I can get as I am just too tired after the shows.

Finally found the funky street of small shops

I will be posting runway reviews on the Fame'd Magazine blog in the next week and will have some personal notes on a Montreal Fashion Week in upcoming blogs. There are a few more photos below.

This is hard to understand.  But I found the distance from where the car parked to the pole telling you which parking space you were paying for was unbelievably far. They did have another set of small unmarked poles by the cars to help separate the spaces, but they hard no stall numbers on the.  Heaven forbid you don't pay attention and get the number wrong.

Just liked the vertical Line

 Again, the light contrasts on this sunny day played havoc with my picture taking.   This building is under renovations and if you look closed there is a zig zag staiway going up the corner of the building to the roof.  There is not a chance I could make it up all those stairs.  I can't believe workers can't get to the top an easier way.