I left my hotel last night at about 6:00 pm to walk over to the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art. My first walking impression of Montreal was that the pollution was really bad. I could smell it and it was tingling my eyes. I ducked into a bank in the corner of a large building complex so that I could use the ATM. As soon as I stuck my card into the machine, the announcement cycling on the PA system switched to English and I realized why there was a loud, repetitive beeping broadcasting in the little ATM room. Turns out the pollution probably isn't normally so bad. This was the scene on the other side of the building.
The museum was a bust as they were between exhibits and only had one currently open. I decided to walk around and check out the area. Montreal is super pedestrian friendly and REALLY clean. Strangely, though, there were very few garbage cans, so I'm not quite sure how they managed that. I walked for about two hours around Rue St. Catherine, Rue St. Laurent and Rue St. Urbain.
I headed down to Old Montreal to do the touristy stuff. Old Montreal is said to look like an old European street and I guess it does, but honestly it seemed like much ado about not much. It was pretty, but not much different from what I've seen in many other cities. It is a nice space to walk around though, the evening was mild and there was lots of opportunity for people watching. I stopped to have dinner at a place where I could sit outside. My dinner sounded SO good on the menu, but only so so in actuality. I've had better crepes in Schenectady. The draft cider was really good though.
The gelatto from next door more than made up for the lackluster food. Nutella gelatto? As fabulous as it sounds. Halved with pistachio gelatto? I may have to go back tonight.
