A Walk in the Green Rain

St. Catherine Street, Montreal

The late winter/early spring weather has been lovely here, allowing us to get back on our bikes, but yesterday we opened the bedroom curtains to a dark, cold, raw, rainy day, which made getting up an hour early even harder. I had to get downtown to the cathedral by 9:00 am for rehearsal and J. was going to church too, so we drove. In addition to being the start of Daylight Savings Time, it was also St. Patrick's Day, and the annual parade - one of the biggest events in Montreal's civic entertainment calendar - would be starting at noon on St. Catherine Street, running right by the cathedral and making downtown driving impossible.

From heavy metal to the Habs.

The rain delayed the start of the parade so we got out of downtown easily and back to our studio for lunch. I had to turn around and go back to sing Evensong, with a rehearsal starting at 2:45, but didn't know whether the parade would be over and I'd be able to park or not. It was pouring. Finally I decided to take the car to the Papineau metro station, leave it nearby, and take the metro downtown. That was a good decision, since they were just beginning to take down the barricades and throngs of people in green hats and scarves, many already looking pretty inebriated, were crowding the streets and underground.

The steaming bowls of Pho looked so tempting!

At 5:00, after the service, I left the cathedral and entered the metro. As I waited on the platform, an announcement came over the PA system, saying that smoke from an unknown source had caused a shutdown of the green line, which would continue for an indefinite period. I waited ten minutes, only to hear the same announcement again, and then left - along with most of the other people waiting for the train. Normally I would have walked or taken a bus to Berri-UQAM where I could pick up the orange line and go home -- but the car was at Papineau, several stops beyond on the green line. St. Catherine St. was closed to traffic all through the center part of town because of all the construction for the new symphony hall, so there were no buses. I went out onto the street...it wasn't raining too hard. I had on shoes with high but chunky heels and a short print skirt; fortunately I'd worn my rain parka and it had a hood that was stowed in my backpack. I had no umbrella, but I did have gloves and a thin wool hat. OK, I decided, I'll just walk and enjoy it.

An intellectual oasis.

I'd never walked all the way across town on St. Catherine, one of Montreal's most iconic streets.Walking fast, it only took me a bit more than an hour to reach my car, just across Papineau. The walk took me through part of the downtown retail center, past Place des Arts, UQAM (the University of Quebec at Montreal) and the gay village.

For a different kind of Easter basket...

Through its construction efforts around the arts complex, the city is trying to "clean up" some of the worst sections of St. Catherine, but I rather like the colorful nature of the street. I was glad that the shutdown had forced me to do something I wouldn't have done otherwise - and decided, partway, to bring you along.

Comments

[Kristin Berkey-Abbott]

Neat photo essay!

I assume you take these with a cell phone camera? For the first time ever, I found myself thinking, yeah, it could be cool to always have a camera with me--but I'd have to buy a different phone.

Thanks!

[leslee]

Reminds me of visiting there a few years ago on a rainy June weekend. I loved the way you'd find a condom store next to a shop selling kids' bikes on St. Denis. Thanks for the tour!

[tudor clothes]

i loled at one of the pictures. anyways.. nice post.. those shots are also great too.. cheers!

[Beth]

Hi Kristin - thanks, glad you liked the post. No, I don't have a camera phone, I don't think you could get this high resolution with one. My camera is tiny, though - it's a Nikon CoolPix S200 and I've been very happy with it.

Hi Leslee - yeah, that was a good visit, and I'm glad you got to see how mixed-up Montreal tends to be.

Hi Tudor, thanks for visiting, glad you liked the photos and were amused.

[Ster]

For a different kind of easter basket! LOL Hilarious.

[ernesto]

ah, deep nostalgia from when I walked down that street one freezing December when I first visited Montréal... I remember that book shop, in case it's the same one... got lots of amazing philosophy books there.