The city of Montreal is drenched in French and thus in all things beautiful. The unquestionable lurking of art in every corner is morely supplanted by pretty streets that could put even the streets of Paris to shame. And their Notre Dame, a 1:1 replica os the original one in the city of lights is a beauty to reckon with, now with its original having gone up in flames. Such a pity I couldn’t speak French I thought, and without having any french to pardon we settled into our hotel across the Notre Dame marvelling at its beauty and the Place’ d Armes that it is lurched on. As we walked the streets of Montreal after 5 days in Toronto, the clean surrounds of Toronto became increasingly clear, well with art there tends to be a mess, or what else can I say! Sitting jet-lagged halfway across the world now in Bengaluru, even Montreal seems very clean now, but then in comparison to Toronto, its a lot earthy that the clean, clean Toronto. But the soul of Montreal is unmissable, it is indeed extremely beautiful and with it’s French feels extremely charming.
The Notre Dame was built in the 1800s by a protestant architect who is said to have turned Catholic by the end of the construction. The technology was a lot more developed that when the original was built yet the younger Notre Dame is just as beautiful, it may be missing the Seine, there is the St Lawrence, but then the visuals of the streets that surround the Notre Dame more than make up for it. In city planning function is alluded to more often than form, but only if we could garner up as much or even more importance to form we will be living not just in luxury but a thing of beauty. Montreal is extremely beautiful as it feels like one of the cities that pays attention to its form. Lined with art galleries and pretty cafes, the streets of old Montreal doesnt feel real, right from a story book, yet it is gorgeous. The kiosks that line the main plazas also have artists sketching up the city’s frames, turns out every side you look has a visual worth capturing. On the other side the cruise ships dock as its passengers get out for a walk in the streets of this beautiful city. We were entertained in the Place Jacques Cartier with scrumptious Italian food, kiosks that bring in Paris and a view of the new Montreal that is dotted by glitzy skyscrapers of the future.
The Centaur theatre, the village, the Museum of Illusions are other fun spots while gallivanting in Old Montreal, the atmosphere buzzing with artists and art aficionados alike make the city absolutely electric. In the province of Quebec, a stone’s throw from the capital city of Ottawa, Montreal has the best of Canada with a bit of France thrown in and the potion that this cauldron holds is alarmingly wonderful. While the Notre Dame is also very close to China town (now which city can escape from its Chinatown!), the momos folded up here especially in Soup and Sammi is just the best perhaps in the world. When you are eating piping hot momos as the snow flurries around you, looking onto a Notre Dame in french-speaking Montreal, you realise that the world is indeed flat or it has been flattened. The coming of the jet has opened up planet like never before but this city was built in the times of the pirates and the ships and hence its development would have been slow and organic, feted out in good time, the infusions layering on over time making it so very real.
The next morning as we made our way to the St Joseph’s oratory of Mount Royal we were treated to views of the city that would ring a bell. The beautiful church with its wrought iron fences all twisted in pain, probably the pain that Jesus felt nailed at the cross, had devout Christians praying, in all earnest. The modern church with it’s pipe organs and high vaulted roofs bring the massiveness and other wordlyness of religion into the picture. Looking down from the steps of the oratory we view the magnificient University of Notre Dame laid out in neat lines with all the Tim Horton’s muddled into it’s structure. A lot of Indians are seen and felt in this country, studying, working, finding opportunity in a country that gives them all the makings of a great life and perhaps good health. The book I was reading then – The Body says No by Gabor Mate refers to a lot of studies conducted at the University of Toronto, at the University of Notre Dame and all other universities of Canada and I can see how sitting in this beautiful country with great weather for half a year how the minds intelligence is magnified. When the conditions are tough or the land and mind are allowed to fallow, genius is born. What I mean to say is that the break that nature bestows on people with the extreme change of weather, or on land, the trees shed their leaves, the land lies fallow taking a break from living or doing and simply being allows a fine productivity. The Mount Royal with its coulorful trees in the fall and its stunning skyline is a ballet between the beauty of nature and the beauty of the human mind, that can create in all glory. My favorite season is the summer, but then fall is the season to be, to reflect and to take in beauty on orange, as the fall fairy comes out lighting up the temperate forests across the world.
As the sun set and the La Metropole lights up my brother drove us to yet another marvel of the architectural world, the Habitat 67, built for the world expo that Montreal hosted in 1967. The fifteen feet cube is used in various numbers, molded together to create a habitat for the humans, a successful experiment of building using only concrete, that is strengthened to have living spaces of sleeping, dining and living in various compositions to allow for a form that is both delightful and light. The signages all across the road of this building are dotted by do not stop, considering the number of people slowing down to take in this wonder. As I stepped into the lawns to cut a picture the speakers blared out warnings of this building being a private property. With no fence, we just cannot know what is the public sidewalk and what is the private domain, the boundaries are blurred. The building has the most incredible view of the Montreal skyline across the river St Lawrence. Beautiful buildings should be allowed to view, atleast for architects! I heard Moshe Safdie, its architect, talk about his work at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore in 2012, but seeing it in real, the effect is totally something else.
A brief stop at the Olympic village, Montreal is also the city that hosted the summer Olympics in 1976, makes one really wonder at all the feathers this city has in its cap, the retractable stadium and its swimming stadium at the Olympic village had me all heart, and the city had me all heart and soul. Decidedly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, wit art at every corner and laughter every turn, Montreal’s soul and its buzzing electricity, makes it charming, most loved all the same, and when it can serve up the best vegetarian dumplings and that too by the dozen, it’s winning, hands down!
Vedasri Siddamsetty 