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Montrealers love to be out in the streets in the hot humid summers and the national holiday, on june 24th, provides a good occasion
The big floats of the Quebec Day parade draws crowds every year. These pictures were taken some years ago near a metro station when the parade passed on Sherbrooke street. I stopped going when it moved to Notre Dame street a kilometre south of here.
People like to argue whether this year's floats and costumes are better or not as nice as the previous year's.
I have a lot of photos of the Gay Parade because it used to assemble on St-Joseph boulevard just below my front balcony.
It also moved to another street some years ago.
I used to enjoy watching their preparations but I did not bother going to watch it after they moved their route.
The gay scene also includes lesbians as you can see here.
But most of the show is provided by muscular males.
Now the parade is getting under way, turning south on St-Denis street.
Two blocks north of Mont-Royal street lies the Saint-Joseph Boulevard that also goes from the mountain to the Botanical Gardens in the east. On this sunday morning 30 000 cyclists gathered not far from where I live for the departure of the "Tour de l'Ile", a 42 km ride around central and east Montreal.
I have limitless admiration for these hardy cyclists eager to get started on their 42 km run.
It was a nice 28 degrees Celsius when they left but the thermometer rose to more than 30 in the afternoon.
The double stream of cyclists turn north from the wide boulevard on two different narrow streets to avoid crowding.
Below, two veterans are enjoying directing the traffic on the left, while another stops to take a few photos on the right.
All kinds of cycles are admitted and anyone can join en route.
This fellow is doing it in comfort.
I was surprised by the previous chair cycle until this double model whizzed by.
I live a couple of blocks west on the corner of Saint-Denis street where I have a third floor condominium in these old buildings built around 1910.
This is what it looks like in winter!
Now you understand why I go south every year.
It is a nice apartment with big rooms but it is expensive to heat in winter and to air condition in summer. Here is the living room.
And here is the office where I spend most of my time when I am in Montreal. I readily admit that I am a computer addict. I travel all year. In the fall, I explore places virtually on the internet to chose where I want to go, in the winter I travel physically and in the spring I start writing about what I have seen.
I love to cook. When in Montreal I love to invite friends to share my attempts to reproduce the various exotic dishes I have sampled on my last voyage. I collect a lot of artifacts from all over the world just to look at them but I actually use the variety of spices and strange ingredients that I also collect.
I can find most of what I need close to home but sometimes I like to visit the Jean-Talon market for fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables.
I love to take colourful pictures of markets when I travel so why not do it at home?
The Jean-Talon market is surounded by excellent meat, fish and cheese shops where hard to find specialties can be had.
It even has a flower shop.
