Montreal in August

I am glad you were honest in mentioning that you wrote your review after a great deal of time passed since your trip to the effervescent city of Montreal. I hope that your lesson learned is that you must always take good notes, even if you only plan to keep them to yourself. Sometimes, part of your notes you may want to share in an on-line journal such as these on Yahoo! But I can vouch for the following: When I turn to my past travel journals -- the most recent one composed all over Montreal -- I feel as if I'm back in the experiences. ... I love what the first commenter, the resident of Montreal, wrote above because he's (she's?) so correct about Montreal having that "feel." As an outsider walking the streets -- whether paved, gravel or cobblestone -- riding the metro, sitting on benches in plazas, strolling through Mont-Royal, and so on, I felt as if I was enveloped with the warmth, vitality and French sensuality of Montrealers. If you tour the lovely Montreal with an open mind, you can become addicted to the reserved eroticism (how's that for an oxymoron?) vibing through the island. And I love how the different districts retain their own character, if you can wade out the tourists (such as myself). During my first trip I was writing a poem in Square-Viger and an attractive couple (or perhaps they were co-workers) approached the bench where I was planted on one end. Before sitting down, they both greeted me with "Bonjour" -- it was almost in a whispery way. They spoke to me with such confidence and with a polished reserve. I said, "Bonjour" just as directly and low-key, and as the pair chatted away in French and lunched on their sushi, I just floated on the lyricism of their words without knowing everything they were saying. Note: I was not eavesdropping, just drinking in the entire scene: the trees, flowers, sunshine, the man's silvery hair, the woman's palazzo slacks, their banter as gentle as if they were making love over sushi! This was all part of an unbelievably low-buzz workweek lunch hour, and I imagined for a moment that I would not witness such magic in any square on the island of Manhattan. ... Someone told me, before my first trip there, that Montreal is a very sexy city, and then she said, "Watch out." Now I know what she means, and I know that she intended a positive meaning. I learned so much about myself and about mankind in the daylight, sunset and nightscape of Montreal. It's so liberating to come to a cosmopolitan city and feel as if whatever you were destined to do, you can and will do! No wonder Montreal has been named one of the 10 best places to live on Earth! ... I may not have traveled this world yet, but I can say that while in Montreal, I was haunted by the sexiests of spirits, some as old as the 17th century and others swirling about me on skateboards and jetting past with the headiest of colognes and parfums. Suffice it to say: To love Montreal is to live Montreal!!!