Montreal as a Cultural Ecosystem
Montreal is known as the city of Saints, all the streets are named after saints. There are also churches all over the place; Mark Twain once said: “This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn’t throw a brick without breaking a church window”
Apparently the number of people who attend church has dropped dramatically in the last 30 years, to the point that many churches are now up for sale. When I get rich I don’t mind buying one; I could probably hire a good Interior Designer to turn it into a snazzy loft for me. What would be next? A goth girlfriend maybe!
Montreal is also know for it’s sinful night life. I also noticed the strip/nude clubs are open right in the middle of the day. On Saint Catherine street one can see boutiques and strip/nude clubs on every block.
Strip club + Maternity store !!!
City also has a very interesting Gay Village, apparently they live very rich and successful lives, and they are very well accepted by people. There are also pockets of different ethnic groups ( African, Asian, Italian, Greek, Jewish, Persian, … ) all over the city.
People look very well dressed, the whole street looks like an urban fashion show. In fact Design is a commodity in Montreal, unlike Vancouver that Design and Art is more like an added value.
Montreal Women are great Fashion experts. Every woman on the street has tastefully put together pieces of clothes and matched the earthy colors. They have a healthy skin glow and I was enlightened to see the large number of beautiful brunets, and brown eye ladies on the street.
Montreal ladies are also very proud of their legs and feet. I must say they are not afraid to show them at all. Everyone seemed to have a nicer pair of shoes or sandals compare to our West Coast Gales. They are so bold when they show skin, and walk with great confidence.
To be more convincing I wish I had more pictures of people, but I was too chicken to stick my lens to people’s faces. Well … next time that you see an issue of Nuvo, or Wall paper magazine flip through the pages and here they are, with no compromise.
Unlike all the bad reputation that French have here in West Coast for being snobs I found the Montreal people to be very friendly. They seem to feel very comfortable ice breaking with the strangers. They are also very kissie huggie once they get to know you better. Cross cultural and Inter-racial dating seems more common that West Coast, which is another evidence of a healthy multicultural ecosystem in Montreal city.
