Montreàl

I`ve just arrived in francophone Montreal, which should explain those strange inverted apostrophes in this post. Thursday night I went out to Brooklyn, with R.L. in tow, to meet Jess for dinner and some bands. We ate at a Columbian restaurant and then went to the venue - Southpaw. A bunch of Canadian alt rock bands were playing, and the crowd was surprisingly small considering how good the music was. After the last band left the stage we went to the downstairs bar, where there was live hip-hop and many Black people. This basement bar was made out to look like a bunker, with sandbags and camouflage netting. It was amazing really... the artists took turns to play their backing CDs and rap over the top - naturally there were lots of props to Obama. Friday I was exhausted. I went down to Chelsea and walked past the Chelsea Hotel (the foyer looks nice). Then I went out to Greenwich Village... lots of delis and organic supermarkets, but not a particularly exciting part of town. I spent most of the day back at the hostel, reading and painting some watercolour postcards. Friday night R.L. was flying out, so we had an early dinner at a Costa Rican restaurant and I was in bed soon after. Saturday I went to check out the Hell`s Kitchen flea market. The rain was just setting in so the stalls were few and far between, but I managed to purchase some nice items. It was an interesting area. The rain only got heavier, so again I spent the afternoon back at the hostel. Saturday night I met Jess and her friend for dinner in the Lower East Side, then some amazing bands at a tiny venue deceptively named the Rockwood Music Hall. It was absolutely packed. I said goodbye to Jess. Yesterday I went back to the Hell`s Kitchen flea market. There were many more stalls, many more people, but nothing else I wanted to buy (except maybe the old leather gun holster and the three-stringed banjo - but I refrained). In the afternoon I took the last ferry to Liberty Island to see the statue of the same name. It wasn`t quite as big as I`d expected, but we were definitely there at the right time of day, just as the sun set behind it. Amazing views of Manhattan from there as well. Anyway, as I said, last night I boarded the Greyhound to Montreal. So it`s 9am and I have had no sleep, although I`m buzzing with a big mug of weak American filter coffee (sadly they seem to prefer the same shit here in Montreal). So I guess I should go to the hostel and crash...