Montreal Rocks!

Ranked third best summer city in the world!  By whom?  By folks who love Montreal.  "The study polled summer travellers who’d loved visiting Montreal."  Really?  Holy selection bias, Batman!  Or something like that.

To be fair, as the article enumerates, Montreal in summer is actually quite wonderful.  Lots and lots of festivals, for one thing.  We have tickets to a handful of Just for Laughs festival events, hosted by Jeff Ross (the Nasty Show), Craig Ferguson (one of the galas), and Kevin Smith (Smodcast).  The Jazzfest just ended with a big free concert by the B-52's. 

Summers here are also quite sunny without being miserable a la DC or NYC.  When the folks complain here of hot and sticky, I just laugh.  The article cites great food, which is quite true.

I do kind of mind that it makes a virtue out of Motnreal's rocks roads--that the town is gritty.  Um, less grit would be just fun.  I have cut down on my ultimate this summer as I will no longer go to games across the city that require me to cross a bridge or venture through and past downtown.  Luckily, there is a new league in the West Island suburbs--the Lakeshore Ultimate League, so I can get my ultimate without too much traffic/construction/headaches.

The article cites Montreal's diversity, and last night, I had an amusing remind of the joys of bilingualism.  We had just seen Horrible Bosses (which was most amusing),* and on our way back to our car, I spotted a car with a note on it.  The car had been parked in the middle of two spaces, taking up half of each.  So, the note on the windshield insulted the obnoxious parker--in both English and French.  Now, that is, as they say, some mad language skillz!

We do appreciate summer here in part because it is so very short and winter is so very long.  The city does very much come to life, and Montrealers are already a lively bunch to begin with.