New England

Marcelina, a high school classmate, recently got married to a man in Connecticut but still works and lives in Montreal for a while. During this time, she goes to Connecticut nearly every week-end. We met recently to talk about life and, during the conversation, she said she wouldn't mind giving me lifts to New England.

So, in early July, I took up on the offer and went on a week-end trip to Connecticut.

Marcelina dropped me close to Hartford and then went on her merry way. Hartford is not that interesting. It's about the size of Ottawa, but (typical of American cities) is much less dynamic. The USA is inhabited by over 300 million people. That explains the potential and power of its market. Yet, with so much resources and possibilities, I find they could do a lot better. The quality of life in that country could be much higher with some tweaks on its policies. One thing that really turns me off about most American cities is that they are not vibrant and that it's in the suburbs that life happens in the US (unlike most of the rest of the world). The picture below illustrates well what I mean:



In Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa or Quebec City, the streets downtown would be filled with people on such a beautiful summer Saturday afternoon. Hartford reminded me of the deathly absence of activity I felt when I lived in Seattle. After a few hours, I had seen all the city had to offer.

I then moved on to New Haven, home of Yale University. Given it was the middle of summer, not too many students were present. Yale has some nice gothic architecture on its campus.

After New Haven, I went to visit Marcelina at her place. She's now living like a true American: two houses plus a timeshare, five cars, garages filled with things she doesn't use... She's enjoying this type of somewhat opulent suburban life.

I went to sleep in Providence, where I would spend the first half of the following day exploring about. It's a nice little American city. Again, I would be bored to death if I was forced to live there, though.



Then, I finally went to Newport. It's basically a place to stay on week-ends or during summer for the rich. It attracts hords of people from the surrounding states. It's got nice architecture and pleasant oceanside venues.







I'll likely explore New England some more in the coming weeks.

Toronto and Niagara

Montreal was eerily quiet the day I left for Toronto, as it was the "Fête nationale" (Quebec Day, basically). Deserted streets with the buzz of cars missing from the background... I came in to work despite this being a holiday as I had swapped this day (a Wednesday) for the next so that by taking only one day of vacation, I'd get a four-day week-end to explore Ontario. I couldn't eat a single meal for the whole day because I had just learned that the woman who made me leave Vancouver would be spending a week in Montreal, just a few houses away from mine, but would not see me. Taking the train to Toronto reminded me of when I visited her in Vancouver and would take the train back to Seattle every Sunday. This wasn't the only thing reminescent of my West Coast days: in Toronto, I was staying at a friend's place who I first met in Vancouver. She had just moved to Toronto to be with her boyfriend. Her seedy neighborhood gave me a bad impression of Toronto. We updated each other on our respective lives, talked about relationships and the deeper things of life and then went to sleep.

The next day, I had a Thursday brunch at a local diner, then explored Casa Loma, a castle built at the beginning of the 20th century by a rich man as his residence. The place is impressive and is complete with secret passage ways and underground tunnels. I then strolled through High Park and walked through Korea Town (WAY bigger than Vancouver's) on quirky Bloor Street. I also went all the way to the eastern suburb of Markham on the recommendations of many Asian friends who told me to discover the Pacific Mall with its Chinese food, pirated DVD's and Asian products. There, I met Leah (a high school classmate) and her new man Rob. We ate some pretty good food from the noodle whacker's shop. We updated each other with our respective lives. Turns out Leah's had a pretty unique few years as well. She moved from Montreal to Newfoundland and then to Ontario. She was married, got divorced and will marry Rob. It was comforting to see I wasn't the only one from our high school to have moved about and experienced some drama. After our meal, Leah and Rob took me back downtown so that I could meet another classmate: Marc. Marc's now a flight attendant. He's got a Japanese boyfriend in NYC, who he met on a "day trip" to Tokyo. Marc being gay and this week being Pride week, we went to a Pride event taking place at the Hart House of U of T's campus. The music wasn't my type, nor was the crowd. I did get to watch two lesbians almost fucking on the wall, though. (Much to Marc's utter disgust)

The next day, Angela (my host) got a rental car. First, we stacked up on provisions at T&T. Ah, the joys of being able to shop in a decent Asian grocery store! Reminded me of Vancouver. Then, drove through excessive traffic all the way to Niagara-On-The-Lake. It's a quaint little town on the shores on Lake Ontario that is surrounded by countless wineries. We went to a few: Sunnybrook Farm, Jackson-Triggs, Peller Estates, Inniskillin. All that wine tasting got us tipsy. Since we were in the area, we also went by the Niagara Falls, which is really just water falling down. Went back to Toronto, had dinner and talked about life some more.

The next day, I put nasty blisters on my feet by walking all over the city: St-Lawrence Market, Harbourfront, CN Tower, Kensington Market, Chinatown, Dundas Square, Eaton Center, Rosedale... I also bought an RC helicopter. Useless, but one of my childhood dreams. Angela managed to get it stuck in a tree. I had to climb it to retrieve my toy. In the evening, I went to the Gay Village to look at the Pride celebration. The neighborhood was pretty happening. On my way back, I met these two drunken girls on a door porch and they invited me inside to a party. Everybody, including myself, felt awkward because of my presence. I left shortly after getting in and called it a night.

The next day, Angela, her boyfriend Steve and I went to watch the gay parade a bit, then I went on my way back to Montreal.

Overall, Toronto is a bit like a small New York or a cold and dirty Sydney. Of course, New York's people are cooler and Sydney's harder partiers. Still, it's not a bad place to live in. I wouldn't mind moving there, but I'm in no hurry to do so either. I have some stuff to figure out and take care of before I make my next move. However, it's evident that I can not afford to live in Montreal for too long. My place is somewhere else.