Bienvenue en Montréal

I arrived in Montreal tonight and took the shuttle that runs from the airport to the heart of the city. There was a stop relatively close to my hotel in the Vieux Montréal (“Old Montreal:) area of the city, so I should have been in pretty good shape.

Unfortunately, there was one problem. Though I was close, I wasn’t sure exactly which direction to go and the darkness coupled with a lack of obvious street signs made it difficult to figure out. As a result, I decided to ask the only guy around (in French) if he knew.

He responded with “Sorry, I don’t speak French,” which should have facilitated things since he clearly spoke my native tongue. However, I was so focused on what to say in French that the English portion of my brain effectively shut down. I couldn’t respond and we both stood their awkwardly as if confronted by a true language barrier.

Accepting defeat, I walked around until I finally found an intersection that was on the map. From there it only took 10 minutes or so to get to the hotel. This definitely wasn’t one of my finer moments. It’s one thing to be humbled while learning a foreign language. It’s another to be humbled while trying to speak your own.

Watch Ooooout

Based on the little that I've seen of Toronto, it reminds me a lot of a large American city (Chicago, in particular, comes to mind). There is one constant reminder that I'm in Canada, however (aside from the abundance of maple leaf flags and Tim Horton’s, of course) – the accent. I can’t really describe it or accurately imitate it, but – like pornography as the saying goes – I know it when I see...err hear...it. And that’s not meant to be a negative comment…I like the accent. It’s just that it really stands “oooout” when you hear it.

Toronto

This week I’m in Toronto for work, marking my first “real” visit to Canada since I don’t really count my day-trip to Victoria last Christmas. And since I have to connect in Montreal for my return flight, I’m going to stay there for the weekend and will be able to meet up with my cousin Rick and his husband Serge.

After arriving I went through the passport check and the agent asked me the purpose of my visit. I would have loved to say “free health care and cheap prescription drugs,” but I figured that might not have gone over well. If the roles were reversed, however, I think that I would have found it funny.

I had very little time to explore Toronto, but I was able to get down to the Harbourfront for a little while to walk around. It was very warm out – pretty humid, actually – and reminded me a bit of the summer weather in New York City.

 

 

Here’s the CN Tower, which is one of the tallest freestanding structures in the world at over 1,800 feet tall. It is supposed to offer beautiful panoramic views of Toronto and Lake Ontario, but I unfortunately wasn’t able to go up to the observation deck.

 

The hotel where I stayed was in a nice area, with some residential blocks nearby that served as a welcomed contrast to the surrounding concrete jungle.

 

 

There was also a church on a nearby corner that definitely felt out of place among the skyscrapers and other tall buildings.

Here’s the view of the Toronto Skyline (including the CN Tower) from the hotel. Unfortunately, my room didn’t have this view, though.

Ronda

On our final day we drove from Sevilla to Ronda, a small city in the Malaga province that is known for the massive gorge that bisects it in two. The drive was very nice and offered a diverse set of landscapes.

After arriving in Ronda we walked around the central square and the Plaza del Toros – the oldest bullring in Spain. Given all the commotion around the bullring, it seemed that there would be some bull fights later in the day.

The western edge of the city is effectively a cliff and the resulting views were pretty incredible. If you look closely at the picture on the right, you’ll see some tourists standing on an overhang that extends a couple of feet over the edge of the cliff. And it was a long…way…down from there.

Next we walked to the Puente Nuevo, which is the main bridge that extends over the gorge. It was built at the end of the 18^th century (“Nuevo” is clearly a bit of a misnomer) and is over 300 feet high.

The views from the bridge were very impressive, offering perhaps the best perspective of the gorge itself.

After crossing the bridge, we walked around La Ciudad – Ronda’s old town. It consists of a number of winding, narrow streets and was the home of the city’s Muslim population during Moorish rule.

 

Here’s a view looking back at the cliffs that we were above when we first arrived.    

Next we visited the Santa Maria la Mayor, a Gothic cathedral that was built on the site of a former mosque following the Reconquista.

We then walked around the old town a bit more towards the eastern end.

In order to return to the other side of the gorge we took the Puente Viejo and passed under the Arco de Felipe V. The view back up the gorge was very nice, though we were warned not to visit the bottom of it on a hot day given that the city still empties its sewage into the river that flows through it.

 

For those who stay in Ronda overnight, there are some nice hotels on the edge of the gorge. I believe that my parents may have even stayed in one of them a few years back.

After grabbing lunch in the main plaza, we began our drive back to Granada to return the rental car and catch our flight home. As we were leaving we passed a caravan heading into the city. I think it was for the afternoon bullflights, but I may be wrong.

And as a parting thought, the following made me think of Don Quixote…

Sevilla - Part I

 

We began our visit on Saturday with a logistical matter – going to buy tickets for a Flamenco show that evening. The walk to the venue took us through the heart of Sevilla and I really liked the artistic elements that I saw along the way.

After buying the tickets, we headed to the Alcázar – a 14^th century palace built in the Moorish style that still serves as the Spanish Royal Family’s official residence during their visits to Sevilla. As can be seen below, there was a bit of a line, but fortunately it moved fairly quickly.

The palace was very impressive visually, so we simply wandered the rooms for a while to take in the sights. The amount of detail in each room was really incredible.

 

The following is the Patio de las Doncellas (Courtyard of the Maidens), which refers to a legend that the Moors demanded 100 virgins annually as tribute from the Christian kingdoms in Iberia. This was apparently used as propaganda to bolster the Reconquista movement.

After finishing our palace visit we went outside to the gardens, which were equally impressive. The fact that it was a beautiful day surely helped as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving the Alcázar, we passed some more interesting sights on the streets of the surrounding neighborhood.