I love visiting cities who take their cultural activities and art scene very seriously – whether it’s museums, operas, symphonies, dance, immersive experiences, street art, or theatre productions. That’s why I love visiting London, New York, Berlin, and Tokyo.

And the reason why Montreal is a world class, cultural city is because the Québec government supports its cultural community. In 2019-2020, the Québec government spent $1.9B. This in comparison to BC government support of only $34M for the same time period.

Not to put too fine a point on it (say I’m the only bee in your bonnet!), this is why I always argue that BC’s arts and culture scene is lacking with a capital L, compared to other cities. World class city when it comes to arts and culture, we’re not.

But I digress…

I had an amazing time in Montreal. It’s the culture and the vibe. When I got there, the summer festival season was just starting:

• Franco des Montréal taking place at Quartier des spectacles. Every day I’d walk by there on my way to or from my hotel and always stopped to listen to a diverse range of music.
• Yatai MTL, a celebration of Japanese culture and street food in the Mile End area. Plus shibu inu and akita meeting!
• Mural Festival

The day I hiked up Mont Royal, the city was setting up for the F1 Canadian Grand Prix. It seems like there’s always something interesting to do.

The people are friendly. Funnily enough, I didn’t get much chance to practice my French because most everyone I encountered downtown spoke to me in English. (must be because of all the dang tourists). When I did take out at Asian-centric restaurants, I saw the staff speak French, English, and an Asian language, depending on the customer they were serving or speaking to each other. I want to be like them!

The only disappointment to my trip was when I headed out to the Village (formerly known as Gay Village). I went at night and may have landed in a not so great part of the Village? I surfaced at Berri-UQAM station, and right away, saw tons of homeless people, drug dealers, junkies, and panhandlers.

I crossed the street to go to Place Émilie-Gamelin because there was supposed to be some outdoor art festival going on, but that didn’t fare any better. I walked a few blocks up Saint Catherine Street, which is the main drag, and by that time, I honestly became a bit worried for my safety. Apart from some drunk young people spilling into the street, it felt hella sketchy. Suffice it to say, I quickly left.

That’s not to say I wouldn’t try again next time I’m in Montreal. I would. Just maybe in the day time. But that didn’t put a damper on my trip.

Overall, I loved Montreal and would definitely go back. And even open to living there. Is that a hint?

View more photos of Montreal on my Flickr album, and IG Stories. Feel free to follow me on Instagram too!

The post Reflections on Montreal appeared first on girllightning.

The exhibition had its North American premiere on June 10 and Montreal is the only Canadian stop where you can experience it. After Montreal, it’ll tour the US before heading to Latin America.

It is billed as an “immersive biography”, so don’t expect to see any of Frida Kahlo’s artwork. There aren’t any. Instead visitors will explore the key moments (her struggles, passions, and inspirations) in Kahlo’s life that shaped her into becoming one of the most influential artists in history of modern art.

The Frida Kahlo exhibition features:

• 7 transformational spaces
• 360º  video projections
• Virtual Reality
• Artistic installations
• Archival photographs + collector items
• Participatory elements for visitors

When you first enter the exhibition, you’re greeted with a Día de los Muertos altar dedicated to Frida Kahlo. Orange marigold flowers, candles, pan de muertos, fruits, bottles of tequila, figurines, framed photos, potted plants, and sugar skulls decorated the table. A large image of Kahlo presided over the altar.

Visitors would then be funnelled into a long hallway where they could get quick overview of the major events that happened to Kahlo. Transformative events that help give additional context to the symbolism behind her art.

July 6, 1907 – Frida Kahlo is born in Coyoacán, daughter of a German photographer and an Oaxaca housewife. They live in the Blue House.

1913 – Kahlo contracts poliomyelitis, which leaves sequela on the right leg.

1922 – Kahlo enters the National Preparatory High School to become a doctor.

September 17, 1924 – She suffers a near-fatal bus crash that left her with life-long health problems. She starts painting during the convalescence.

1928 – Kahlo join the Mexican Communist Party and takes part in meetings, where she meets Diego Rivera, who encourages her to continue painting.

August 21, 1929 – Kahlo and Rivera marries.

November 10, 1930 – She travels to San Francisco, accompanying Rivera. They will remain there for seven months.

1932 – Kahlo and Rivera move to Detroit. She suffers an abortion (she will suffer at least three abortions during her life), which keeps her at the hospital for 13 days.

March 14, 1933 – The pair travel to New York where Rivera paints a mural on the Rockefeller building.

1938 – Kahlo achieves her first important sale to the actor Edward G. Robinson. In October, she travels to New York to organize her first solo exhibition.

1939 – She participates in the exhibition Mexique, organized by André Breton and Marcel Duchamp. The Louvre buys her painting The Frame. She signs papers to divorce Rivera.

June 1, 1940 – The Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme is inaugurated in Paris, with two paintings by Frida Kahlo.

December 8, 1940 – She makes up with Rivera, and they get married for the second time.

1946 – Kahlo travel to New York with her sister Cristina to undergo a spinal fusion. She meets Josep Bartolí, with whom she will have a relationship for three years.

April 13, 1953 – She inaugurates her first solo exhibition in Mexico. She reaches the gallery in an ambulance, and receives visitors on a bed installed in the room. Kahlo later has her right leg amputated.

July 13-14, 1954 – Frida Kahlo dies at the Blue House. The night before, she had given Rivera a ring to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary. The next day, Kahlo receives a tribute at the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City.

With that, we get to the first installation called “The Instant”, a tridimensional video using overlapping transparent layers for a volumetric effect. The installation itself was cool, but what it depicted was not.

Some instants change us forever. For Kahlo, that moment was the bus accident. A moment that could’ve been avoidable had she not gone back to school to look for her umbrella. As a result, she suffered a broken spinal column, a fractured clavicle, broken ribs, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed right foot, dislocated right shoulder, a crushed pelvis, and extensive internal damage caused by a steel handrail that pierced her left hip and came out through the vagina.

Kahlo spent a month in the hospital and many more months at home, stretched out in the same position, imprisoned by plaster of corrective corsets. Twenty eight corsets, one even made of steel, would immobilize her throughout her life.

Frida lived constantly in pain and yet, never painted the accident that changed her life.

The next gallery had a video mapping installation. A projection of Frida Kahlo in bed, a place where she created a significant part of her work. Beds and stretchers also appeared frequently in her paintings.

Six circular panels with images of a pelvis, a pair of breasts, a heart, a baby, a lotus flower, and a snail are connected by ropes to the bed. A colour bath of the panels and her writhing in pain and burning up in bed would cycle through, reflecting Kahlo’s struggle between debilitating pain and her desire to live, and become a mother.

In the next gallery was “Frida’s Universe“, a trippy and reactive installation, chock full of spinning Kahlo symbology: skulls, butterflies, hummingbird, monkeys, watermelons, pomegranates, papayas, and pineapples.

The first participatory element of the exhibit was the La Rosita space, a full replica of a Mexican canteen, where visitors can colour a portrait of Frida Kahlo, which would the be projected on the wall.

Eighty percent of Kahlo’s works are self-portraits. She said that she paints herself because it is the subject she knows best. Sharp objects such as necklaces of thorns, nails, arrows, and knives would appear in self-portraits, symbolizing Kahlo stoically living with her wounds; accepting that suffering is inseparable from living.

Since she was unable to have children, Kahlo adopted animals like monkeys and parrots, many of which shows up in her self portraits too.

The exhibit’s biggest wow was found in its largest space – a wall to wall (and floor) immersive experience that transports visitors through projections and historical photos, highlighting major moments, places and significant people that were important to her: her tumultuous marriage to Rivera, friendship with Pablo Picasso, and affair with Leon Trotsky.

My favourite projection was of a plane travelling through the sky. It really felt like you were above the clouds.

Photos were encouraged throughout the exhibit. There’s even a couple selfie stations and a photo booth A.I. set up on your way out. Everything about the exhibition was Instagram-worthy.

I get why some people may choose to skip Frida Kahlo-The Life of an Icon as there are no Frida Kahlo artwork displayed and that’s what they want to see.

At the start of the exhibition, there is a plaque on the wall asking, “We can say we know Frida Kahlo. But, do we understand her?”

If you want to learn more of the story behind this iconic artist (in a creative and visually appealing way!), or want to introduce someone not at all familiar with Frida Kahlo, or if you’re a fan of large-scale digital installations like I am, this is the exhibition for you.

I left completely wowed and was thrilled that I chose this to wrap up my first trip to Montreal.

View more photos of Frida Kahlo – The Life of An Icon on my Flickr album and IG Stories. Feel free to follow me on Instagram too! View for more Montreal pics.

Hours: 
Tues-Sun. Various times

Address:
2020 Rue William, Montreal
GPS coordinates: 45.48558, -73.56849

Top photo credit: Primo Entertainment

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After enduring the crowds and all the hubbub from the Mural Festival’s opening weekend festivities, I ventured out again to explore more of Montreal’s mural scene. This time, at a more relaxed pace. And since the murals I was seeing were a couple of years old, it didn’t come with a throng of people either.

I came across some really cool murals:

May an Old Song Open a New World by Gene Pendon and Bryan Beyung, 2015

Caratoes, 2022

Purple Reign by five eight, 2014

Untitled by Bezt de Etam Cru, 2014

Untitled by Five Eight, 2016

Untitled by INTI, 2014

Looking Back by D*Face, 2016

I love this city. And I love that Mural Fest started in Montreal.

View more photos of murals and of Montreal on my Flickr album, and IG Stories. Feel free to follow me on Instagram too!

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The exhibit was originally created for The Black Diamond of The Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen, with Cave himself the co-curator and co-designer. And it made its North American debut in Montreal this past April.

Stranger Than Kindness explores the intersection between Cave’s inner and outer worlds. It invites visitors to follow Cave’s evolution and journey as an artist over the span of 50 years: his influences and inspirations, love and loss and how it all became overarching themes in his work.

If you didn’t already know singer, songwriter, novelist, composer, screenwriter, actor and overall Renaissance Man, Nick Cave, after a visit to the exhibition, you will get a good sense of who this man is. Although I like a number of his songs, I wasn’t a hardcore fan. But after going through Stranger Than Kindness, I’m even more intrigued about him as a person and as an artist.

There are 8 thematic rooms highlighting a particular point in Cave’s life:

• Childhood
• Beautiful Chaos
• Obsessions
• Collaborations
• The Office
• The Eclipse
• Gratitude
• Shattered History

The first room features Cave’s childhood in Wangaratta and time at boarding school in Melbourne, Australia. There are framed photos of his family, Cave as a boy and teenager, a letter sent to his family while he was a boarder at Caulfield Grammar School, and a copy of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

“Those early creative years were a great grabbing up of ideas – all the amazing people, the drugs, the art, all the beautiful chaos.”

The next room was way cool. Walking into Beautiful Chaos was like walking into a big-top circus tent and all around you were momentos from Cave’s time with Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party. In black shadow boxes that were spread out all over the room, there were handwritten notes, portraits and drawings (even one in blood), handwritten lyrics, flyers and concert posters, journals, photographs, postcards, limited edition singles, and love letters to Anita Lane.

“Grand gestures of the spiritual and carnal and the violent infused everything. Sex, violence and religion; you never stray far from your obsessions.”

Obsessions was dedicated to Cave’s Berlin era in the 80s, featuring a re-creation of his apartment with bunk bed. Collages and gothic art prints in gold gilt frames were hung up on the wall, while stacks of books laid on the floor.  Choral music was playing.

In the big glass showcases in the middle of the room, visitors can view date-stamped handmade books, filled with drawings, thought scribbles, daguerreotype photos, religious iconography, and pin-up girls. Flea market finds including locks of hair he found were kept in boxes or pinned to the wall.

At the far end of the room was a gigantic desk with typewriters, more books, and a hand drawn map of the town Ukulore from his novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel, on a giant, black chalk board. On the wall, in frames were a photo of Cave and Deanna Bond, ‘Deanna‘ lyrics, visa application form to enter Japan, and identity paper with Cave looking like the most 80s goth.

The Collaborations room was the Bad Seeds room, a darkened space featuring 12 video screens of the band giving an oral history of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

The hallway leading to the next room was lined with a floor to ceiling bookcase filled with hundreds of books from Cave’s private library. Some of the books I have read.

The Office is Stranger Than Kindness‘ largest room. And a version of Cave’s home office. If you’re a minimalist, you might not dig this. This is where it’s so evident that he is a bibliophile, archivist and an obsessive collector of things.

This is the room you’d most certainly spend the most time in.

So many things to view: piano, drum kit and other musical instruments, six feet high stacks of books, gold statue of Cave riding a bucking horse, countless notebooks, vinyl albums (David Bowie and Leonard Cohen amongst the pile), paintings, illustrations, an autographed photo of Monica Lewinsky, script for ‘Until the End of the World’ by Wim Wenders, and a life-sized polaroid of Cave and his sons, among hundreds of other items.

A couple of things gave me a chuckle:

A thanks but no thank you letter from Nick Cave to MTV to request that his nomination for Best Male Artist be withdrawn because he didn’t like the competitive nature of such award ceremonies. He considered himself to be in competition with no one.

And a letter to Gap who must have approached him to be in one of their advertising campaigns. He replied saying that he may consider wearing a pair of Gap jeans for a billion dollars, but even then he would have grave reservations.

Savage, right? And hilarious.

Among his array of personal items, I was drawn to:

• Photos of Kylie Minogue, who sang with him on ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow”
• Photos, collages, and artwork of PJ Harvey, with whom he had a relationship in the 90s

Both singers featured on Cave’s 9th studio album, ‘Murder Ballads’.

But I really loved the wall devoted to photos of his beautiful wife, Susie Cave (nee Bick), and their young children. She is a model, fashion designer, and creator of The Vampire’s Wife.

Just behind Cave’s desk was a white door with the words “I married my wife on the day of the eclipse” painted in black. And all that was in the darkened room when you entered was just a blown up wedding photo of Cave and his wife.

Rounding out the Stranger Than Kindness exhibition was the Hallway of Gratitude room. It’s here that Cave showcases his most cherished possessions: a letter from Leonard Cohen sent after his son, Arthur, died, a piece of Nina Simone’s chewed gum, and a bust of his hero, Elvis Presley.

And one of the very last things you come across before exiting, a portrait of Nick and Susie Cave. Above the frame picture was a rolling projection of a poem that Nick came up with, when a fan asked him to write about how much he loves Susie.

Ask him a question on his website, The Red Hand Files. He may very well answer with a thoughtful and meaningful response.

“You stand before the world and say, ‘I am here and this is who I am… But there is an influence at work. A veiled, magnetic force.”

I thoroughly enjoyed the Stranger Than Kindness exhibition. And found myself so appreciative that Cave would so open, putting his life – all the triumphs and heart-wrenching losses – on display. Every item offering insight into his creative process, but even more so, to get to the heart and show what kind of person he is.

In 1987, Cave wrote his Last Will and Testament, specifying that a ‘Nick Cave Memorial Museum’ be established and pay homage to his life. That it would be a place where people could come and look at all his collected works and ‘important shit’. This is it.

View more photos of Stranger Than Kindness on my Flickr album and IG Stories. Feel free to follow me on Instagram too! View for more Montreal pics.

Hours: 
Wed-Sun. Various times

Address:
305 Saint-Catherine West, Montreal
GPS coordinates: 45.50687, -73.56674

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I don’t mind anything “stairs related”. I climbed the Victory Column (285 steps) in Berlin, and hiked up to the Bastei Rocks (900 steps) at Saxon Switzerland National Park.

Fun fact: and funnily enough, as a Vancouverite, I have never done the Grouse Grind. The 2,830 steps might have something to do with it.

Although I have hiked up to the top of Stawamus Chief, and that was definitely not a cake walk. I will never forgive my friends for downplaying how hard it would be. It was quite the beast of a hike. I was in my 20s when I did it and had much more energy and stamina. I can’t even entertain the thought of doing the Chief again.

But I digress…

I knew that there’d be a killer view of downtown Montreal when you get to the top of Mont Royal. I suppose that and a walk in nature were incentive enough. I only wished it hadn’t been on the hottest day of my trip. Don’t let the clouds in the picture fool you. It was 30C+. Hella hot and hella humid.

Armed with a bottle of water and slathered in SPF 50, I walked the one kilometre uphill from Peel Station to the base of Mont Royal. From there, it would be 400 fairly steep steps to the top. There is the option to wind around the mountain to the top, which would be easier, more leisurely, and would take more time. But the whole point is to climb. those. stairs.

It’s supposed to take around 30-45 mins to get to the top. But I had already done one kilometre uphill to get to the base already. In a mask too. However, it’s not the worst hike by far. Just make sure you stay hydrated and take breaks if you need to.

The view at the top is really killer and worth the hike.

On the descent, I opted for the escarpment trail instead of the steps because it would bring you to some more viewpoints. And definitely less crowded. But the best part about reaching the Camille-Houde look out was an encounter with some friendly racaccoonies. They were used to humans but still shy. And looking for eats from hikers. That was a definitely surprise and highlight of the hike.

From there, I walked down the dirt walking path, basically zig zagging down the park. A couple of times, I thought I’d become lost as the path would fork and I wasn’t sure what direction to take. But I think whatever path you go with, you’d (eventually) end up by or near the monument on Park Avenue.

I was so beat by the time I got down to street level and gotten two mosquito bites walking through the woods, that I completely ran out of steam and wasn’t able to explore the Plateau. I just went back to my hotel, ordered some delivery, rotted for the rest of the night before passing out, happy that I made it to the top. There’s still some hike in me left.

View more photos of Montreal on my Flickr album, and IG Stories. Feel free to follow me on Instagram too!

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The Montreal Biodôme is one of four attractions located at Espace pour la vie, or the Space of Life, the largest natural science museum complex in Canada. The other three are the Montreal Insectarium, Montreal Botanical Garden, and the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium.

The Montreal Biodôme is not a zoo per se, but rather, five neat ecosystems under one roof, where you can learn about animal and plant species in a faithfully reproduced “natural” environment.

The five habitats are:

• Tropical rainforest – Biodôme’s largest ecosystem where you can see parrots, an alligator-like animal called a caiman, golden lion tamarins, callimicos, capybaras, anacondas, and bats
• Gulf of St. Lawrence – this ecosystem features underwater life.
• Laurentian maple forest – home to animals found in the Quebec forest, I spied otters, frogs, and turtles. I was not able to see the porcupine or the even harder to spot, lynx.
• Labrador coast – here you will find puffins! So many puffins.
• Sub-arctic islands – penguins. There are four types: king penguin, gentoo penguin, northern rockhopper penguin, and macaroni penguin. Say wha? And to give visitors that arctic feeling, there’s even an ice tunnel to walk through.

Although the animals are obviously the main reason why people visit, it’s easy to marvel at the environment too, whether it’s the lush tropical vegetation, palm trees, sea lyme grass, deciduous (birch, maple) and coniferous (fir, cedar) trees, and more.

What’s neat is that you can visit the Montreal Biodôme and experience summer like conditions in the dead of winter. Or in my case, get a brief respite from the oppressive heat and humidity outside by cooling down in 2-5C polar conditions inside.

I did enjoy walking through the various ecosystems, but heads up, due to the nature and mission of the facility, there are a ton of families around. And even though the Montreal Biodôme is sizeable, there’s lots of tiny humans running around, touching things and yelling with delight.

This was my first time sharing a space with so many people and children since the pandemic started, so it was a bit jarring. And especially as mask restrictions have been lifted. Even though it’s hard to socially distance here, I’m triple vaccinated and was masked up, so any jitters I felt subsided as I went through the spaces.

You might want to avoid the Biodôme if you’re still not comfortable being around people. But hopefully that doesn’t stop you. With precautions and knowing what to expect, an afternoon at the Montreal Biodôme can turn out to be quite the enjoyable time.

View more photos of Montreal on my Flickr album, and IG Stories. Feel free to follow me on Instagram too!

Hours: 
9am-6pm Mon-Sun

Address:
4777 Pierre-de Coubertin Ave, Montreal
GPS coordinates: 45.56200, -73.55002

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Check out what this experience offers:

• 3 galleries
• 2 light experiences
• 105 laser projectors
• 119 surround sound speakers
• 360 degree projections
• Over 21,000 square feet of convention space

RECHARGER/Unwind is the largest immersive exhibit in Canada. You’ll have no issues with social distancing due to the massive size and timed entrance.

I’m big on production values, and RECHARGER/Unwind did not disappoint. Every gallery was a technicolour dreamscape, with projections bathing the walls and floors. Or if I want to sound pretentious, it was visual poetry at every turn. Ha.

RECHARGER/Unwind was divided into 3 sections:

• Gallery 1: Portal (Core, Floralia, Migration)
• Gallery 2: Teleporter (Journey, Frozen Music, Horizon)
• Gallery 3: Panorama (Flow, New Land, Recursive Reflections, and The Quiet Pond)

I really dug on the music too. Some of it made you feel like you were in a forested temple with the low gong, pulsing beats, ice cracking and cricket-like sounds, while other sequences were contemplative and dreamy and makes you feel like you’re traveling through the universe. And of course, the last gallery would have a totally uplifting and re-energizing soundtrack to complete one’s immersive experience.

Although it didn’t top Teamlab (what could, really?), I’d totally recommend RECHARGER/Unwind if you’re in the mood for relaxation, stimulation or if you just want to be sensorially invigorated.

For a peek at what to expect, press play on Oasis Immersion’s video:

View more photos of RECHARGER/Unwind on my Flickr album, and IG Stories. Feel free to follow me on Instagram too!

Hours: 
Open every day. Various times

Address:
301 Saint-Antoine Street West, Montreal
GPS coordinates: 45.50391, -73.56046

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Every time I travel to a new city, I try to go on a hunt for that cities’ murals, be it San Francisco, Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, and London. Every year I get out to see Vancouver’s murals too.

But props must be given to Montreal for founding the original mural festival in 2013.

Located on Saint Laurent Boulevard, Sherbrook Street, Mont Royal Avenue and alleyways in between, checking out the festival is not only a great way to see the artwork, but to get a lay of the land as a visitor.

This year’s mural festival was extra special because it was the first full festival since COVID-19 began. And it was headlined by none other than Shepard Fairey, the urban artist best known for his “Hope” poster, created for Barack Obama during his electoral campaign.

Him and his Obey team were unveiling a mural in his signature art style. It was funny because I was looking all around for it with no success. It didn’t dawn on me to look WAY up until I came across people walking up the street, opposite direction I was going, and pointing at what looked to be towards the sky.

There on the side of the building at the Mural Festival’s event zone (3527 St Laurent Street), was this towering and absolutely stunning piece called “Paix et Justice” (Peace and Justice). It’s quite mind-boggling that it took all but 2 days to complete!

Here are some more awesome murals and murals in progress that I came across:

And everywhere you looked, there were pop up stores, workshops, concerts, and A/R exhibits and ton of outdoor dining. Much excitement. Blazing hot too, but a fun afternoon. Hooray for urban art!

View more photos of Montreal on my Flickr album, and IG Stories. Feel free to follow me on Instagram too!

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The layout is pretty cool. The museum and its art collection is not just housed in one building, but spread out to five pavilions, which are all accessed via underground tunnels once you enter the main building.

There were two major exhibits going on.

The first one that you come across is Adam Pendleton’s Ce Qu’On a Fait Ensemble or These Things We Done Together. His works explores the relationship between Blackness, abstraction, and the avant-garde. Or what the New York-based artist calls Black Dada.

Untitled (Mask), 2018

The other major exhibit I saw was Nicolas Party’s L’heure mauve or Mauve Twilight – inspired by that fleeting moment when the fading light casts purple hues over the landscape. Party was not only the artist, using the museum as a canvas for his large scale, surrealist murals, but also its curator and exhibition designer. That means he also hand-picked 50 other historical artworks from the museum’s collection to compliment and be featured along with his works.

Tree Trunks, 2021

Portrait with Lawyer, 2021. I recognize Marlene Dietrich’s face when I see it.

Here are some other cool things that I saw:

Karen Tam – Castiglione’s Insect Mimics, 2014-2017

Frank Stella – The Pitchpoling (D-17, 2X), 1990.

Stella’s “Moby Dick” series pays tribute to Herman Melville’s book. Stella produced 138 reliefs to correspond to the novel’s 138 chapters. Pitchpoling takes its title from chapter 84, where Captain Ahab’s ship, the Pequad, hunts down and kills a whale. This artwork, made of bent and painted sheets of metal, transport the viewer to the heart of the action: bloody harpoon, waves, and whale entrails. In the negative spaces, the viewer can see the silhouettes of a seagull and a man.

Jean-Michel Basquiat – A Panel of Experts, 1982

This artwork is believed to allude to a fight between Basquiat’s girlfriend, Suzanne Mallouk (nicknamed Venus), and his lover, Madonna (yes, that Madonna). You can see both names in the upper left-hand corner of the painting, above the depiction of a fist fight between the stick figures.

Dale Chihuly – Ruby Pineapple Chandelier, 2013

I’m a fan of Dale Chihuly blown glass sculpture and always appreciate coming across one at museums like I did at Seattle Art Museum, de Young Museum in San Francisco, and the V + A in London.

Fun thing to note: while you’re at the museum, make sure to go to the Mount Royal Observatory or the Glass Court to see an unobstructed view of the towering mural of singer, songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen. This is the Crescent Street mural. (Montreal has 2 murals of Leonard Cohen)

Or when you see it from street level on the way back downtown.

And walked and explored I did. Until my stomach growled and my feet throbbed. There was so much to take in!

It was an awesome full day exploring this vibrant and cultural mecca that is Montreal.

View more photos of Montreal on my Flickr album, and IG Stories. Feel free to follow me on Instagram too!

Hours: 
Various times Tues-Sun (closed Mon)

Address:
1380 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal
GPS coordinates: 45.49869, -73.57931

The post A Visit to Montreal Museum of Fine Arts appeared first on girllightning.

So why did I choose Montreal as my first flight since the start of the pandemic?

a) I’ve always wanted to check out Montreal. Besides Vancouver, I think Montreal may be the only other place in Canada that I can live in.

b) I always hear great things about the cultural attractions and events.

c) Being in part of Montreal will make you feel like you’re in Europe. And I loved everything about Paris when I went in 2008. (sidebar: it’s been too long. I have to go back for another visit)

d) Being that everyone is experiencing a severe case of revenge travel, I just didn’t want to deal with the disaster of passport delays, airport nightmares and hundreds of international flights being canceled on a daily basis.

Besides, a Canadian’s got to Canadian for their first flight, non?

My trip may very well have not only been well timed (right before school term ended), but also traveling within the country, I didn’t experience any of the snafus or frustrations. So that’s a fab start to the trip.

The sucky, although not uncommon thing about traveling eastbound sometimes, are the red eye flights. Every time I go to Europe, it’s on a red eye and I feel so loopy and wobbly by the time I get to my accommodations. Even a red eye flight to New York got me feeling like I was rocking back and forth on the inside.

So thank the ceiling for day use hotels. I don’t have the fortitude or stamina to land somewhere at 7am and then walk around the city trying to stay away and get on local time, while I wait for a 3pm check in time somewhere.

If there’s a pod or capsule hotel available like at London’s Gatwick Airport, I’ll be crashing for a few hours vs shuffling around London like a zombie.

Pro-tip: if that’s not you too, then may I recommend Dayuse.com, a website that lists out hotels offering daytime bookings? You can use it for ‘daycations’ (ahem, afternoon delights), if you want to change up your WFH environment, or like me, a place to shower and crash, while waiting to check in to my actuals digs.

Depending on the hotel, time blocks offered can range from 8am-4pm, 830am-6pm, 9am-1pm, 9am-5pm, 11am-6pm, 3pm-9pm, etc. And for a fraction of the cost if you were to book the one night stay.

I chose Le Meridien Versailles Montreal because of the location, the vibe, and the $99 price. It was worth it.

After a shower, a nap, and a chirashi bowl from a nearby Japanese restaurant, I was ready to rock n’ roll to Hotel Monville, my accommodations for the next 7 days in Montreal. As I hadn’t travelled since 2019, I may have splurged a little with the deluxe suite. Hello rainforest shower AND 2 x 55″ LED HD TVs! Wha?!?

But even though this was definitely a splurge, I am not made of moolah. I booked the deluxe suite at Hotel Monville because I found a 43% off great deal on Agoda. I typically use Booking, but the deal was much better on Agoda this time around.

So feast your peepers on this deluxe suite.

Hotel Monville! My home for the next week. Not too shabby, non?

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