After my winter trip to Chicago.. I chose another cold winter city and headed more north to Montreal. A beautiful small city with lots of flavor and character. I had met a friend in Brooklyn who lived there and she convinced me to visit her and her partner. I had not really considered going to Canada any time soon, but figure I needed time away and it felt like a good combo.

It really was. I took it very chill here and dove deeper into my first poetry book. In fact here is where I drew the glyphs for each poem. In Montreal I had another one of those special birthdays where it snowed for the first time of the season on December 13th.. So I arrived with loads of powdery goodness on the ground as I headed to my place.

I didn’t have any particular architecture to see here so I really wanted to embrace living like a local. My friend lived in the Italian neighborhood and my first haunt was this very lowkey family oriented spot I would order a very cheap (and tasty) coffee from and get to writing or working. It was a real pleasure hearing people speak non-english, even if I didn’t understand them. I’ve always enjoyed that about traveling.

The city was extremely easy to get around in and one of the nights we went out to listen to some music and catch the vibe, which to me felt super healthy even after a big snow storm. The metro was so clean and organized in a way that almost offended my inner Brooklyn. Even some of the details in the train were nice and caught my eye lol. I mainly just hopped around from cafe to cafe exploring, walking, even climbed a nice local hill and enjoyed some ganja (I was still smoking at that time.) It was nice being in Canada which has a more European pace and feel, but still somehow felt ‘North American’ - whatever that means.

I didn’t particular meet anyone outside of my friend but had a really nice time and felt safe, at ease and well fed lol. The food was also really great and easy to find veggie meals wherever I was roaming. I stumbled upon a large farmers market type of space and had an amazing tomato pie as I wrote in my little journal. Like Chicago I would certainly go back during the summer to see how the city transforms in other seasons.