The . Loot

I did my share of shopping in Montreal, but really only a teeny pinch of buying. There were things that I saw, but with another big trip on the horizon, travel is certainly more important than things.

That said, I could hardly come home entirely empty handed!

My purchases were limited to jewelry from a couple of different stores in Old Montreal ( a little trinkety store tucked into a cobblestone alley ) and in Downtown Montreal ( the chain, Aldo Accessories ). My favorite is easily the gold armor ring. It runs the whole length of a finger, and I've been wearing it pretty much non-stop!

In . the . Details

When I've seen photos of couture collections before, I've always been moved by the beauty of the pieces - the fit, the movement, the color, the glamour - all stunning, all works of art.

Yet until I saw the Gaultier collections up close, "work of art" really just meant "very pretty." Without seeing close-ups, it's nearly impossible to appreciate how much work goes into making every.single.garment.






The dress above contained one of my favorite surprises. From even a few feet away, the dress looked as though it was crafted from fur. But no. The entire thing is beaded. All of it. Beaded. How long that would take even the more seasoned couturier, I can hardly imagine.






Another wonderful detail was on this pair of tights - someone had taken a regular pair of tights, and then cut out teeny leather pieces and then stitched them to the tights to make them look like real python skin. My eyes go wide just thinking about it.

Raccoon . Time

In the middle of Montreal, there is a smallish mountain - Mount Royal. There is an amazing amount that you can do up there: hiking, biking (if you're in, like, triathlon shape), there's a huge old cemetery, a bunch of parks, and then at one outlook, raccoons.

I think you're probably not supposed to feed them, but as they're tame as house pets, + hordes of people go up there with food, that doesn't seem to be a real steadfast rule.

B. and I went up with just a few leftover crusts of bread from lunch and passed out a few morsels. The raccoons sit on their hindquarters and ever so gently take the little pieces from your hand. They're not shy about being grabby either - they'll lean right on you in hopes of getting some more!!

Note: Apparently the city puts out food bait that's been laced with rabies vaccine, as I suspect that "Montreal: Home of Rabid Raccoons" isn't the motto they'd like to have for themselves.

Random

Yesterday we came across a guy in the park doing push-ups. Like, "What do I do with my afternoon? Push-ups in public."

Montreal . et . Jean . Paul . Gaultier

If my post on Tuesday was a bit lacking of photos, the number of photos that I took yesterday (429) will make up for it. On top of it being a lovely day to walk around the city, we took in the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts at night.

Plus, best surprise of all surprises - yesterday was the start of the Montreal Festival of Fashion and Design, which kicked off with... A Jean Paul Gaultier runway show!!

Getting to see the show meant standing in a very large, very cramped group of people for some time, but good gravy it was worth it. They walked pieces from the couture collections, as well as Fall 2011/12 menswear, and the Fall 2011/12 women's RTW line. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.

I'll have to post photos in batches, so as not to go too crazy all at once though.

The top photos were from the first room of the exhibit. Many of the mannequins throughout had faces projected on them. All of the faces moved (a lot or a little) and some of the mannequins were also speaking or singing. Loved it.

Montreal . Part . Deux

Today was another lovely day in Montreal. We started out with a slow morning around the house, in which we filled our time with many cups of coffee and cappuccino muffins from the deli around the corner. (Calorie free, right??)

I then (according to him) tricked B. into going shopping at my "fashion-y stores" - I scooped up a couple of inexpensive pieces of jewelry from H&M, but otherwise came away empty handed.

Then we took the Metro back up to Mont-Royal and found some ridiculously well-stocked record stores. I forgot my fancy camera, and so had to make due with the iPhone (a few pictures coming later) and so my prime catch of the day is a snippet of this kind.of.perfect.kind.of.amazing street music - someone playing a jawbone + someone tap dancing? Yes please!!

I hope that everyone else is having a week that's just as smashing! Happy Tuesday!

Montreal

We've not been in Montreal very long, but it's positively wonderful! Montreal seems to be a combination of very old bits - brick streets and copper topped cathedrals - and also the restaurants, shops, and bars that make big cities so enticing.

It's thunderstorming this afternoon, so we're in for at least a few hours, but at least the morning was filled with hopping about to different record stores and a few vintage shops.

The food has been incredibly tasty so far - last night we wolfed down broccoli and tomato quiche, with pickled beet salad, and baby corn + artichoke salad. Then today we grabbed lunch from a deli around the corner - falafel pita wraps with pickles, tomatoes, and hummus, + a barley salad. We're right in the middle of a district where every other storefront is a restaurant, so I can't wait to try some more yummy things!