The tam tam, smoked meat and soccer in the park
10.05.2008
Today, I really took it easy. I didn't want anything else to go wrong, so I stayed with my O-town peeps all day. We woke up around 10:30 and Jan-Mark had his bike so he went down to Simon's to exchange his belt that he bought last time.
I had no food with me, so LP's roommates offered me some of their leftover crepes and JM gave me half a pear. I was starving. After Jan-Mark left for Simon's, I hung out with Louis-Philip who is one of the coolest guys I've met in a long time. He's got the whole organic lifestyle thing down pat. He's got a vermi-composter, a little garden, he makes his own bread, shops at a food co-op and he rode his bicycle across Canada while making a documentary about it. Wow! He's quite the impressive guy, and he has done a lot in his short years on this here planet. It really was great to meet somebody who is more hardcore about environmentalism than I am, it doesn't happen very often, and when it does, it's awe-inspiring.
Patricia, Andrew and Luca came to pick me up in the morning, which was great. Then we parked downton to meet Jan-Mark at Simon's. Of course, he was still there, browsing, so we had some fun dressing up and taking videos of silly clothes.
After that, we walked down to the tam tam, a big huge drum circle that happens every Sunday in the Spring, Summer and Fall. This was also good times, but it's already starting to get a little boring for me. I danced a little, but couldn't really get into it as much as I did last time. There were lots of hippies, a free hugs line up, which we gladly took advantage of, and also some breakdancers and hacky-sackers. The usual suspects.
Luca, Andrew and I were starting to get hungry for lunch/dinner and earlier Luca had expressed an interest in eating a Montreal smoked meat sandwich at Schwatrz's. I was also very interested in this, because every time I've ever walked by this place there is a giant lineup. Finally I got to find out what it was all about. Yeah, the smoked meat at Schwartz's is REALLY GOOD. I'm usually a vegetarian, but when I'm travelling, I forget about it. Places like Schwartz's are the reason. If you limit yourself to a certain diet while you're travelling you can't have the full sensory experience of a place, am I right? How would I ever experience an authentic smoked meat sandwich if I was a really strict vegetarian? I mean, I love consuming as little as possible, and eating on the first rung of the food chain as much as the next guy, but in Montreal, you've got to try a smoked meat sandwich. It's like if you go to France and don't drink the wine. I mean come on...
After that, Andrew and Luca ate some ice cream while waiting for Patricia and Jan-Mark to meet us. It took them a while to come, but that was alright, it was a beautiful day and an aggressive panhandler was entertaining us across the street. We watched him get into a couple of fights and before we knew it they were here and we were off to pick up JM's stuff at LP's house. This we did, said our goodbyes and then the boys wanted to play some soccer at a really beautiful and idyllic park just north of Little Italy. There is some pretty impressive footwork in the videos that I took... gimme a woot woot!
I still had some sangria left, so I tried to share it but nobody wanted any. It was gross. Don't buy the sangria in the glass jug, really. If you like Mad Dog (found usually in Ypsilanti, Michigan), you will like this stuff, otherwise, don't drink it. You won't like it.
The ride back was also uneventful. Once again I was crammed in the backseat with a boy and a bicycle, so that was another adventure. We got back to JM's house at about 10 p.m. and I still had to bike home! Ack! I was so tired, I didn't think I would make it, but of course, I did. I tried to write this up last night, to no avail, so I am doing it now, my sweetie babies. Hope you liked my adventures.
Next stop, another trip to Montreal at the end of May to hang out with the dude who founded Vagabondish.com.
