Montreal in Pictures

What is This About?

This post is about Montreal. The city of Montreal is located in North America. If we zoom in we will see that it is in Canada. Going even deeper will bring us to the beautiful province of Quebec where Montreal is located.

I am going to put lots of pictures here. I took it with my digital, not professional camera and pictures are not Photoshoped. I hope you will still enjoy them

Since I am a human being and not an objective travel guide, everything here is from my own perspective; it is how I perceived this place I called home for many years.

If you are interested in visiting Montreal, consider investing in travel guides that I have on this page.

Is this lens only about Montreal? No, it is about MY Montreal that for sure will differ from yours and someone else’s.

The picture above was taken in September 2006 and shows my most favorite street, McGill College.

The pictures below are taken in August – September 2006.

Montreal in Winter: Q&A
Music: Vivaldi “Four Seasons:Winter”

This beautiful Christmas Tree is installed every year in the Place Montreal Trust.

Why I am writing about Montreal?

I moved to Montreal several years ago. The reason for that as I believed at the time was hard economic conditions in my country and the opportunity to have better life for me and my daughter. Now, as I look back, I realize that it was an attempt to escape%u2026 from my own self. Unfortunately this kind of escape is always doomed.

Was it hard for me in Montreal without any relatives and friends?

Incredibly – especially during the long and harsh winters.

Do I regret taking this step? And, if not, why?

No. I don’t regret. Like chemical substances that have to go through tremendous transformation, “endure” lots of changes to become gold, so does the human soul.

Being alone and in harsh conditions helped me to understand and love myself; helped me to forgive and accept, to realize that I can’t run from myself BUT I can grow and change and start loving myself the way I am.

Why am I here? – was the question I was asking myself every winter.

It wasn’t a complaint it just expressed my genuine desire to understand why I chose to be in such conditions.

After lots of reading and inner work, I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I started to understand.

Would I do that inner work had I stayed in my country?

Not likely. The cold, icy, “no mercy” winter was the trigger for that. I also wouldn’t have access to the vast amount of resources to do the inner work.

Did I reach the “perfection”?

Far from it. Growing is a constant and long process especially if you can’t devote months of your life to do the inner work. We live in a society where we need to EARN MONEY to survive.

I believe the more we realize that we that hurting others is hurting ourselves and judging others is non-accepting that part of ourselves the more advanced we become.

Through the struggle with deep depression I had here, I emerged as a completely different person. I also realized that I had the depression almost all my life – I couldn’t realize that I was depressed because I was surrounded by close, dear friends and relatives.

More winter pictures below. Winter includes March and in some years April .

One of the pictures below “Bushes in the Snow” was in April after the snowstorm. It is very nice actually. Winter is nice when you are not outside, walking on a slippery ground and cold doesn’t penetrate your bones… Like on this picture.

The pictures of Christmas Trees below are taken from the Complexe Desjardins and Gare Centrale. So when you inside, the winter is actually very nice!

Montreal in Spring
Music: Vivaldi “Four Seasons:Spring”

This is NOT a usual spring picture. We just had a violent snow storm around April 15, 2007 and a gate that was proudly withstanding Montreal weather for years was destroyed by a violet wind.

The wind was so strong on my way to work that day I though it was going to be the last day of my life- the wind was blowing in the direction opposite to mine so I had to stop and right above my head there was a brunch of a tree about to fall…

To return to my previous topic:

In an attempt to fight the lost of interest in everything I started to take pictures with my digital camera. I was pretending that I am a reporter and my pictures are extremely important.

My camera wasn’t of a high quality so I had to discard lots of pictures but still there are good ones that I want to present here.

By taking the pictures of winter I was trying to persuade myself that my desire to leave Montreal is not another escape from myself but rather a normal, human desire to have a better life.

Don’t get me wrong here! Montreal is a beautiful city. Many people, natives and immigrants alike, are not so sensitive to cold and ice as I am, so for them it is not an issue. Plus there is beautiful spring and summer after all.

Some Spring, early Summer pictures are below

Montreal in Summer: Lots of Life
Music: Vivaldi “Four Seasons:Summer”

So many things are going on in Summer in Montreal. This really require a separate lens. I am working right now on the Montreal Jazz Festival Lens so I won’t cover it here.

Summer in Montreal will always be always stay with me no matter where I live. Montreal is one of the most vibrant cities in the world at this time of the year. Festival of Design and Mode followed by the famous Montreal Jazz Festival, Francopholie, Cinema Festival and lots of other in between.

You really don’t want to miss this ones. Come at the end of June and stay till the beginning of September if you can. Weather is not always nice but there is so much going on you won’t even notice.

I started to enjoy summers in Montreal the last two years only when I moved downtown, close to the events.

The mere fact that I started enjoy something in Montreal was already a positive sign that depression is over. At least I am aware of it now and pay attention to smallest signs.

Beautiful Summer Pictures

The Fountain I Discovered
Music: Just the Sound of Water

This is really a piece of art and as a matter of fact it belongs to the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.

i found it out by accident and then started to go regularly to relax under the sound of running water. If you ever visit Montrea, it is located at the corner of Viger and Bleury – you don’t want to miss it really.

If you wait long enough you can witness the extraordinary thing – the fire circle around the fountain, right in the water!

Here are the pictures

Montreal in Fall
Music: Vivaldi “Four Seasons:Fall”

For me it’s a little bit depressive time. It means summer has gone and yet another harsh and long winter is expected.

End of summer is usually another active periods for different festivals. Below are some end of summer festival pictures that I took from my balcony on the second floor, as well as other beautiful pictures of Montreal fall.

Oratoire St-Joseph
Music of Church Bells

I can’t write about Montreal without mentioning the Oratoire St-Joseph. Whenever I felt depressed, down or was just in search for some answers I would come here and find the peace I was looking for.

Come here to relax and re-charge your soul.

Each time I visited it I discovered something new and amazing. Last time it was the beautiful church bell music.

If you are planning to visit Montreal, you don’t want to miss it. It’s a huge complex – do not rush through, devote an entire day to it to embrace its beauty.

Let’s stay here for the moment and pray for peace: peace in our souls and peace on this beautiful planet of ours.

Below is the picture of candle-liting gallery

The Closing Question

Ok, Ok, after so much stuff I took out of my chest you might be wondering:

Do I Love Montreal?

The answer is Yes, absolutely.

The problems that I had were not related to Montreal. As a matter of fact they were not related to anything outside me.

Montreal helped me to go deep inside me and find out what lies there…
and I discovered something I learned to love – myself.

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