Bent By Elephants

The most valuable things I took from Montreal were a desire to learn French, and a CD by Bent by Elephants. When Vic and I stumbled upon their CD release party at Divan Orange, we were blown away by their talent. Their set was short, and I wished they would play it over. And over. And over.

This orchestral/folk/pop band is relatively unknown outside their native city and I hope they build a large enough following to warrant many shows in NY in the future. Guys, this band is REALLY good. Please sample their incredible sound. Their CD is on iTunes and all that good stuff.

BENT BY ELEPHANTS - Emma Lake from Mitch Fillion (southernsouls.ca) on Vimeo.

Quebec City

Montreal Part 2

When the sun finally decided to come out, the first thing we did was get on a bikes. Bixi is the coolest bike sharing system ever. $5/day gets you access to as many bikes as you need to get around. You can pick up a bike at one station and drop it off at another. I wish NY had a system like this, but I don't think our residents are responsible enough to maintain it. 

I'm so Asian. I actually hate having photos taken of me, and the peace sign is a nervous twitch that makes awkward photo ops even more awkward. 

Cruising along the canal.

Montreal Part 1

I've always enjoyed off-season travel. Because I live in New York, the thought of going on a crowded vacation gives me flashbacks to all the times I've foolishly ventured into Trader Joe's on a Sunday morning. (Literally lines out the door.) Vic and I decided to visit Montreal in May figuring the weather would be nice and the crowds would be smaller.

When I landed in Montreal (only a 1.5 hour flight from NYC!), my first thought was, "Where the heck is everyone?" Never have I seen such a clean, empty airport. With an hour to kill before Vic's flight came in, I roamed around and captured the unprecedented  stillness.

My second thought was, "Wow, it's really French here." For some reason I was under the impression that half of the population spoke mostly English but when we arrived, almost all conversations were carried in French.  I read somewhere that 85% of Montrealers speak French at home, yet almost everyone we met spoke English fluently as well. I was blown away by the flawless bilingualism so now I must learn French. Willing to barter design services for French lessons. Email me :)