mont royal street fair

6 years ago, i used to call mont-royal my street. technically i lived between mt-royal and gilford, but that was where i walked to and from the metro, did the bulk of my shopping and seriously knew every store between des erables and st-denis. and one weekend 6 years ago a guy-i-liked said "i've noticed there's a festival on your street..." and that's how i knew he liked me back.
these are the kinds of things i remember, so yes, there's a soft spot left in my heart for the annual mont royal street fair (usually beginning to mid-june). wait, maybe that's not the only one, they have another around end of august? anyway it's always the same things you'd expect: barbecue smells, lots of shoes and sunglasses on display, crowds. i don't mind crowds at all.
nowadays i pass by that metro stop very often, but i rarely wander around anymore. last night was the first time i did in more than half a year, and it went like this:

a first reason to take out my camera, although i'd been initially reluctant: spontaneous poetry. among the activities at the fair there's an actual "festival de poesie", and i gather that this is part of it. 

later that evening: a new poem in the making

so i've said i have favorite sections of mont-royal, and this is one: the stretch right after the metro stop and nunnery, which contains one of my favourite second-hand clothes stores, a new shoe store, THE ice cream place - and those t-shirts on display are montreal-themed.
just a note on clothes: is indian-themed everything the new flavour of affordable summer clothing? i wanted to buy a simple cotton dress and all i could find for cheap was extremely visibly "india", with or without elephants on it. i'm rolling my eyes because i would SO buy something, if it wasn't all over the place. but like this i just won't.

trying to immortalize the soap bubbles before they go

this is the original soap bubble show: the woman had an actual device for shooting bubbles up in the air, and was demonstrating it to kids. you know it took a lot of restraint for me not to approach her, but i do want one of those. 

lots of kids, and lots of music being played, on every corner and even in the middle of a block. much more music-y than the actual music festival that i tried to go to earlier in spring. i'm not vouching for quality, mind you, because i never stop. i just click and pass. 

terasses full of people , which i imagine happens here irrespective of any street fair. i haven't yet sat on a terasse this summer, and with the coming rains who knows how soon i'll have the chance. but i appreciate their sheer existence/functioning

...and then it got almost dark. this is my favourite picture of the lot of that night. sorry, people, for taking your pic without permission, you look perfectly cute and well integrated in the landscape

librairie renaissance has long been my go-to for when i need to beef up my bookshelf collection. well, at least before the small exchange street libraries popped up. but still it's funny to imagine a sale on books that are normally priced at 2.50$. funny but doable: every book 1$, other stuff at 50c.

MY second cup on mt-royal. there is a second one, closer to the metro stop, but this was closer to my place. notice the completely open windowspace at the front, part of what seduced me 6 ys ago. also i spent one night in there mid-november, when i had forgotten my key at home. one rum baba (the particular type they sell in second cups) can be a full meal. for now, i'd go with frappes, though.

greasy pizza slice spot that i've enjoyed on some tired evenings alone 2010-11. i never sat out in the street back then, it must be a new feature. it's right next to "my" small park, extra bonus, you can take the pizza straight to the swings. 

this is as far as i got into my nostalgic walk. after the des erables corner there's nothing more to see, not for me anyway.

back to the metro, and i notice the nuns came out in the street to talk to people. sometimes, waiting at metro mt-royal after dark, with the lights on, i would spy them moving about in their rooms at the nunnery. in my mind, they existed only on the inside, locked in some kind of a past. it feels strange to see this imaginary wall break. 

soon,
c