Day One-'Napoleon's Unlucky Hat'

A cup of coffee was calling me when I woke up so we dressed and took the Metro downtown, where we found the Canadian version of Starbucks called Second Cup (not that we didn't also see many Starbucks). It was cloudy, cool, and beginning to rain but we sat outside under an awning and watched the downtown scene. Montreal looks more European than New World, with a mix of centuries all meeting up that included high rise glass towers next to massive cathedrals next to Greek revival or Victorian government buildings next to 19th century Parisienne style townhouses. The people on the side walks ranged all the way from elegantly dressed women to hip young people to beggars. A man sitting at a table nearby looked stereotypically French in his Gaelic features and world weary eyes, ("you have seen me now piss off!") smoking a cigarette and reading his paper. Many many people smoke here even though it is banned from all indoor areas.

After a nice jolt of caffeine we made our way to the Museum of Fine Arts for a little culture. The museum is actually two large buildings facing each other across the street. One is traditionally Greek looking with huge columns and classical temple style, the other is sleek and modern stone with steel and glass. Both are connected by an underground passageway. We started in the modern building where we went into an impressive touring exhibit about Napoleon, through art and artifacts. There were many paintings from many periods in his life, all somewhat romantically portraying his rise to emporer and his attempt to conquer the world and make everyone enjoy good food and wine (hey, that doesn't actually sound too bad). There was a grand marble bust of him wearing the laurel wreath of the emporer, which was so huge and bold and so dramatically lit, it was as if he were a Roman god.( And still, he was shorter than I am). But finally they had to get to the parts of the exhibit that documented his defeats and his two exiles. In one case was the actual hat he wore on the fatal Russian campaign, in worn black felt, but quite well preserved considering all the snow and cannon smoke it must have survived, plus a very nice silk shirt with barely a mark on it, and his white leather gloves. There was also a death mask in which he looked quite handsome and unravaged, but since he was only 53 when he died he didn't have time to get decrepit.

From there we looked at various other exhibits including some nice impressionist paintings (Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Pissaro, Renoir). We skimmed a bit in the medieval era because one gold-plated Madonna and child starts looking a lot like another. Sacrilige, I know. But don't tell me you haven't skimmed through medieval art either. Then we ended up in another visiting exhibit, which was about John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This one was very cool and modern, even if you don't like Yoko. I personally think she is one of those people who gets a bad rap in the press but is actually more interesting to speak to, and nicer in person, but then I never had a teenage fit about thinking she broke up the Beatles. Plus, she's an artist, albeit a very conceptualist one, and I kind of get a bit of what her intent is. Anyway, the exhibit was a series of stark white rooms documenting their campaign for world peace in the late sixties. In one room there was an installation piece by Yoko which was a long white table set with many long white chairs, and a chess game at each setting, only all the chess pieces and squares were white only. Her idea, I presume, was that there was no conflict or need for opposition because all the pieces were the same color. On the walls all around were various maps of all parts of the world. The visitor found their country or state then picked up a rubber stamp placed on a ledge below which said "Give Peace a Chance". We were invited to stamp on the place where we came from. My favorite room though was one in which there were a series of ficus trees in pots, all about eight feet tall. nearby were white tags with white strings and some pens. Each person was invited to write a message of hope or peace from wherever they came from and tie the tag to the tree. I liked the ambience because John's music was playing in the background and everyone there was solemnly tying their tags to the trees, so they were festooned brightly on the green leaves and rippling gently under the breeze from the air ducts. I drew a picture on mine and signed my name.

After the new building, we went to the more traditional building and saw more paintings and sculpture there, after which I began to suffer from sensory overload. One can only take so much art before getting stuffed. It's like eating too much cake. Plus by then we were hungry so we took the Metro to old Montreal near the waterfront, where the most historic buildings are, and went to a cafe Glenn had already visited called Le Bourlongueur, which means Traveler. It was mid afternoon so we were the only ones there for awhile but that was fine. It was quiet and charming, on a narrow, cobblestone street, and it served great food. Most of the cafes we found offered what was called Table Hote (with a tent over the letter O) for a reasonable price of around $13.00 which included soup, main course, bread, and dessert. I ordered haddock, since I couldn't even recall if I had ever eaten a haddock, although the taste reminded me, in a Proustian way, of being onboard a ship as a child either going to England or returning to Africa. The haddock came with rice and a sauted red cabbage, plus I had a nice white wine with it. And a baked apple for dessert. Very elegant. Another couple came in later. They were from Clevelend, Ohio and were seated nearby so we began talking. At some point earlier on the street a group dressed as midieval monks, in white masks, and carrying the Quebec flag, all marched by. I commented that it looked like a scene out of The Seventh Seal, and the guy from Ohio said I was loftier than him because he thought it was more like Monty Python. At that we all laughed, and I also commented later to Glenn that it was rare that you could joke with strangers who got both an Ingmar Bergman AND a Monty Python joke. The couple told us they were about to embark on a cruise up the St. Lawrence which would take them to Ottawa and later up to Prince Edward Island for the Anne of Green Gables tour. Sounded lovely.
By the way the Quebec flag, which is everywhere there, much more so than the Canadian flag, is light blue with a white cross dividing it into four sections. In each of the four blue squares is a white fleur-de-lis, the Iris, which symbol I once learned the story behind but it now evades me. I'll look it up on Wikepedia.

More tomorrow. I am typed out.


Love, Val