Montréal, jour 2

Et alors. The people of Montréal seem to love their city. I woke up and went directly for a pain au chocolat at a little boulangerie next to the Jean-Talon market, and a couple of Montrealers started talking to me. I told them my reason for visiting the city and they instantly began to tell me about the wonders of Montréal, as if they understood that they needed to convince me to stay. When I asked the taboo question, "What about the winter?" they shrugged it off with a classic "Ohh lala, pas de problème". I had my doubts, but I loved the friendliness. 

I spent the rest of the day walking around downtown Montréal, exploring the length of the Museum Quarter along Rue Sherbrooke and Rue St. Catherine. At Rue Crescent I stopped a random guy my age to ask him about the area and he was fascinated to serve as a temporary tour guide. He launched on a 15 minute talk about the city and it's architecture, and the churches and the way it was laid out...and then wrote me a list of about 10 places I should visit. 

I passed by McGill and sat on the sunny grass in front of the library, where I started conversation with a girl that said "I can't imagine a better place for my undergrad experience than McGill...except for the winters!" She was really excited to tell me all about the student life at McGill and about the thousands of things to do in the city, but she was also adamant about the winters: "you'll HATE the winters, but it's worth it." 

And then I walked into the highlight of the day: the IMAGINE: The Ballad of John & Yoko expo at the Museum of Fine Arts. The museography is simply insuperable! It is an expo that breaks the boundaries between audience and artists and invites everyone to participate with the art. For instance, in order to commemorate the famous "Bed-in" for peace that Yoko and John staged in Montréal in 1969, the expo had a whole room recreating the scene, with an enormous white bed where visitors could sit or lie and stage their own "bed-in" while listening to the original recordings of Give Peace a Chance. There is also an incredible room with a white piano where one can sit and play Imagine while watching the original video of the song projected on a huge white wall. 

But the most impressive to me is the room dedicated to the War is Over! campaign. The room is full of TV's displaying original news videos and footage from the major peace demonstrations around the world in 1969, as well as tragic videos from Vietnam. There is also a timeline highlighting the main events of 1969, as well as the main advances in human rights of the 1960s, all surrounded by the posters of the publicity campaign and photographs of John and Yoko's demonstrations. Most importantly, this room didn't feel like a piece of old history; instead, it felt like an urgent call for political protests and mobilizations against today's equally irrational war in Iraq. I left the expo inspired, excited about the vast possibilities for art to stir the minds and hearts of sensible audiences everywhere. 

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.