Les Belles Terasses de Montréal (1)

I'm sorry this post will not have much pictorial content, because it is no longer summer, and I didn't take much pics of beautiful Montreal patios as I should've.

This is actually a balcony, slash FULL PATIO! In Toronto, we don't tend to have these unless it is the rooftop patio of a two-storey house, or condo buildings that have terasses built midway into the building. Toronto is so dense, luxury spaces are hard to come by.

 

And to specify, the only reason in mentioning this exquisite find is because Montreal is overall POOR. This is actually the quartier of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. It is low-rise residential decrepit 1,000 yr old misery. Truthfully, it is one of Montreal's oldest and POOREST neighbourhoods, and has not changed in 1,000 years. So seemingly enough, obviously I was surprised to come across this beautful balcony slash elevated terasse. One night I came home, and there was a huge party there.

 

In Montreal, the rich live in all assortment of places. Even in the poorest. This is the same everywhere. And as in everywhere, there wealth is often hidden. It is just expressed in different ways here in Montreal. This is the best residential patio I have seen and wish I knew the owner so I can be invited for next year's parté!

Patios are very popular in Montreal, and I think that follows the outdoor café philosophy as the same in France. It's almost obligatory that most restaurants offer an outdoor patio during the summer, even places like no-fuss Second Cup, and otherwise classy INDOOR italian restaurants. The city also accomodates this change as much as it can, providing grants to resurrect wooden platforms and other construction needed to physically erect a patio onto a sidewalk, and sometimes spilling into the first parking lane of the street, and offering the necessary infrastructure needed to block off certain streets, and provide the necessary signage, restrictions, and policing to redirect traffic to the pietonne streets (pedestrian walking streets). It's an amazing effort, and every time the drilling of platforms and the first patio umbrellas start to go up ... everybody knows ... it's PATIO SEASON!

 

This street is near the Eaton Centre downtown. Even high traffic DOWNTOWN, they manage to block this street off for patios.

Oh ... memories of the summer! I remember all the hot guys I saw drinking and sitting on patios this year, and gettin' turned on, sitting and watching all the hot guys of summer walk by in barely there tank tops or straight up shirtlessness, while sipping cold delicious drinks with my ex. Me and my ex are still besties. He is originally from Montreal but lives in Toronto, and I am originally from Toronto, and now live in Montreal. Quite the switcheroo. We'll do Montreal patios, Toronto patios alike, depending on when we can find the time to be together. It's all the same to us. It's all the gay scene.

 

Toronto has got some good patios and so does Montreal. Montreal is in fact better. But both bring with them certain memories of good summer times with old friends, and making new ones too! Of course, now being in Montreal, I am more hooked on the gay scene here, but do reminisce about old Toronto times on patios I used to frequest, but no longer.

 

I am coming back to Toronto next week to visit my bestie ex. He told me some places on Church St. have closed, declared bankruptcy, and re-opened, and inevitably the same thing is the situation here too. The Village here is vibrant in Montreal, but still is not immune to economic tides and depressions. Winter definitely poses a problem here in Montreal for all business. But I look forward to revisiting some of my old digs in Toronto. I have so much to tell my bestie ex. I miss him so much!

Patio Hotties: drinking, smoking, relaxin' ... good summer times eh??? Unforgettable hot sizzlin days, unforgettable drinks, unforgettable moments with friends n' buddies.