Spring Un-Sprung

It's -8'C with windchill to -20'C.

On April 5th.

And it's ALL MY FAULT!

You see, dear readers, I did it. I put away the winter clothes last Saturday. Then we awoke yesterday to a city coated in a substance akin to a Slurpee Big Gulp sans the lurid sugary colour and flavour.

And then the winds started. The howling winds that made me go hide under the duvet and pray for morning.

Well now it IS morning, the winds are STILL howling (though less like the Hounds of the Baskervilles) and the barometric pressure continues to plummet as Montreal freezes over once more.

Spring? What Spring?

Good thing I had to stay in and write my blog!

This week I promised to review one Montreal "street", which I will do.

But first I need to tell you about the most amazing restaurant we went to on Tuesday for our anniversary. I'm not willing to rule out that the food tasted soooo good because I was gazing at my love,

but everyone around us was making similar "oooooo, aaaaaaa and oh my" noises, and some of them looked like they had just come from work!

Ile Flottante is only 2 blocks from our place. I think we hadn't been before as they don't publish a menu, which is a little intimidating. But we took a risk 17 years ago, and aren't going to stop now!

They have a set menu of 3, 5 or 7 courses, the actual substance of which is printed nowhere. They do have vegetarian options. I had advised them when making the reservation that I couldn't eat wheat or eggs, and they happily substituted things left and right, presenting us with plate after glorious plate of culinary genius.

I have eaten at a LOT of places thanks to a misspent youth (thanks Ma and Pa!) and a career that saw me jetting all over the world, eating things paid for by other people (thanks, "other people")!

This was hands down one of the best meals I have ever had. Maybe THE best. That misspent youth has killed a few brain cells so I can't be 100% sure.

It was inventive, beautifully plated, perfectly balanced and honestly, even though I wasn't exactly sure what I was eating all the time (he described the menu in French.. so I only got the key points!), I didn't care!

If you are ever in Montreal, have a few hours to spare, and are willing to have someone else make the decisions for you, I highly recommend it!

Now, onto our "Street of the Week"

This week's street is Avenue de l'Esplanade.

I luckily explored it during the balmy days of last weekend, when it was a seasonal 8'C out!

L'Esplanade runs parallel to Ave du Parc and Rue St. Laurent; North-South, from Mile Ex to the Plateau.

It does a few dog legs over cross streets where the road builders used their rulers incorrectly.

We don't walk up it much as it is 95% residential, but it does have some of my favourite residences in the area, like this one:

It's far outside the realm of my usual preferred "grey and white" palate. Maybe it's because all winter it stood there, literally a beacon through the snow. So unabashedly RED. Maybe it's that the dwellers always had their sidewalk shovelled. Who knows? It speaks to me!

Of course not EVERYONE got the bold colours right...

What possessed anyone to paint this lovely sandstone grey and leprechaun green is beyond me! I mean half way done did they go.. "Ooooo yeah, I LOVE it!" ?! REALLY?!

Maybe they really don't like their neighbours? Maybe they are colour blind? Maybe I'M colour blind. If this is really my eyes playing tricks on me let me know so I can stop worrying about finding them an ophthalmic specialist!

I also love that nothing really "matches", and yet it all with the exception of the aforementioned the green monster, seems to work.

You want red stairs and I want black stairs? Il n'y a pas de problème!

I feel like on the West Coast we would have to have some kind of meeting to discuss the pros and cons of such a radical move, and then both agree to paint it beige, or grey.

Adding to the already impressive colour palate of Mile End, many houses have wrought iron sculptures in the front yards.

Our neighbours have one!

There is also a park with 55 of these creations half a block from us called the "Twilight Garden". It's right in front of my favourite building, so I gaze at it often!

I was amazed to find this is all the work of one artist Glen LeMersuier. Read all about him here!

His campaign to get his "recycled art" into the front yards of Mile Enders makes wandering the streets like attending a massive open air art gallery.

I may just write a future blog post all about him!

Then there is a community garden about halfway down. Currently emerging from the snow (actually probably covered again after yesterday), the garden is backed by an old Coca Cola "ghost sign", "redecorated" with new graffiti. Even without plants, it's an eye catcher!