Canada Diary Entry - Aug 16

09:10, still in bed:
- X? Are you working? Really? Or is your brain still empty?
- MW? Are you watering Overlord?
- TG? Have they taken your fingerprints?

Montreal downtown:


L`Oratoire de St-Joseph:



11:30:
Went to bibliotheque nationale, after looking at public Internet booth in Metro and getting a hint from a passerby, who directed the online-seeking to said library. There, an incredibly stunning sight: Lots of people, in a building that offered all kinds of media (books, audio CDs, DVDs, online), most in French, spanning over several stories, very modern, very expensive... children, teenagers, adults, seniors, all making use of the library's offers. I wonder where funding comes from... probably a kind of French-marketing coup of Quebec province. (Later, I found that Montreal has been nominated "capitale mondiale du livre" by the UNESCO.
Got a three-day ticket for Metro. Car is safely parked right in front of the hotel, for free. Pretty unusual and cool, eh.

Saw some "prying (!) images" at church shop.

Incredibly, here in Quebec, although Canada uses the metric system, lengths are given in "pouces", French for inch... pretty useless, eh.
Besides, in spite of their language fanatism, you can get "rosbif" at Subway.

In accordance with Canadian space wasting, there are no turning rear wheels on shopping carts in supermarkets, forcing you to handle the cart with a non-holonomic control law, contrary to European standards.
Besides, you get double plastic bags for each two or three pieces of merchandise, meaning you leave the shop with about five to six double-walled plastic bags for a medium-sized shopping tour.

Finally, there are no pedestrian traffic lights on many Montreal crossings, only car traffic lights which double as pedestrian ones.