Gotta take it easy sometimes - CANADA VLOG EP. 09

I had to stop with the conversion, since my budget was gone and the crowdfunding page needed to verify my person in order to transfer the funds. It takes about a week, so I had some time to actually appreciate the city I'm in right now. At this point I want to say thank you to every one who participated in the crowdfunding so far, I can not put this overwhelming feeling into words. You are the reason I can do what I love and it means everything to me that you people out there are interested in what I do.

The crowdfunding target is not met yet, so if you want to help me keeping the project 'Harrison the Van' alive you can do so by following this link: CROWDFUNDING PAGE

First of all, I needed to find a place I can work at. The Couch I stay at has WiFi, but not the proper environment to work. I'll tell you more about this place called Artloft later. Cafés with WiFi exist, but not all of them are great. Reminder to myself: Never upload a video from a Tim Hortons again. Upload time >3h. While searching the internet for places to work, I digged up a list of Cafés in Montreal rated by their internet speed! This is exactly what I need! Two of them caught my eyes. The first one advertises itself as a co-working café and even has a room to rent by hour. Did a speedtest. 250 Mbit. Damn that's fast. I might come here for special occasions, since it's a bit more outside.

The second one was right down the street where I stayed. Not even a 3 minute walk. Have seen it before, but at that time I was more interested in their 5$-breakfast: Large coffee and a sandwich with bacon, egg, spinach and tomatoes. Speedtest: 10 Mbit. Perfect. So this was my choice to go and do some work in the morning.

Accidentally, an old friend happened to be in town for three days exactly during that week. I was really happy to spend time and catch up. We haven't seen each other for years and haven't really spent time since we both finished high school and took our own paths. By showing her around I noticed, that I actually now some stuff about this city. Why did I doubt that? We had a great time, were just roaming the streets and did the three foods you should try at Montreal. Bagels, Poutine and Smoked Meat!

Sure we also had some beers. For that I took her to one of the cutest bars I know in town: Bar Darling. Me for myself I was here before a couple of times. Just love all the little details. Starting from the uniform of the bartenders, ending at the big sign letters they use as a ceiling light. Everything just perfectly fits, I highly recommend visiting this place more than once. You'll find another cute little detail every time.

So, the Artloft. My first encounter was not via Couchsurfing. Well actually, sort of.
Here's the thing: The Artloft is a shared apartment with five roommates. The walls are plastered with paintings, posters, flags and photography. These artsy vibes definitely get you when you walk into the living area filled with couches and chairs. Being located right at the St. Laurent Boulevard, this place hosts a comedy night every Friday. Some weeks ago, a roommate of a former Couchsurfing host took me to one of those. These comedy nights are good! Having not only local comedians, but also people from Toronto or even the states the line-up is straight up funny. Love it!

So being at that comedy night I found out that the roommate who manages the gigs is a Couchsurfing host, I requested him if I could stay for the week. Since the Plateau Mont-Royal is one of the most pulsating districts in Montreal, this place was perfect as a base if you want to be in the streets every day. I really enjoyed staying there. I guess one of the things I will remember the most will be one of the rommates who has his turntables set up right next to the aquarium, spinning records according to the vibes in the room every day. Laid back jazzy Hip-Hop beats in the morning (more like noon actually), straight up banger tracks in the evenings and calm jazz in the evenings to fade out the day.

But I was not just lazy all the time. The friend that lets me use his workshop to convert my van had some big orders coming in, so I helped him out as much as I could. On the weekend he invited me over for a BBQ, since he was celebrating his birthday and to complete the week, we visited the street festival happening at St. Laurent Boulevard. The city was packed. Not only because of the Mural festival, but also the F1 race happened to be at the same weekend.

Looking back at the time I have spent in Montreal so far, I'm really happy to be here. However, I have this fidgety feeling that it's time to move on soon. This city is great, but I still have a whole country to explore. As soon as the fist donations come in, I will go on with the conversion project.

Shot on Sony a6500 + MC-11 + Sigma 1.8 18 - 35mm

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