I met Gabrielle in Montreal. She has a cool French-language urban planning blog called Convercité which is well worth a look. Her boyfriend, Gabriel, is a journalist at La Presse in Montreal and he called me The Pope of Urban Cycling in an article about my keynote speech at La Grand Bibliotheque. Which I ended being called all week in Montreal... :-) But we all hooked up for coffee at Club Social on Saint Viateur and I was pleased to take a photo of Gabrielle. Cycle Chic Montreal, indeed.
Fortunately, Annabelle was with Gabrielle that day so it was double up.
What a town. Montreal. Quelle ville.
3 comments:
Ahh, you were lucky enough to find yourself in the epicentre of cool when you were staying here! Mile End -- and the Plateau in general to some extent -- is a real centre for vintage bikes and relaxed riding. Less so once you move northward (toward the setting sun) and outward in other directions: that's when you start seeing more and more mountain bikes and helmeted Lycra warriors commuting fromthe back of the island and Laval (especially on St-Denis street, just a few minutes away from Mile End).
One of my enduring memories of cycle chic is from the summer of 2006, when I lived just around the corner from this café, seeing our beloved songstress Lhasa de Sela, who died far too young on New Year's 2010, coasting down St-Viateur on her bike, upright, floating by as if in a dream. Brings a tear to my eye...
Ah la belle province. Trop de "cyclistes" chics. Tous les montréalais possèdent un style remarquable. J'ai de bons souvenirs de mes séjours à Montréal et surtout au Mile End. Du bon café et de bons bagels.
Hi! From Australia. Very interested in the folding wire baskets. Where did you get them from? Emma B
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