i'm in montreal this evening. i am one of the program committee members for an advertising conference on audience measurement. the conference starts on monday, but i have rehersal tomorrow, and i thought i'd come into town early.

when my grandpa passed away, i debated whether or not i should keep my plans to come here early. however, what i realized is that i've become quite adept at traveling to big cities alone, and that it calms me like few other things do.
over the past few years i've been fortunate enough to travel to some pretty great places for work, and i've often stayed an extra day or two and explored by myself. i've explored london several times, been to geneva, and spent time in san francisco, seattle, miami and new york. yes, i know people in the u.s. cities i listed, but for one reason or another i've had plenty of time in them by myself the past few years.
i used to be uncomfortable being alone, and i admit that i still struggle with it. it's fine when i'm walking around, but harder to sit in a restaurant, and i think i've only been to the movies alone once in my life (and it wasn't to a film that was easy to watch by myself!).
well, it turned out perfectly to have today just for myself. after spending a good portion of this past week in michigan with my family due to my grandpa's funeral services, i was feeling a bit down and quite overwhelmed. i always feel swamped when i get back home after a trip (laundry! piles of mail! screens and screens of junkmail in my inbox!), and that particular trip was very emotional. not only was it very difficult to see my family so sad (especially my grandma, who was very strong and only really broke down at the military funeral, when they handed her the flag), but it was hard to know how to deal with my mom during this trip. she still isn't really talking to me, and kept that up even this week, when she only answered "yes" or "no" to my questions. i didn't want to push her to talk with me about our problems while she's mourning the loss of her father, and helping her mother, so i just let it go for now and laid low... (sigh)

so after that, some sort of head-clearing was called for. and today was perfect: i was totally unreachable (i left my cell phone in my hotel room, since it's still quite expensive to use your US-based mobile plan in canada), and i walked around saying as little as possible since i didn't know anyone and didn't want to either attempt to speak french or make quebecois speak english. it was a cold and cloudy, which unintentionally helped my introspective mood, and kept the shops, restaurants and parks less crowded than they would have been otherwise. i spent the whole day leisurely walking around the old city and along the riverfront.
most of you know that i'm a big fan of inuit culture and art, and so i spent a good deal of time today browsing some galleries here, and marvelling at the grace of their unadorned, simple sculptures and graphic prints. if we weren't buying a condo this month, i am sure i would have broken down and bought a sculpture, even though steve wasn't here. i was particularly drawn to sculptures of dancing bears, although they're quite common. i was also really fascinated by this scupture of an eskimo riding a snowmobile and this unusual scupture showing a community playing 'blanket toss'. i know most of you have no idea why i get so into these, overall, but i'd love to hear what you think of these ones in particular. :)

i guess the best part of traveling alone is that i have no need to worry about boring my companions when looking at art, admiring churches (which steve is weirded out by, but the architecture of which fascinates me!), and chilling out in parks -- all things which help ground me, relax me, and inspire me. i probably need to find the time and mental space to do these things more often when i'm at home, since they're all readily available.

well, the buzz from my chai tea (indian food for dinner!) is wearing off (finally!), so i'm off to bed.