The Blue Monk

I am yet to figure out my favourite street at Montreal.  It is a difficult problem. And I think, I won't succeed in my attempt. Because there are too many options. The flavours of each street in Montreal changes with time (dawn or dusk), season (summer or fall), buildings around (churches or shops) or just on the mood of the person walking on the street. Talking about streets, I am a regular visitor of Mile-End District. The reason is quite simple. I drive there to grab my cup of coffee before the sun rises, or, simply to explore the landscape. One day, I was driving on Waverly Street (Rue Waverly) and was interrupted by a stop sign from nowhere and a signage called Groll Street (Rue Groll) - a significant street largely forgotten by many. That intersection grabbed my attention for good reasons and called for a second visit. Groll Street - Waverly Intersection Groll street resides at the core of my heart, named after Joseph-Arthur Groll, a businessman who bought a house i...

Montreal is a city of surprises. It never fails to surprise me when I am on a leisurely saunter. This time it was the Mile-End District on a very hot afternoon. If you already know about the Mile-end area, you may have walked on Waverly ( aka Waverly Street ). One cannot really ignore this green corridor and the beautiful houses on both sides of the street occupied by Jewish residents spanning many generations.  While walking here, I noticed some books on the sidewalk lying unnoticed in an organized manner. The books ranged from architecture to poem collections - both in English and French. I looked around to assure whether there is a price tag attached to the books. There was none. I wanted to pick up something on Montreal architecture but two other books caught my attention.  The Books on the Sidewalk Quite happily, I returned home with couple of them: 1. "Lenin and the Russian Revolution" by Christopher Hill, written exclusively for the general public and,  2. "T...