Montreal is known for it's amazing festivals during the summer. We also have a few activities during the winter like the Montreal High Lights festival. With many outdoor activities and attractions at different locations throughout the downtown area, the festival is sure to take away the winter Blahs.
The night started off pretty slow after a day of work and having slept 3 hours the night before from watching Shutter Island, that btw been waiting to see since LAST YEAR!! I was pretty much falling asleep on my BF's couch when we got a call to come downtown to see the fireworks at the Old Port...and that's when I remembered: "OMG THE FESTIVAL...I'M SOOO DOWN!"
So we made our way to the Old Port late as always... In my defence, we didn't h
ave much time to get ready and i really wanted to use my new curling iron which I probably should have opted out for a nice doo bc well, it started snowing; need I say more?! AND...lol don't tell my BF I'm actually posting this, but for some odd reason he couldn't park my car between a pick up truck and minivan for at least 5 tries when I got impatient and had to tell him to get out of my car, that is a tiny Hyundai Accent (he drives an SUV which makes it hard to understand why he had a hard time parking) to repark it myself... Finally we got to the dock and watched the fireworks... we missed 30 seconds of the beginning but wtv, it's fine no biggy!
ave much time to get ready and i really wanted to use my new curling iron which I probably should have opted out for a nice doo bc well, it started snowing; need I say more?! AND...lol don't tell my BF I'm actually posting this, but for some odd reason he couldn't park my car between a pick up truck and minivan for at least 5 tries when I got impatient and had to tell him to get out of my car, that is a tiny Hyundai Accent (he drives an SUV which makes it hard to understand why he had a hard time parking) to repark it myself... Finally we got to the dock and watched the fireworks... we missed 30 seconds of the beginning but wtv, it's fine no biggy!After, we walked to Place des Arts (one of my Fav places in the city) for a music/dance show...can i just say B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!!! Wow what a show. The stage was surrounded with a thin screen with images projected while the dancers showed off many styles of dance: contemporary, jazz ballet, crump, b-boy, stomp, tap, break dance...the visual effects were captivating. Even though my view wasn't the greatest and was trying to keep my balance on a bump of ice I was got lost in the performances. It was so beautiful to look at.
Light snowflakes started to descend from the clear skies as the music progressively made the crowd's ene
rgy increase.
Light snowflakes started to descend from the clear skies as the music progressively made the crowd's ene
rgy increase. Once the dancers left the stage, came the DJ and his sick beats. A portion of the crowd left and whoever stayed under the snowy skies started to move to the music. It was such a good feeling to be part of the crowd. Every one had smiles on their faces, people started to do a congo line and others kept warm with each other. Where else can you party outside while it's snowing and having beer being passed around??...OK now maybe Whistler but wtv not all of us are fortunate to be there right now! That's not the point lol.
We eventually decided to go warm up somewhere and get a few drinks. Along the way, we walked through L'espace L'Oreal. An enormous 21 metre (70 ft.) white sphere that can accommodate over 300 people at a time inside "simple-looking opaque, spherical white inner wall becomes the portal for a voyage into the universe once six synchronized high-performance projectors whirr into action! Yuga, le film, a world premiere presentation, is a special, spectacular 14-minute animated presentation courtesy of Montreal’s Space & Dream, taking the viewer on a completely immersive journey revealing nothing less than the history of the universe!"...we didn't go in :(... But I took pictures!!
The night ended at Brandy's in the Old POrt where we enjoyed a martini for myself which was delish, pitcher of Ricards Red for the boys and nachos... 
The Festival lasts 1 week; from Feb 18 - Feb 28th. There are so many activities and parties that I wanted to do might go back this week...you should to of course if you can!
For tickets and schedules (most activities and shows are 'gratuit'!) Metro is open all night long, shuttles between outdoor activities pass every 5-10 min.
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