I owe an entry about my reading at The Magical Blend, but that's a story that's taking a little longer to write, so I can faithfully recreate it. Until then . . .
Man, I just love this city, and all the people in it.
Today, I stood in a church in Old Montreal and watched three opera singers rehearse something written by Mozart, while a small orchestra played in front of them. A conductor directed them while he walked around the entire church to hear them from different parts of the room.
It was so amazing, and even though it was a rehearsal, it was incredibly beautiful. It grabbed that thing in my brains that makes me an actor, and really buzzed it. I mean, each of these people -- from the singers, to the conductor, to the people playing the instruments -- was incredibly talented in their own right, and individually, they could create something wonderful just by picking up whatever their instrument was (whether it is a viola, their own voice, or their ability to direct them both) and working with it. But when they were joined together with music written by one of the greatest composers in history, they created something magical.
I could have sat there and just absorbed it for hours. If you're in Montreal and know what I'm talking about (I didn't get a chance to write down the address, sorry) you should check it out.
After the tour of Old Montreal (which included lunch at that classic French Canadian cafe Subway) I rode the Metro -- which is awesome -- to the Montreal Botanical Garden.
I thought I'd seen huge botanical gardens, including the LA County Arboretum and Huntington Library, but holyshitthisplaceishuge. It's designed to encourage visitors to just wander around and discover all the different areas that are there, including an amazing Japanese and Chinese garden, that have to be seen to be believed. Luckily for me, I took some pictures that can describe them far better than I ever could. (I guess flickr has decided that I'm no longer pro, so they're not in a nifty little set until my eCheck clears. Dammit.)
My dogs started barkin' shortly after I explored the Japanese Garden, so I reluctantly made my way back to the Metro, and eventually back to my hotel, just in time to throw on a clean shirt and head downstairs to the CruiseTrek banquet.
Tomorrow, we set sail. More to come . . .