On the rue Saint-Denis

Montréal's rue Saint-Denis runs through the heart of the Quartier Latin (the Latin Quarter). There is a history of higher learning in this neighborhood, thus the name. The original schools have moved or merged and today the area is the location of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) and its student body of over forty thousand.

La rue Saint-Denis, looking west. Click on any of the photos to enlarge.

The street is lined with shops, restaurants, bars, and night clubs, much like any university town. But, unlike most university towns that I've seen, the mix of people on the street was incredible. We saw a lot of student types, but there were people from every age group, families with children, bikers, groups of older ladies, you name it.

This store sells exactly what it looks like.

We were there on a weekend of sun and warm temperatures. I think that brought a lot of people out and contributed to the carnival atmosphere we experienced. Everybody we encountered seemed to be in a good mood. We really enjoyed the place.

A rather tall steeple on the university campus.

We walked along St.-Denis twice, the second time from the métro station back to our hotel just before going out to dinner. We stopped for a beer in a club that had an open terrace and café seating on the sidewalk, I think it was called le Bistro à JoJo. While we were there, between six and seven that evening, two guys had starting setting up their sound equipment on the stage in the back of the club.

Someone's drink order chez JoJo.

After a few minutes the guys started playing. The music was good, a mix of folk and rock, some familiar songs, others not, sung in both French and English. They guys were very talented. We ordered a second beer and enjoyed the shows both inside the club and on the street outside. But I'm getting ahead of myself...