Relics
Montréal is full of relics of the industrial revolution. Back in the old days, the Old Port was the heart of the city. Right next to it was a trading and economic district, just outside of the this district were factories and other industrial buildings. The Old Port is little more than a tourist trap these days. The economic center moved further inland and the factories are derelicts being slowly transformed in condos.
I went exploring those relics with an adventurous friend. The key to urban exploration is to keep an open mind; to look for places that people see but forget to visit; to find your way without breaking-in. Just as the hiker, the urban explorer should leave no trace. You get to see the city from many angles, the angles of the men and women who many years ago worked hard to turn Montréal into a city where people like to live in. Montréal is beautiful when seen through a truss bridge.
We ended up in a squat under a railway overpass. They managed to arrange a reasonably comfortable dwelling with couches and improvised room separations. I could live there if it wasn't for the lack of sanitation. And the lack of heating. No way to learn how they managed to heat their place; our hosts could only speak non-sense. There must be a fuse in our brain that blows to shield us from reality when it becomes to hard to bear.
