[Martin Mtl]

It's all very subjective. I personally feel that Montreal's urbanity is evolving and getting better and better every year. Yes, the city right now is one big construction zone, yes Saint-Denis is almost dead because it didn't adapt quickly enough to the new realities of retail (just like Soho or GV in New York, who are experiencing the same problem) and Griffintown is a work in progress that will take another ten years of work to feel complete.

But Kool, to say that Montreal now feels closer to St-Louis than Boston is just trolling, no matter how sincere and felt that observation was. Why do I have the feeling that you're like the guy who introduced his family to his girlfriend wanting her to like them, but knowing in advance that she would probably click more with the neighbors ? You said so yourself a while back that your girlfriend was excited about visiting Montreal but had no expectations about Toronto, but you suspected that she would prefer the later. It's as if you saw Montreal through her eyes and maybe you oversold Montreal to her in the first place ? Would all this have been different if you came back alone ? You sound so bitter about your stay in Montreal, so heartbroken, it's all a little over the top. I don't recognize the Montreal you are describing, like a city that lost his soul and pulse and became boring and flavorless.

I think and hope that one day you will fall all over again in love with Montreal. Cities do that sometimes (coming back from a trip in London I was once turn off by Paris, because that was my mood at the time - even though I absolutely love Paris, just as much as London).