In the morning at 9 o´clock I met with the girls for breakfast at Starbucks and because of the glass roof we were already melting in the sun. Then we went up Rue Ste. Catherine (yes, up! we begun to understand the meaning of the name MONTreal ), the longest shopping street of the town. But no pedestrian area, lot of traffic on the road. In a souvenir shop we bought some souvenirs with a moose on it, surely no one knows at home that we have only visited big cities and have seen no moose, bears, lumberjacks and all that. Then we planned to go shopping at the major shopping mall, the Eaton Centre, but it was not spectacular, same like a medium-sized shopping mall at home. Well, saved money and more time for the sun outside. A Rolling Stones Edition of Monopoly (with concert tickets as play money!) tempted me, but in the end rationality won and the thought of the lack of space in my suitcase.

We went straight across downtown, one of the girls kept the orientation bravely with the map in her hand. On our way we saw between the skyscrapers a huge cathedral, which we visited. We were also in a very short part of the underground shopping mall, but it ended soon. The guidebook said, that Montreal has the largest underground shopping mall in the world and in the "Ville Souterraine" are shops for more than 30 kilometers. We did find small parts of it in the metro stations, but never a way that connected the whole thing. Perhaps it is like Platform 9 ¾ at Harry Potter and foreigners simply can not see it.

Passing by the Victoria Square (Metro signs like in Paris), we walked in direction of the old town, which was not that far away from our starting point. For a while we rested on the square in front of the Basilique Notre-Dame (really looks like the one in Paris), our feet were aching. Behind the church the streets were narrow and the old town began. We saw a Christmas store (in May!) and went in direction of the harbor. At the docks there were shops, a science fair and a circus tent, in front was a wide promenade. Then we came to the Place Jacques-Quartier in the center of the old town. The small and medium-sized old gray stone houses looked really great, the people sat in front of cafes and restaurants. In the very narrow streets that branch off, artists exhibited their works. A very French flair, together with the colorful flowers blooming in pots in the middle of the square and the bright blue sky everything looked gorgeous.

We enjoyed the atmosphere and then walked back through the old town to downtown. Vis-à-vis of Place des Arts we had lunch American style, it was warm enough to sit outside. The waiter was very nice and talkative, and he asked us where we came from and for the reason of our trip. Of course the girls told him. Ah, Chris de Burgh, who plays here today, he knew that. But is he German? No, an Irishman with a lot of German fans, we told him. And then the girls told him, when he will hear screaming and yelling from over there this night, then it will be us. .

On the back of Place des Arts was written on a sign "Entree des Artistes." That´s what tourists like us need! But it didn´t help, however, it was indeed the best sound check time, but when the band left 90 minutes later, it was clear that the boss had probably chosen a different way

And for us? Oh, we spent there 90 minutes just because right there in the sun under the blossoming almond trees was the most beautiful place and our feet really needed a rest. At least I had the opportunity to take pictures of the cool American tour trucks.

We found Starbucks blindly.

On the way to the Metro I was in a small record store and bought a live CD by Gordon Lightfoot (playing next month at Place des Arts, but you can not have everything…too bad, I think he won´t visit Europe) and a Canadian edition of a Chris-Sampler (two French songs, a real collector's item). Then back to the hotel, dressed up for the evening and ate a sandwich and then it finally went off!

In the lobby of Place des Arts I met not only all the German fans again, but also some of the Canadians, whom I had met in Ottawa. And the news quickly made the rounds: The promoter had returned some seats and you could exchange your tickets at the box office for better ones. Now, both the German-Dutch-travel-group and the girls from the Palatinate were not very happy, because they had seats on the balcony. I had bought my ticket two months later and got at least a ticket at the parquet floor (no idea why, since that was the better option), but it was in the second last row. Well, we were all happy, we all got seats at parquet floor and I was able to move forwards to row 18. Since this was still the same category, I had to pay only a small handling fee. Official Seathopping for 2.75 dollars, well, that was something new. .

Place des Arts was a very cosy venue, tiered seating and three balconies, red seats. When I had googlesearched pictures of this venue, the Canada trip got even higher on my wishlist. The main reason of course was, that Montreal is said to be the cradle of the fans love for "Spanish Train".

When the concert started, I was surprised to hear the Moonfleet Intro in French. Sounded great, the mystical voice sounded even more mystical.

As soon as Chris came on stage he got a huge applause and immediately standing ovations. Short time later, after "Spaceman" the audience stood up again and the applause rose into a big cheering to the first sounds of "Spanish Train". Well, actually there were several waves of cheering and yelling, from the people that noticed the song from the very first note to the people that need to hear "There´s a Spansih Train, that runs….". I really enjoyed to have so many people around me who are just as crazy about that song like me. Standing Ovations again after the song was finished and Chris said "Montreal, this is your song!". Well actually he said it in French. He talked for the whole evening in French, apart from a few words that he probably couldn´t find in French. I don´t speak French and it was very funny that I understood him nevertheless. The few words that I knew and those who are similar to English were enough to recognize those stories which are similar at many concerts. Still there was a bit spontaneous talking here and then and I was not able to understand this. Must have been funny, according to the reaction of the audience.

Borderline was again a very special moment for me, because of the pictures of the German reunion. After this song standing ovations again and my friends held up a big German flag. I got one part of the flag too. Well, it is said that it has finally become easier to be proud of the German flag again since the football world cup 2006 (we are still ashamed of what Germans did at the second world war, but football made this national-proud-feeling a bit easier). I am not a football fan at all and so this moment was actually the first time in my life that I proudly held up a German flag…

Sorry to the couple that sat between us, because they now had the flag in front of their faces…

A had a small talk to the other guy that sat next to me, he was surprised where I came from. And of course he hadn´t realized that the pictures in the film were pictures from Germany and didn´t know that Chris sang "Bonderline" on the day of the reunion.

"People of the World" got a lot of yelling from different areas of the audience, I think this have been people with Iranian roots. The rest of the audience needed until the second chorus to stand up, but at least they did.

After that Chris sang a few lines of the two songs that he has published in French years ago. Chris pure and without instruments always gives goosebumps, even more in French language. Then he welcomed the young Canadian lady Marie-Élaine Thibert, who did the "Loin de Moi" duet with him a couple of years ago. This was no surprise, because it was announced a few days earlier, but I was really looking forward to this. And they did not disappoint me!

Marie-Élaine has a great voice and so Chris could also give it all without taking the risk to outperform her. Wow, the duet was incredible!! For this one alone it was worth to travel all that distance. (Oh, but I said this at several occasions, there have been several "this alone was worth´s" during my Canada trip…). How powerful their voices are, how well the fit together and how sweet they smile….aaaww….amazing!! The only pity was, that Chris sang his part in English.

Big surprise was "In A Country Churchyard" in the solo part, I will always melt away when I hear this song. Still the solo part was much shorter than in Ottawa. When Chris introduced the band, he mentioned, that you can get Neils CD "in any puplic toilet". (The concert before it was "in any good record store")

To the Dancing Part I managed it to the front again, though I sat in the middle of the row (which had about 50 seats!!) in the middle of the venue. Had to stumble over a lot of feet, sorry…. Chris walked straight in our direction, but we moved a bit back. Didn´t want to hug him again, better sit again in the front row this summer without blush…

The first ones that arrived at the stage were….the Germans. The Canadian ladies were still busy to try to get a hug from Chris and nobody tried to occupy the front of the stage. Very different from German concerts! But soon the space between the stage and the first row was filled with people and we left the very first row in front of the stage to some Canadian ladies. It was simply so wonderful to see their happy faces (Chris is so rarely in Canada) that I didn´t like to take the "best" place for myself.

So we had lots and lots of fun with the Dancing Part (and by the way, I love the new ferryman-background-video with the reaper, because I have a good business connection to him…), but the highlight of course was "Patricia"!! And this time several bra´s were thrown on the stage. And Chris picked up every single one, circled it around his head and threw it back into the audience. Exactly like the old tradition demands. The audience yelled and cheered and this was an amazing feeling especially in this venue, because they sat three balconies high.

Again I got to talk to some Canadian ladies who asked me to email them my photos.

The concert ended with swinging and swaying to "Snows of New York" and Chris back in the audience to the "Go-where-your-heart-believes-finale". When he went back to the stairs I moved back a bit (priority for the Canadians and first row without blush and all of that…), but nevertheless Chris put his arm around my shoulder. Wow!

(And the funny thing: If you think it can not be noticed, when you smile with another guy than your own at the other side of the world…well you have to find out that the scenery is shown via youtube directly in hubby´s livingroom…)

I really could do the whole concert once again right from the beginning…. Oh, I will do this once again tomorrow!! But for two of our German travel-groups this was the very last evening. So after the concert we spent a lot of time in the foyer and said goodbye to Dave and Neil and of course to Jason and to our new Canadian fan-friends as well as to each other.

By the way, Neil, the guitarist, also plays for Robbie Williams and I find it pretty cool that I now got a photo together with Robbie William´s guitar player.