It’s an institution on Sundays, on Île Ste. Helene in the middle of the St. Laurent river. Piknic Electronik, a Montreal outdoor party tradition with DJs playing house, techno music and other genres.

It is held in Park Jean Drapeau from May through to September, right underneath a massive modern art metal sculpture, with a view over the Montreal skyline in the sunset, on the other side of the river.

We went there after another day of over-eating (them) and coffee (hung-over me) and danced for two hours till nightfall. This was a special edition on a Saturday afternoon, but it’s held every Sunday and I’ll sure be back.

At the same time, there was a Mexican Festival close-by, another stage of the Jazz festival, and at 10 pm when we walked over to the Metro, we saw the fireworks competition going off in smoke.

Montreal’s summer is more than packed with events. At the same time, there’s a circus festival happening downtown, and once Jazz Fest is over, a comedy festival takes center stage. It goes on like this all summer.

Ok, maybe because the summer here is hot and intense, and rather squeezed in between a long winter, spring and autumn, that everything is packed tightly into the summer months. I need to come back here in winter when things are quiet, to get an appropriate impression of this town.