Violent Crime and Savage Rice

This morning when I got up and looked outside my porch window, I saw that the area was blocked off by police lines, and there were tons of cops around my place. I'm at a strange angle from up here, though, so I couldn't see any detail beyond that. Because it looked very ominous, I decided it would be a good idea to stay inside until whatever horrific thing was happening, passed.
So, I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And then I got bored. So, I decided to risk my life to go outside and get some fresh air--despite the police, and probably a (gasp!) crazed, violent murderer still lurking outside.
There was no murder -- it was something much more frightening. There were hundreds -- perhaps thousands of people running through the streets...all clearly trying to escape something terrible. Turns out the locals call it "the Montreal Marathon." Oh. Apparently I was afraid of...runners. (For the record, you would have stayed inside, too, if your place were blocked off by police lines.)

It's a rainy day here, so I kept my exploring relatively local. I found another great street, though, with tons of restaurants and shops. I wandered through an outdoor French market and was amused by their packaging of "Savage Rice." (We call it wild rice in the States.) The best news is that I finally found...(insert angelic music here)...Canadian maple syrup! They sell it in cans, kinda like Campbell's soup. (You can also get it in cute little maple leaf glass containers, but it's about 10$ more that way.) I proudly and enthusiastically brought my maple syrup home, only to discover that the apartment lacks a can opener.