Montreal

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After the drive from ottawa we headed straight for our host, Alain’s, place. Mick quickly proceeded to rack up another stupid travel memory by locking the keys in the car. Since we were out of the province of Ontario, our car rental assistance was no longer valid. Luckily Alain’s brother was a member of the CAA and they came and helped us out.

After settling in we were off to a couchsurfing dinner at an Indonesian Restaurant. It was a little pricey, but overall it was great tasting food and a good chance to meet a few more friendly csing members. We started the next day by joining in the annual Montreal CS group’s hike and apple picking excursion. The hike started about 20 mins drive east of the city and three hours later the 16 people from couchsurfing had worked up quite an appetite so we all enjoyed a gourmet picnic by the lake at the beginning. Everyone brought something to eat, there were gourmet dips, breads, crackers and sandwiches amongst other things. All that was missing was a nice bottle of wine. Fall brings about apple season and there were a number of orchids around Montreal that you could go and pick your own apples. So that is exactly what we did, costing only nine dollars for huge 10 kilogram bag. The best part is that you could pick apples off a tree and taste them before you decide to pick any more. It was great fun, but we ended up with 10 kilos of apples between the two of us! Funnliy enough we were pawning them off to our hosts for the rest of the trip. Ha Ha.

Our first gift of apples went to the Stewart Family. We met their son Scott during our time in Jasper and after speaking with them on the phone they invited us around for dinner, even though Scott had just flown back to japan with his wife Junko. It was a fantastic evening with great food, great wine and even better company. We were there until 1:30 in the morning, just chatting with Mum, Dad and 90 year old Nonna, who also enjoyed a number of beverages too. We plan on visiting with them again after our Maritime leg of our trip as Nonna offered to cook us some of her genuine Italian pasta. Can’t wait!

After a little sleep in, it was off to explore the city of Montreal itself. We started in Old Montreal, which had a distinct European flavour to it. As you walk down the cobble stone streets, you hear music playing and catch the enticing smells wafting from the Cafes set in old stone buildings. Europe is on the agenda for next year and with as much charm as Old Montreal has, we can’t wait.

A few minutes walk from Old Montreal was Chinatown where we caught the tail end of a local Lion Dancing Club doing a street demonstration. It was quite an energising experience with the colourful lions dancing to the thunderous beat of the drums and the rattling of little firecrackers, let off on the ground underneath them. It was an unexpectedly entertaining visit to Chinatown. From there we set off to explore the extensive underground passages that connect much of downtown by way of 28 kms of tunnels. Apparently they have a running race through there every year, but it is generally used in winter time as an alternative to the chilly weather outside. We spent the night in with a movie and warm soup to warm us from the inside. The next morning we spent some quality time with Alain over breakfast in a local diner, it was nice as we hadn’t seen each other much with the exception on the hike and apple picking day.

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Photos

Montreals Chinatown
There just happened to be a Lion Dancing group heading up the same street as us