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Published: October 7th 2007
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Old Montreal
Down by the waterfont Apologies for the delay in entries- travelling in a group for once meant there was no chance to stop at a library to put an entry in.
So just over 3 weeks ago Shazza and I picked my brother Jimmy from the airport in Montreal. It was great to see the first familiar face from home in 7 months, let alone my younger bro's (who I hadn't seen for almost 18 months). I formally introduced Jimmy to Shazza, although they'd already heard a lot about each other. He was impressed to see her, and Shazza was pretty happy to have someone to navigate the way back to the hostel, situated in Old Montreal. Unlike Quebec City, Montreal is a mixture of the old, classic buildings on cobblestone streets, as well as modern architecture. We caught up over a few quiet beers that night at the hostel and local bar. In the morning, we did a walking tour of the city, and the view over it from Mount Royale (where the city’s name is derived from), before having dinner and some drinks back in town. The next morning, good mate (and one of Jimmy’s original travel group) Luke flew in. After
Reunited
Jimmy and I in front of the Notre Dame Basilica some mixed communication and a few hours waiting, we did another late airport run to collect him. It was great to catch up again, although Shazza was a bit unsure of the extra passenger and baggage to carry around- even stalling for the 1st time. We took a drive out to visit the area of town where our parents used to live and the run-down and controversial Olympic site (which locals still claim is being paid off from their cigarette taxes). We then spent the afternoon in the city, eating and looking around, before heading out with some local friends of friends from Brisbane for a few drinks.
In the morning, we all packed into Shazza and hit the road, bound for the U.S.A. Shazza began to get used to the extra load in the car and was thankful we now had navigators and new music to listen to thanks to some new cd’s Jimmy brought. After a brief interrogation by customs officers at the border, we successfully crossed the border and were given fresh 3-month US visas. The green countryside soon began to live up to its name of New England, with the architecture changing from French influence
Notre Dame Basilica
The impressive inside to English as we crossed the border. Arriving in the busy and confusing streets of Boston, we escaped the crowds of the Red Sox vs Yankees game at Fenway Park and headed out to check out the Harvard University Campus. Beautiful and immaculate, the grounds were certainly impressive, but we were shocked to find there was no campus bar to get a drink at! We were able to stay with John, a friend of Reece (who the boys met travelling in Thailand). He took us to mate’s place for some games of “Beirut”- a college favourite drinking game involving throwing a ping-pong ball into the opponents cup to make them drink it (last cup standing wins). We then went out for a big night out in town, where Jimmy fooled the bride-to-be into kissing him on the lips and Luke, in trying to cover his exploding beer, accidentally sprayed two passing promo-girls with his drink.
The next morning, we grabbed some greasy food to help us on our way as we picked up one more passenger and beer and headed out of Boston, south to Gillette Stadium for the New England Patriots vs San Diego Chargers NFL game. We
Top of Mount Royale
Looking back over the city weren’t expecting a traffic jam at a football game when we arrived 4 hours before the kick-off, but we sure got one. With 4 people plus luggage, it was not that comfortable stuck in Shazza for an extended period, especially when she was by far the smallest thing on the road, and one of the few not carting a BBQ. Everyone was lining up to get into the car park to kick off the infamous football “tailgate party”. We couldn’t believe our eyes when thousands of SUV’s and trucks rushed in and within minutes, their mostly big American males had their BBQ’s out and cooking. It was like it was a competition to see who had the best equipment, biggest range of meats and was the best BBQ-er. One poor guy accidentally tipped his BBQ onto the ground, losing all his meat. There was a collective sigh heard all around, as if he had just lost the respect of his fellow BBQ-ers. It may take him another whole season to regain his position. Not to miss out on other games currently on, every second car either had a satellite TV or at least a radio going. This was as stereo-typical
Successful Crossing
Celebrating crossing into the States (with ice tea of course) white America as you could get, and it was just as much a spectacle as the sport itself.
We met up with Reece and his mates and were soon in the swing of things, using their small but adequate BBQ. Without a TV, we resorted to passing some footballs around, including a rugby ball, which had the locals bemused. Wearing our Aussie singlets (with the colours matching the Patriots) we got a good reception from the locals. It was a different story with any opposition supporters, including a 10 year-old boy who was heckled by a mob as he walked through. Finally it was time for the game, which the Patriots took by the horns from early on. We had standing room tickets and stood in the chilly breeze of the upper deck as the “Pats” passed for several touch-downs in the 1st half. The second half was more of the same, and we eventually returned to another round of BBQ-ing by the cars while the happy crowds dissipated. Late that night, we followed Reece down to his place on Cape Cod and grabbed some much needed rest.
The next day Reece took us for a tour of
Afternoon Training
Harvard Stadium, Boston the whole cape, starting with the surf beaches in the east then up to colourful and flamboyant ‘Provincetown’ at the top of “the arm” (ironically situated around the limp-wrist area). We grabbed some local staples for lunch including clam chowder (or “chowda”), lobster rolls (also available from McDonalds here) and salt water taffies. We finished up the day with some sunset wakeboarding with another of Reece’s mates before a much needed home-cooked meal. The next morning we grabbed some brekky and said our goodbyes to Reece, before hitting the road bound for New York City.
I’ve actually just finished my stint in NYC, but that’s an entirely separate entry in itself.
Distance Travelled So Far: 9,500 miles
Spanish Known at This Point: Forget Spanish, we've finally had some new tunes to listen to!
Horoscope for the Week: Gemini (May 21-June 21)
This is a good week to surround yourself with friends and loved ones, although you probably should wear a bulletproof vest, just to be on the safe side.
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