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Published: December 22nd 2006
Great name for a bar!
With a bar name like this how could I not go in for a beer?!MONTREAL
Firstly Montreal was much bigger than I thought it was going to be. But it was much more like how I had expected the province of Quebec to be - much more bilingual than Quebec City. However, there were still plenty of French information signs with no English translation to ensure that tourists dont get any information at all! I heard that it is illegal to greet someone in a store by saying hello (as opposed to bonjour) in Quebec - I think that this about sums up the province and their obsession with the french language.
Anywho, I still really enjoyed Montreal. It is supposed to be the party capital of Canada - how could I not enjoy a city with that reputation! Robert only stayed one night, before heading off to TO - think he was planning to sleep in his car again along the way, the crazy German! Took us a while to get parked in Montreal though, hostel is 2 blocks away from the home rink of the hockey team in Montreal and they were playing that night!
After he had gone I ended up going out with... you guessed it, a bunch
Montreal by day
Homer up high on Mont Royal, looking over Montreal in the light (dusk) of Aussies! Gave me a good chance to practice the Aussie slang I had learnt in TO! The Aussies were Robin, Liddel, Stuart (these 3 left after the first night though), Justin, Tom (who was also called Alan for some reason!) and Mitch! Was very funny introducing myself to a fellow Mich but he was a Mitchell not a Michael (see - one has a t one doesnt - that's why he puts a t in when he shortens it. Simple). Went out with the Aussies a few times, we liked this bar called Brutopia which had its own brews on tap (raspberry beer was awesome!). They also had live music, we saw a very good band in there one night - guitarist was playing the guitar over his head, on the ground, with the mic stand etc - amazing! And he even played some Blues tunes! Drummer was also top class.
The only bad beer they had in Brutopia was one called 'Scotch Ale' which is a dark, guinessy beer but tastes so bad!! I remember having a drunken conversation with the bar staff, telling them saying something like calling it 'scotch' was an insult to Scotland!
Montreal by night
From up Mont Royal, not long after first photo - is easy to see why I stayed up here for a while, love this photo... In between sessions in Brutpia I spent most of my time walking around and taking in the city. I walked up Mont Royal, as must be done in the city, which is what the town is named after - Jacques Cartier (who discovered Canada) was so in awe of the view up there that he called it Mont Royal - I think that sums up about how good a view of the city it is... I did my new trick - visit during the day to get some photos in light but make sure it is late afternoon so that it turns dark and you can get some photos of the city lit up as well 😉 However, took me longer to get up there than I expected so my plan kind of backfired as it was already dusk! But wasnt that cold, so chilled out and enjoyed the view with a cup of tea for a little while...
I also walked around the old town, which was nice - much like Quebec City (i..e everything is all in French!). There were lots and lots of museums - which I happily strode past! I went to see what is
Jazz @ Cafe Campus
A packed out dance floor, watches a packed out stage! referred to in the guide to the city as 'The Planetarium'. However, I think 'Planetarium Visitor Centre' would be more accurate. It was very interesting, with little exhibits on the planets, solar system and other astrology related themes (video of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon was good) but it also had a little too much useless exhibits - I am really not that interested in when the planetarium visitor centre was built, how it was built or why it was built! Also there were no directions to the ACTUAL planetarium, only an aerial photo - but I managed to work out from it where to go! Walked down to the waterfront to see it - it's across the river but I didnt go across as it didnt look that impressive or worthwhile!
I think I prefer scenic views, water features and new buildings to the old architecture of Old Montral and Quebec City - although it is still quite good to walk around. My favourite street in Montreal was McGill - very similar to University in TO - full of lit up xmas trees at night. McGill is the name of a University in TO, founded by a
Group photo!
Starting at me and going clockwise: Simon, his buddy, Aussies Mitch, Tom (aka Allan) and Justin Scotsman it turns out!
Up on Mont Royal I met some Canadian students who had come to Montreal to party and they told me that the Plateau was where the best bars were (they also offered me a joint!) - so I headed out there one night! Went out with the Aussies to a place called Cafe Campus - which is apparently famous with students for its Sunday night jazz session. It was easy to see why, the place was packed and the band were awesome - Montreal really is the place for live music. Was a HUGE band: 2 sax, trombone, guitar, piano, drums and singer! Very very good though, particularly when they did cover versions of other songs... The chap from the bar at the hostel - Simon - came out with us. Is difficult to describe where he is from - he is part of a huge number of people in Quebec who supports the province breaking away and forming a nation. He says he is neither French nor French-Canadian but instead Quebecois! Had an interesting discussion with him about this, had told him we could discuss when sober and we did - he had even
Old Montreal
Statue and Cathedral in the square, which is the centre of Old Montreal brought notes in with him! So I was not quite prepared as he was, but still think the whole idea is a bit silly... Anywho, he certainly doesnt know his bars, as we left Cafe Campus wondering around - he was going to recommend a place - but it turned out he didnt know many places and we ended up in Brutopia!
After the Aussies left, I chilled out for a bit. I did go out though on the hostels 'famous' pub crawl, after we watched the hockey in the hostel - Montreal seems even more obsessed with their hockey team than TO (probably because their team is actually very good...). The pub crawl started on the plateau with a huge group of us, probably the funniest part was when an Aussie girl told me her name was Kylie! I think my response was something like 'Oh, I think Ive got a calendar of you!' Didnt give her as much abuse as Id given Aussie Bruce though...There were over a dozen of us to start with, but the night ended with only 4 of us getting late night pizza - Chris, the crawls organiser being totally wasted! I went
McGill
My favourite street in Montreal, named after a Scotsman! up to the counter and said 'I dont speak French, can you just give me a pizza and coke' the guy said 'Ah! Pizza and coke! For you I make special deal - $6.50!' At which point I burst into laughter, as right above his head was a sign with Pizza + Coke = $2.95 written on it! Good effort though from the guy, got to applaud the blatant attempt to screw me out of money in my drunken state (dont think he liked me laughing at him though...)!
On my last night I went out with some Indian guys, who were studying in Canada, I had met on the pub crawl - I cant remember one of the guys names but one was called Ash and the other Chirio (when I asked him his name and he said this I said 'no I want to know your name not what crisps you're eating' which the guys found hilarious!). I do remember thought that they were really really bad at pool! We were going to head to a jazz bar, but found out there was an entry fee and it was more an intimate gig - not really what we were looking for (the guy on the door told me there was an alto sax, seeing as how I didnt know what the hell that was, this was enough to tell me we were a little out of place!). So we headed up to the Plateau, and jumped into the first bar we found...turned out it was a Jamaican bar!! The first bar we found was...Jamaican! Yes, yet again I find myself in another random Jamaican bar, memories of TO flooding back... Eventually we found a decent bar and had a very good night, I was pretty drunk... but to my dismay though, it turns out that in India you just say cheers! There is no Indian word 😞! Gutted!
After the frolics of my final night I headed in a hungover state to Ottawa to meet Jenni and am now at her place. Photos from Montreal arent up on my photo site but will be soon. I probably wont update my blog for a while, so in the meantime Merry Xmas and Happy New Year everyone!
Au Revoir 2006!
Mich
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Fiona
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Happy New Year
Well, now into 2007 Hope you had a Guid New Year! I did!!!