Across the Border to Canada

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The journey from New York to Montreal was a bit of a mission, having to go through customs to enter Canada. It all went ok though and everyone on the bus got back on it. Some of the woman were commenting that not all the passageners always get back on!

The first thing that hit me when we arrived was the amount of French that is spoken so widely. I knew that many different languages are evident in Canada but just didn’t realise the degree to which they are spoken. It is impressive , especially, coming from the UK were most people only speak English or the little bit of German or French they picked up at school. I would love to be bilingual, although I was never that good at foreign languages at school! I was also shocked by the weather. I was expecting Canada to be a lot colder than anything we had experienced in the States but it was pleasantly warm. Not sure on the actual temperature but a thin coat was enough, and when walking just a long sleeved top did the trip. Sp glad I didn’t go mad a buy a big coat in the States as looks like wont need one too much till we reach NZ.

We decided to try the metro system, turned out to be very easy and our hostel was not far from a station. Always good to save on a taxi fare!!!! The hostel was really nice, a bit more homely than the last one! On our first night we went to get something to eat and then just got a early night.

The next morning we got up and started to sort out a few things, like accommodation for our next city on the list, laundry and emails back home. We went up to the main street near us and had a lovely steak lunch in a character full 3 Amigo’s Mexican Restaurant! Yum yum yum!!!!!!! Then Thommo headed back to catch some football, his first live match on TV since we left the UK!!! I did some food shopping for our stay in Montreal, the kitchen was very well equipped and easy to cook in! That evening we were invited to the cinema by a Oz couple who were staying in the same dorm. We saw Thank you for Smoking, it was very funny.

The next day we headed down to the Old Town, a very nice part of the city, with cobbled streets and lots of people offering guided tours via horse and cart, wanted to give it a go but was too expensive for just two people. We happened upon a beautiful building, the Basilique Notre Dame. Very impressive place! After wondering around it for a while we headed to the harbour in search of the Musee d’Archeologie et d’Histoire Pointe a Calliere. Basically they have built a museum over a excavation., which makes a interesting journey under the street and through the museum. I would recommend a visit. That evening we joined the hostel’s bar crawl around the city. Was a great way to meet people from the hostel. We encountered one small problem, our cards didn’t want to let us take any money out of the cash points! So we didn’t stay out too long!

The panic of the day before subsided when we used a cash machine inside a bank! What a relief! We headed up Mount Royal in the day time for some exercise and a game of cards in the sun. Didn’t realise that the city had a mountain till a fellow traveller told me! Such a vast view over the city.

Need to learn some different card games soon!

Onwards to Toronto…..

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Photos

Inside
My Camera does not do this view justice

Funky chair in the Musee
Thommo striking a good pose