Advertisement
Published: April 5th 2011
Parc Mont Royal
the view over the cityIn the middle of December Jen found out that she had gotten a job, and I found out that I would soon have a sugar mumma. What better way to celebrate than to blow that first pay cheque with a trip to Montreal, before Jen would be back and in the swing of the nine-to-five. A seven hour bus trip around the top of Lake Ontario and north into the woodlands of Quebec had us in Montreal by mid-afternoon. Now, we had been in touch with our old (young person, not seen in six years) friend Basia who lives in Montreal. Whilst she was away for our first few days she was kind enough to let us take free reign in her house! And so we met the lovely Cat (person, not pet) who dropped by to give us the keys, take us inside, brew up some coffee and give us an all-round fantastic welcome to this great city.
We spent the first couple of days and evenings wandering around the old part of town, down by the mighty St Lawrence River, and going up and down the splendid Mont Royal (a mountain park in the middle of the city).
Parc Mont Royal
cross country skiing in the city We tested our co-ordination with a bit of ice-skating by the lake. Much to my amusement Jen had a massive stack, but got back up on her skates and kept on going round and round the outdoor rink. My boasting at getting through the hour or two without falling once appeared premature, as once the skates were off and we began walking back down the path on our way home, I managed to take two massive falls on the melting, slippery ice - one flat on my back, and the other straight on my stomach - bruises all over!
Basia got back to town and we spent hours eating, drinking, catching up and talking about all sorts of things. We were also lucky enough to meet a whole lot of her friends and experience some delectable brunches! New Year's Eve came by and a last minute house party was organised where we met even more great folks and had an all-round smashing time. A much better NYE experience than we had managed a year earlier in Puerto Montt, Chile, as you will all recall dear blog-readers.
And so what else was there to do in Montreal?? We caught
Parc Mont Royal
big cross which lights up at night some bands, visited the very interesting contemporary art gallery, and most importantly ate and ate some more. From famous sandwiches stacked-full of roast meat, through to the delicacy that is POUTINE (fries/chips smothered in your gravy of choice, mountains of cheese curd and miscellaneous other items). The fact that it is Quebecois and has a french name makes it sound so much more high-brow than chips and gravy, and somehow it does make for absolutely fine, albeit messy, dining!
And so, there it is Montreal. Great city, great times, great way to bring in 2011!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.472s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 54; dbt: 0.1005s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Lars
non-member comment
brrr
how cold does it look!