| April vacation was coming up, and I couldn't bear wasting it away at home, so I decided to take a trip... but where? I really wanted to go to Europe, but that wasn't in my budget. I wanted a to go on a road trip again, but gas would've cost an arm and a leg, and a spleen. So I decided on Montreal, it was far, but not too far; a little foreign, but still English speaking. I figured it would be a good opportunity to have experience traveling alone, stay at a hostel, meet new people, commit some social faux pas, and do whatever the fuck I wanted. |
Heeere we gooooo.... on the roooooad againnnn... The drive up took just
5 1/2 hours, I was there before I knew it. I had stocked up on juices in the
car in case I was thirsty and I hardly had the chance to open one bottle.
Eh? Why don't we have these?
On the first day, my friend Mike and some of his local friends
showed me around town.
All you can eat sushi... delicious.
There are a ton of random street performers on Saint Catherine Street, sometimes
they're bums looking for handouts from strangers, but this one was neat. He was
dressed as Elvis and painted gold, moving slowly from pose to pose.
While taking a break from walking, we saw a couple obviously underage
girls try to open a wine bottle inside a brown paper bag. They struggled for
about 2 minutes before getting it to uncork, and when they did, they pulled
out a couple styrofoam cups to pour it into. Oh so classy.
Shawn and Mike showing me the underground city for one last tour.
That's the reception desk of the hostel. I had no idea what to expect never having
stayed at one. But it was clean, cheap, friendly, fun, and I can't imagine staying at
a hotel ever again.
My first day at the hostel, I met my bunkmate, Ivor from Chasetown, England (right).
He'd been traveling around across America for a few months and this was one of his
last stops before returning home. His accent was awesome, especially how he called
guys "blokes". That's Graham from Vancouver to the left, he says "eh" a lot. Whoa!
a real live Canadian!!!
A street performer who sang what sounded like show tunes. Yes, it was god awful.
This guy did some clapping percussion thing... if you want my money, you'll
have to try harder than that man. I ended up not giving a dime to anybody,
though I was always tempted to dump a huge handful of pennies on their heads.
Maybe I'm just a really awful person.
Ivor and I stopped at an Italian style espresso bar for some coffee.
I learned that English blokes drink wimpy watered down coffee like we
Americans do compared to say... Italians. He ordered an espresso with
water called "Cafe Americano" ... it's sort of insulting calling it that,
but I guess it's not far from the truth. I mean, I ordered a an espresso
watered down with chocolate, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream.
A store at in the huge underground shopping complex... it's like 5 full sized
malls linked together underground. It's a shoppers dream.
Canadians play hockey? I didn't know that.
After touring the mall a bit and buying stuff, Ivor and I decided to hop in my car
and drive around. We tried to find our way to the top of Mount Royal to get a nice
view of the city.
On the way, we visited a huge cemetery with closely spaced graves.
I gave Ivor a Capri Sun from my car and his reaction was great. "This is marvelous, I
haven't tasted anything quite like this before"... yeah, you're tasting liquid candy we
Americans call a "fruit drink".
We drove upward until there was no where else to go and took a hike up a big hill.
I had a feeling the city view was just on the other side of the hill, but alas, all we
saw
was more cemetery. It was nice seeing the vast space that was the rest of
Canada though. Turns out, when I got to the top of Mt. Royal with Graham a few
days later, was that we were close... oh so close.
There were a whole bunch of graves in Greek, Russian, Chinese, and even
Vietnamese on the mountain. Jeez, even the dead in Montreal are diverse.
That's Mikael and Herve from Normandy, France. When they arrived, they got hold
of the fact I was able to buy tickets to the last Canadiens hockey game of the season
from the hostel reception desk. Like me, they were surprised there were still tickets
available, but I told them to hurry because I only saw a couple left. Mikael ran down-
stairs and a minute later, there were no tickets left and I was their new best friend.
They're huge sports fan, and surprising enough, UCONN basketball fans. So I was
able to talk UCONN basketball with some French guys, which was pretty cool.
This is Kristof from Belgium. Kristof is my hero. His goal is to hitch-hike all around
the world.
He also hosts psychedelic raves and is a kindergarten teacher. Really... hero.
Kristof and I decided to visit the Notre Dame Basilica that night because the
travel guides shows rays of light emanating from the windows. It seemed like
a cool thing to see. On the way, we traveled through underground passages
and ran across this chunk of the Berlin Wall. It was amusing trying to get the
photo of both of us. We both had cameras and would set it on timer mode,
but we were never synchronized and kept on running back and forth to finally
get the timing right.
Finally, we go to the church... false advertisement man. Still pretty though.
Kristof with his camera.
He noticed the awesome shadow of the statue on the building facade.
Here we go again with the setting and running.
We continued walking through the city at night when he recommended
a cool view of the city at night from the top of a hotel. During the walk he
talked about being a kindergarten teacher in Belgium and all the fun stuff he
gets to do. He also talked about the trouble he had trying to get into America
being interrogated like a criminal for not having any specific plans as to when
he'll leave the country. Anyway, when we got to the hospital, it looked like
and old mansion and we had to climb up spiral staircases and ladders to get
to the top. I'm sure we were trespassing, but...
..awesome view.
Sink area of the kitchen in the hostel. Everyone was responsible for cleaning
and putting away what they used. I think a cleaning service swept through
occasionally to clean anything people neglected, but people were really good
about doing their part.
In the morning, Kristof and I went down to have breakfast which we thought
was free, but it turned out not to be...
...Charles to the rescue! I had left over bacon, eggs, and bread from
the breakfast I had with Ivor the day before so I fixed up a scrumptious
artery clogging breakfast.
That morning Kristof was leaving to hitch-hike to Toronto and we pointed out
where we've been in the world on the map table. Kristof had spent the previous
month at a farm in Maine harvesting maple sap. He was planning on traveling
west through Canada, down the American west coast, through South America,
fly to India and hitch-hike through South Asia on a journey that would take years.
(did i mention he's my hero?) I showed him the random places I've been in East
Asia and felt quite inadequate. Then I also showed how I took a road trip cross
country and he really put it in perspective for me. If he traveled that same distance
from Belgium, he'd end up somewhere in Turkey. "That's CRAZY" he said
with a
huge grin. Kristof's admiration for the US reminded me about how I need to
do another, more thorough, road trip through America some day.
American high school girls on spring break here to party and drink. I asked.
I almost gave this guy change... but... no.
Me on the metro. Montreal is awesome because you can get anywhere
of interest on their public transportation system, but the cultural center is also
so nice and compact that you can walk to most places too. But that morning,
Graham and I decided to visit the Olympic Stadium which was a more than a
short walk away, so we hopped on the Metro for the Pie IX station.
There I am at the UFO looking Olympic Stadium. Graham and I walked around
and around, but none of the doors would open, when we ran across a short latin
looking man who was trying to get in as well (to get to the metro station supposedly)
Then he started talking to us and rambled on and on about who the first settlers
were in the americas, and he was giving us this weird history lesson. And then he
brought up the topic of evolution "they say we come from monkeys. I don't want to
think we come from monkeys. Do you think we come from monkeys?" Graham
and I were looking at each other like... ooookay... then the moment we found an
entrance, Graham automatically pointed "metro station's over there". It was hilarious.
I'm a giant... Fee Fi Fo Fum!
Weird. I'm guessing it was part of the opening ceremonies. You gotta
be on crack to design stuff like this.
I sort of match with my athletic attire. I still want to get an Olympic medal in my
lifetime by the way. Maybe curling.
Graham and I decided to visit the nearby Biodome. It was like an overgrown science
project with different wildlife environments. The first one was a tropical habitat.
It was pretty and all, but I couldn't get out of the heat fast enough. I don't know
how i'll bear the summer when it comes around.
delicious...
One of the coolest
habitats (really, literally cool) was the St. Lawrence river one.
It was essentially New England weather so I felt right at home. The Aquarium view
was awesome. Some of the fish were intriguing, but seeing the duck feet paddle
underwater was something I don't remember ever seeing before. Graham and I
decided ducks have mastered the Earth; they can fly, float, walk, and
(to my surprise) are expert divers and look like torpedoes in the water.
The ceiling of the Biodome.
There was a penguin exhibit which, aside from the crowd of French Canadian
children screaming and crowding around the glass saying their funny French
words, was amusing. Penguins are always funny. What we really wanted to
see was the feeding, because we were curious as to how it would happen;
would a hole open up from the ceiling dropping fish causing a penguin
feeding
frenzy? who knows. The feeding time was delayed and we could tell the penguins
knew it was too... they all started to gather at one side. Finally, after waiting
almost and hour, a man walked out of the cave, and he started hand feeding
the penguins one... by... one. The most anti-climactic thing ever.
Back at the aquarium, on the other hand, was a different story. Feeding time
was on schedule, and massive amounts of small fish and seafood parts were dump
in the tank and it was a free for all. The best thing was how the ducks dove down
and stole the food from the fish. They almost looked more comfortable in the
water than the fish.
It was time to go home... and for some reason, we backtracked the way we came
and ended up making a huge loop back to the entrance of the Biodome. We
finally put our brains back in and were on our way.
A souvenir store in the underground mall. I needed to find a t-shirt for the
hockey game later that evening.
I had my first introduction to poutine at the food court. The food court,
by the way, is the biggest food court I've ever seen. There must have been at
least 30 places to choose from. Anyways, poutine is a Quebec specialty of
french fries, cheese curds, and gravy. It doesn't sound particularly special,
or particularly healthy, but ohhh... it's was so fuckin' good.
Franx Supreme sells poutine.
Ivor was scheduled to be at the hostel the whole week like me, but he decided to
cut his stay short because he a montreal family offered to house him. He stopped
by that night to attend the hockey game though... and with my new spiffy t-shirt,
I was ready to look the part of a hockey fan.
The Center Bell Area where the Montreal Canadiens play was literally one block
from the hostel. One block! Damn, I'm paying only $25 a night at a hostel located
so close to everything. Did I mention I hate being back home?
A dude singing "ohhh caaaanadaaaa"
Yay, my first pro hockey game. It was pretty exciting.
Crowd reaction when the Habs scored. They had much to cheer about.
Their team was leading 3-1 going into the last period. What surprised me
was how low key some of the fans were, and I expected more then to be
more excited and wild. It was the last game of the regular season though,
and a critical one because a win would give them a winning season, or
division victory, or something like that (shows how much I know about hockey)
Maybe the crowd was so nervous for their team, they were praying.
Zamboni machines. I wonder how one gets that job. I think it'd be an awesome job.
Uh oh... 4 minutes left and the New Jersey Devils managed to tie the game.
Within the last few minutes, the Devils managed to score one more time and
win the game. Damn, I was hoping for a riot of some sort after a victory.
Me, Mikael, and Herve... Ivor took the picture. The team I was rooting for lost
but deep down inside I was still going U...S...A... U..S..A... U.S.A
Ahhh... McDonalds. I'm not a fan of McD's, but oh the fillet o'fish... you can't get
that flavor anywhere else. I must have had 4 or 5 on my trip. I think I just enjoyed
saying filet de poisson s'il vous plait.
Montreal girls never seem to look you in the eye.
As always, I gotta hit up the Hard Rock Cafe in any city I visit.
The decor wasn't the most impressive, but the frames around the flat screen
TV's were a nice touch.
I had the grilled tuna steak sandwich... only a bit more sophisticated then
the fillet o'fish. The best thing about the Hard Rock Cafe was the waitress who
showed us how to get to the top of Mt. Royal, which Graham and I decided
would be our next destination.
That's the McDonalds on the Ste Catherine and Mackey (where the hostel was)
intersection. It was a welcome sign that we were almost back after grueling
walks around the city all day.
Le Gym. I love seeing my name everywhere.
They were renovating this church on Rue Ste Catherine. Supposedly,
there was another building in front of it, and they were in the process of
taking it down and remodeling the front. What idiot decided to build
in front of the church??? ughhh.. iiidiot (in the napoleon dynamite voice)
Graham told me about how Quebec had a regulation on the color of
margarine. That way, local farms would be able to sell their white kind
without competition from big national brands selling the usual yellow kind.
Don't believe me? click here
Buildings in Canada are hairy. You didn't know that?
A building on the McGill University Campus. This would be our portal to get
to the top of the mountain.
Huh? Who's dog?
Ahh... crazy dog lady. Actually, she seems like a professor from Harry Potter.
Graham and I start walking along a path that would lead us to the top of Mt. Royal.
However, as we started walking, we saw that a large hill that led up to what appeared to be
the next level. We debated the idea of climbing up this hill , then we decided it was worth
a shot, it didn't look too difficult. Besides, how hard can some loose rocks and dry
foliage be? 20 minutes and half way up we learned. Rocks were just tumbling down
as touched them, my feet were slipping, and the only safe havens were the well rooted
trees I made daring attempts to scramble to. Graham took another path which was a
good idea because the falling rocks would've been dangerous for either of us. Finally,
after 45 minutes of heavy breathing in the hot sun and getting out hands dirty, we made it.
Hey man, can't you see the sign?
When we got to the Mt. Royal park, we were greeted by the sight of people
relaxing in the warm sun on the most glorious day, with crystal blue skies.
This girl was chasing the squirrel around the tree... it was almost surreal how
idyllic it was.
Pika.... CHU!!!
Ahhh...
On Mt. Royal park was a large building that housed what looked like a large
ballroom, but our interest was in the water fountains, bathrooms, and ice-
cream vendor. In the rafters, in place of where you expect to find gargoyles,
there were large squirrel statues. Oh... i'm shaking in my fur skin cap.
Montreal's flag on the left contains the fleur-de-lys, rose, shamrock, and thistle to
represent the French, English, Irish and Scots of Montreal respectively.
After wandering around Mount Royal Park and relaxing on the grassy field,
we decided it was about time to head down, but we didn't want to head back the
way we came. So we continued on the westward to what we hoped would be
a nearby metro station. People along the way described how to get to one,
but weren't really clear. We ended up just walking back toward the hostel on
miles and miles of what were sometimes dangerous highways. One time, we
were leisurely crossing a road when a car came speeding through nearly hitting
us. Good times. We finally reached the Metro entrance at Guy-Concordia and
Graham continued to the hostel, I wasn't through with the sun yet, so I headed
to the old city and port to take a look around.
I can't park my bicycle? Absurd!
I can make you a worm, a snake, or a caterpillar.
We need stuff like this in Connecticut. Damn, we're old too. Why do our old
parts look so shitty?
I own that keg.
The Notre Dame Basilica viewed from the old city.
Yeah, that's mine too.
Strip clubs and seedy areas dot the city. But it still manages
to appear clean and inviting.
It amazed me how little police force I saw in the city. During my whole stay,
I only saw about a dozen police cruisers, most of them patrolling road construction
and controlling a small peaceful protest one day. One night, we saw a bicycle
police force assembling... now that's just silly! Damn America!!!
In the hostel room one night, we met a really eccentric guy in his 50's named Don.
He was from the area, but was getting away from his brother so he could work on his
secret art designs for the Montreal Jazz Festival. I begged for a sneak peak and he
woke me up early the next morning to show me a sample. That was cool. Anyway,
that night he recommended us to Schwartz's for their smoked meat sandwiches.
"Recommended" is a bit of an understatement. He ranted and raved on and on about
how it was better than corned beef, pastrami, or any other sandwich, and how it put
New York delis to shame. OK, I admit, it was good. It was really really good...
Oh god... I want one now!
World famous Schwartz's... I later learned (in my guide book)
that the meats are even shipped to Japan... delicious.
Hey, Canadians know how to waste their time and money too.
Giddy'up!
Herve and Mikael lounging in the TV room watching the basketball playoffs.
I'll leave it up to you to decide what the hell this is all about.