Was playing hockey with Bob, Costa, and Chuck today on the tough streets of Robson Park. There was a surprisingly large crowd, complete with two goalies! I can't even recall the last time I played a street hockey game with two goalies. Unfortunately the days greatness didn't continue. About mid way through one of the games I ran into the side of the net and my stick got caught in the netting, jabbing the other end right into my stomach. Luckily or unluckily the stick snapped, I almost rather have taken that hit if it meant preserving the stick.
I've had the Easton composite stick for quite a few years now. Different replacement blades have come and gone, but old faithful was always there. This stick was a trooper. Grinding out goals, hacking over zealous oppositions, blocking vicious slashes, this stick was the epitome of team player. And although it will never see another pass, another goal, another game, it's legacy has been solidified as the benchmark of one the sports greatest.
A piece of me laid broken on the floor today. Everything was left out on the rink today, and there's no better way to leave the game.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Montreal
Day 1 - Friday July 9th
We left for YVR airport at around 6AM, and went through check in without any problems. Almost too fast as we just ended up sitting at the terminal for over an hour. Julio found a $20 american bill on the floor of where we were sitting at.
The flight wasn't too bad. I fell asleep for a bit, but for the most part the soundless Discovery channel and sports highlights from TSN kept me busy.
It took under five minutes after clearing baggage at Trudeau airport for me to realize that my four years of high school French was useless. Reading every other word is pointless, and everyone was talking way too fast for me to comprehend. Luckily it's a bilingual country! We paid $7 to take the 747 express bus to La Centre Sheraton. While on the bus I guess we were talking a little loud, but no less then four people pointed out to us where to get off.
After checking into the airport we went to grab some dinner (lunch our time) at Mr. Steer on St. Catherines and Peel. We had poutine, chicken, burgers, and of course beer. Our waitress was clearly french speaking, but her english was decent enough. This was the same for just about everyone in Montreal. Most people spoke at least a little english (thank god).
Out of the restaurant we stopped at SAQ (Montreal liquor store) and purchased two bottles of sake. That's also where we saw a group of asian kids. Not too many asians in Montreal, outside of Chinatown that is.
We walked east on St. Catherines until we stopped at a La Belle Province to try some of that famous Montreal poutine. I wasn't overly impressed, maybe I played it up to much, but the poutine didn't blow me away.
Back at the hotel it didn't take us too long to drink the two bottles of sake. Sake goes down pretty fast when you include card games.
Instead of cabbing, we walked to another La Belle Province, this time ordering their specialty poutines. We ordered smoked meat, sausage, Italian, and beef poutines, with the smoked meat poutine clearly beating out the others.
It was a long walk back to the hotel, and as soon as I got back I passed out, damn sake. Our new song: Auburn - Perfect Two (don't ask).
Day 2 - Saturday July 10th
We woke up at 11AM, and decided to try out the bike system. The Bixi system is pretty uniques, you pay $5 and you can use their bikes all day, provided you return the bike every 30 minutes. Might seem like a drag but there's a Bixi station every two blocks in the more populated areas.
We biked to the famous Schwartz, but we didn't plan out the route too well as we ended up having to bike uphill on the sidewalk.
When we got to Schwartz there was a line up the length of the building. Luckily for us, the lineup was for the restaurant. We walked in to the deli which was right next door and sat at the back tables. The smoked meat sandwich on rye was a little dry, I had to douse it with mustard, but it wasn't anything special. Zero for two now on the specialties.
After lunch we grabbed some drinks at a local pharmasave (I think it was a pharmasave). Will bought two bottles, one for the road and the other he downed before leaving the store. The reason why we bought drinks was cause Shum had the bright idea to bike up Mont Royal. There's a Bixi station at the bottom of the mountain and there's a station at the top of the station. There was no way we were going to make it up there in half an hour, no way. But we decided to do it anyways. The bike up was grueling. Up hill the whole time, and our bikes weren't designed for that kind of biking. At points in time we were passed by people walking up the mountain, breaks were frequent. There was one couple that passed us four times. We started talking to them the fourth time they passed us. At the top of the mountain, we could almost see the whole city. It was almost worth the ride up. At the top we ran into that couple that passed us four times (Mike and Allison). Funny couple who poked fun at Vancouver, they recommended we go to Crescent street, and made some recommendations on where not to go.
The bike down the mountain was the best part of the whole journey. No pedaling at all, just you the road, and non-stop wind in your face. We started going up at around 2PM and finished close to 3:30PM.
Right by the station was a East Indian Festival, so we decided to check it out. From there we biked to Mont Royal Metro station where we would take the metro to Jean Talon. Famous for the outdoor market, the fruits and vegetables looked really fresh. Plenty of samples to dry, as well as fresh bread and drinks.
Shum kept going on and on about a girl in a blue white striped shirt. As we were sitting at a table that girl came over to talk to us. Unfortunately she worked for CBC and was trying to get people to be an audience for a french show that was airing soon.
We took the metro back to the hotel where we ended up eating at Bar (Sheraton's restaurant). I ordered a smoked meat sandwich that was better then what I had at Schwartz, but again didn't blow me away. We also had a cheese platter, not normally my thing, but it was good.
We all changed and started waling along St. Catherines east bound looking for a place to drink. We must've walked for a very long time cause you could see the scenery change. Somewhere along our route we saw a banner for an African Festival so we kept walking that way, but then we started seeing guys making out with other guys, then drag queens. That's when we realized we were in the Village (Montreal's gay and lesbian district). We just kept walking until we found a good place to drink.
I don't recall where we ended up drinking at but wherever it was they had the cheapest beer ever. It was under $17 for a pitcher of beer. The pitcher was 4L big! 120 oz of sweet sweet golden water. Julio and Will helped but it was mostly me and Shum who finished it.
We were done walking so we took a cab back to the hotel to pass out.
Day 3 - Sunday July 11th
We woke up late again, 12PM. This Bixi thing was growing on us, and we decided to bike to Old Montreal. Today was the World Cup finals so we had to find somewhere fast in order to catch the game. Near the Old Port was a restaurant called Viva. The waitress was really nice and even made a bet with us. We were cheering for Spain, she offered shots for us if Spain scored first. Unfortunately by the time the game was over, 1-0 Spain in overtime, the waitress was off already. She timed it perfectly. While at Viva's we order red Sangria and Rosee Sangria, pretty expensive at $32 per pitcher. Chicken and panini's were on the menu.
We walked around Old Montreal for a bit, admiring the cobble stone road, then made our way to the clock tower. A total of 192 steps and we were at the very top of the clock tower. When we got up there, there were two other groups, with another two groups right behind us. Needless to say it was pretty crammed. You could see most of Old Montreal from there, but the best view was of the islands just south of Old Port.
After leaving the tower we walked along Old Port and took in the view. On the other side of Old Port, we stopped by Scena where we ordered two more pitchers of Sangria. By now Will was red as a tomato, but it was me that dropped my glass of Sangria, part of it got splashed on Julio.
By now it was late afternoon, and we found out that Cirque Du Soleil was performing a free show on the street. We tried to get a good spot, but the crowd was huge. The show had one girl suspended in the air in a hoolahoop. Acrobats jumped off of trampolines and see saws, performing spins and flips in mid air. The whole show was less then an hour, but pretty impressive that they would just offer a random free show. Apparently this is common in Montreal.
We walked further into Old Montreal and into Rue des Artistes. Julio purchased another poutine, I had a few, but by now I was done with poutine. The Rue des Artistes and all of Old Montreal had a very European feel to it. Cobblestone roads, vintage buildings, and crowds of people just walking around. I've never been to Europe, but I imagine it's something similar to this.
We walked up Place Jacques Cartier (centre of Old Montreal) where we saw a bunch of street performers. Guitarists, violinists, artists. Vancouver street performers look like hacks next to these guys.
We Bixi'd back to the hotel, then decided to hit up Crescent street. Crescent street was a pretty busy area, with quite a few bars and restaurants. We decided to eat at Vino's on the corner of St. Catherines and Crescent. By now it was 1:45AM and they were open for a little longer then that. It was mostly a seafood place, but the best part of the restaurant was the fact that we sat on the second level, on the outdoor terrace. Something special about sitting outside like that just relaxing. Our waitress (Vanessa) was smoking hot.
Day 4 - Monday July 12th
The previous night, Julio and I craved breakfast so we decided to wake up early. Up at 8:30AM this morning we made our way to the Latin Quarters to eat at Brioche Lyonnaise. I didn't get a true definition of Brioche but I assume it's some sort of bread. We had omelettes and brioch, as well as latte's. Brioche Lyonnaise is one of those hole in the walls, we barely spotted it and we were trying to look for it. I'd recommend it, decent breakfast.
We walked along Latin Quarter, but there wasn't much to see, it's more of a night time place. From the Fromme's book that we had, Latin Quarters is where the students hang out?
We passed by the University of Quebec Montreal (QUAM). From the outside it had us confusing it for a church. Very gothic like structure. Inside was very disappointing though. Very ordinary, didn't match the outside at all.
From the university we Bixi'd to Chinatown where we spent the next several hours. We ate at Kam Fung restaurant for dim sum. Their dim sum had way too much white pepper, you could taste it in the ha gow and in the sui mai. Their chicken feet was really good though. After dim sum we wondered around Chinatown some more. Shum bought a China style triangle hat (think Raiden). Weirdest part of Chinatown was seeing all the Chinese people speaking french, not something you see all the time.
We walked to Old Montreal where we visited 20 different souvenir shops, which was a huge waste of time, because each of the souvenir shops sold the EXACT same things.
Made our way to Place Jacques Cartier where we had some drinks at Le Fripon. Sat on the outside terrace again, but it was unique in that they had little sprinklers above which shot mist out at random intervals. Probably to cool you down? Didn't make much of a difference though, we went to Montreal at a bad time, it was crazy hot. Throughout the whole trip it ranged from 28 to 32 degrees, but with the humidity it felt much hotter. At Le Fripon Will and Julio ordered some fruity drinks, Shum had the Aphrodisiac beer, and I ordered a Rosee beer (both from local breweries).
After cooling off we did a little more souvenir shopping, and then decided to eat. The book we had recommended going to Club Chasse. The map that was inside the book was completely wrong, and it didn't help that the street signs were all french, but it took us almost half an hour to find Club Chasse. And when we found it, we also found out they were closed on Mondays. Our second choice was Chez L'epicier, but after looking at their menu it was a little too pricy for us. We decided to look for Cafe Stash, but again couldn't find that restaurant either so we just settled at the Keg. Prime rib for everyone but Will who had the filet mignon, stick with what you know. Our waitress was really nice, and spoke perfect english. She said that in Montreal about 50% speak both english and french, Quebec city was more 95% french to english.
It was raining pretty hard outside, and being the geniuses we are we decided to walk it back to the hotel. At one point we were counting the distance between the flash of lightning and the thunder, and counted 20 seconds (supposedly 20km away). The rain was coming down pretty hard so we had to take a cab. In the cab, we saw a flash, and before any of us could count to one, we heard the thunder. Plus one for taking the cab.
Back at the hotel, the lobby elevators were packed, and when we made our way up to the 34th floor where our room was we figured out why. The ground was wet. When we got into our room, the washroom was drenched. We packed our bags and after Shum talked to the front desk, we had a new room, except this time it was on the 14th floor (1424), half as high as before. To compensate we got free water and WiFi for the week, and two free toothbrushes!
Afterwards we went to the casino, which cost us $18 in cab fare. A quick look around showed us that the minimum bets were $25, I guess you can do that when you're the only casino in the city. We ended up playing Royal Ascot horse racing, just like real horse racing, minus all the wait times. Shum and Will ended up down $5, and I was up a whopping $2. On our way out of the casino though, Julio found a $25 chip, how does he keep doing this?
Day 5 - Tuesday July 13th
Again craving breakfast, we woke up early and had breakfast at Eggspectations on Maisonnvenue and Peel. This was the breakfast we were looking for, omelettes, crepes, and benedicts. I had the crepe benedict (crepe instead of the usual biscuit). Also had cappuccino. After the hearty breakfast we walked to Centre Bell and took pictures of all the historic statues, and monuments of past Canadiens. Really makes you admire the team they had, with so many greats wearing the Habs jersey.
Inside Centre Bell I picked up a Carey Price jersey for Amanda. We then walked to Peel Metro station where we explored the underground shopping malls. It took us a while to get there, and it was a little disappointing when we finally arrived. There weren't any unique stores, pretty much whatever we have in Vancouver.
During the trip we were doing a lot of "That's what she said" jokes. Shum killed it today though. He wouldn't shut up about it, and even stopped trying to be suttle after a while.
We took the metro to the Olympic stadium. We tried to visit the Insectarium but there was a strike and it wasn't open. Back at the Olympic stadium, we paid $15 to ride up the arm of the structure. It's quite a unique structure, especially given that it was built back in the mid 70's. From the top of the stadium we could see parts of Montreal that we couldn't see from the clock tower or Mont Royal. Montreal doesn't have too many houses. In fact I don't recall seeing any houses, it was mostly condo's and row housing. Much like Vancouver the city is filled with greenery.
After the stadium we took the Metro to Mont-Royal station, where we talked to a fella t the information booth. We wanted to go to a restaurant that allowed us to bring our own booze. He made a recommendation (La Cantine) and even told us where to buy the wine. We ended up buying Chateau Bonnet Entre-Deux-Mers Sauvignon Blanc white wine, and Domaine de Moulines Merlot. When we finally found La Cantine, the hostess told us it wasn't one of those restaurants where you bring your own wine, grrr. We go back to the information booth, luckily for the guy, he wasn't there anymore, replaced by a new girl. She recommended we go to L'Academie on Duluth and St. Denis. Despite the pouring rain, we walked for 3-4 blocks getting soaked, then decided to take a $5 cab ride for the remaining 2 blocks. Don't ask.
At L'Academie, the waiters knew right away and had an ice bucket for our wine as soon as we sat down. The food was amazing, we had lamb chops, cannelonni, filet mignon, and duck breast. We also had an appetizer meal of clams.
Back at the hotel we went back to the Bar and ordered some wings, cheese platter, more wine (White wine Vigneto la rosse), and some more drinks. I ordered a dry martini with gin, James Bond's drink, he can have it back, way too strong.
Day 6 - Wednesday July 14th
We woke up late today, around 12:50PM. After some calling around we decided on jet boating. The concierge helped us book, and was roughly $65 per person. We Bixi'd to Notre Dam Basilica, the famous church in Old Montreal. $5 to get in, and the inside was beautiful, reminded me a lot of the St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. The stained glass and decor all around was astonishing to look at. And to think it was built in the 1800's, amazing. After the church we ate at a Vietnamese ran Chinese food, Noobox. Selling point for us was the Chinese take-out box.
The jet boating was located near the clock tower which wasn't too far away. We suited up with life jackets, wet boots, and wind breaking poncho's. The boat itself was 1,400 HP, and took us way out to the rapids. The tour guide person was unbelievably brave, tippy toeing his way around the ledge of the boat even when it was in motion. The tour guide told us that we'd be facing 4.5 to 5 level rapids, in comparison Niagra Falls is a level 6. Those rapids hit you pretty hard, if you're not ready for it, it would be pretty easy to hurt yourself. We went through the heavy rapids around five times, and it felt like each time was more and more intense. The boat also did 180 degree turns. One of the guys on the boat was sporting a Blackhawks t-shirt, took a lot of willpower for me to not say anything. It wouldn't have been pretty to see me taunt a team that knocked us out of the playoffs two years in a row, and then won the cup. The boating was around 2 hours, and finished at roughly 7PM. On our way out of the port Julio found $2, how does he keep doing this?
We took the Bixi back to the hotel to change then Bixi'd our way to Duluth and St. Denis. Half way there we took a break, and Will was drenched, not a pretty sight, funny but not pretty at all.
The restaurant we wanted to try was Au Pied de Cochon (cochon meaning pig). Not surprisingly there was a wait of half an hour for the restaurant. Well worth the wait though. By and far the best food I've eaten in Montreal. We started with appetizers: duck carpaccio, and foie gras poutine. Up until this point I was pretty disappointed with Montreal's poutine, the supposed birth place of poutine has yet to blow me away. The foie gras (duck liver) poutine, did just that. It cost $23 but by far the best poutine I've ever had, I was eating the liver gravy by the spoonfuls. For entrees we had lamb shank, bison rib, pork chop and duck in a can. At first I was going to order their Au Pied de Cochon, but after the waiter said that it was a stew of pig feet, brains, and eyes, I changed my mind. The duck in a can was really good though. Literally a duck in a can, they put a plate in front of you, and then they bring a hot can of duck that's been cooked in it's own broth and other ingredients. Open the can, pour on plate of vegetables and serve. Dessert we had creme brulee which was alright, not the best though. And of course for drinks we ordered Trembly beer and a cider called Cidre du Minot (I think).
After dinner we worked it off by biking around the Mont Royal and Plateau area. We made our way to Thursdays back at Crescent where we sat on the second level terrace enjoying our Rickards. We decided to go back to the casino again, where we horse raced till roughly 5AM.
Day 7 - Thursday July 15th
Last day in Montreal and we woke up around 11AM. Will and I went souvenir shopping, and after a long walk on St. Catherines, I ended up buying a blue and white striped dress for Gloria. We also stopped at Chocolatier on Masionnvenue and Montagne where we bought four boxes of specialty chocolates each.
Checking out of the hotel at 2PM, we went back to Eggspectation for one last breakfast/lunch of California benedict, corn beef hash, smoked meat and swiss cheese omelette. We sat there for a bit reflecting on the trip and coming up with ways to improve future vacations.
We went back to the hotel and grabbed our bags, took the 747 express bus back to the airport. At the airport we had a perfect view to see our luggage get moved onto the plane. The two guys loading luggage onto the conveyor belt didn't care at all. They were heaving and body slamming bags like they hated them. I watched helplessly as my bag hit the conveyor belt, bounced up did a 180 and then barely stay on the belt. A lady behind us must've heard us talking, cause she approached us to tell us that she worked for West Jet, and those luggage handlers are not employed by West Jet, they're employees of the airport. She told us to rest assure that she'll tell somebody about this.
Our flight back involved a stop at Toronto, making the initial flight very fast, but once at the Toronto airport, we found out that our flight was delayed an hour. We grabbed some quick food at Tim Hortons and waited out till our plane took off at 9:45PM. The flight from Toronto to Vancouver was pretty long, just about as long as it took to go from Vancouver to Montreal (4 hours, 45 minutes). Shum ordered a caesars, but it was too spicy so I took it. I ended up falling asleep before finishing it, and when jolted awake, I knocked the cup over. Luckily the splash didn't hit the girl beside me it was all contained on me...
We cleared baggage reasonably fast, but our luggage was wet, cause it had been raining in Toronto, or maybe our luggage was crying from the abuse. Amanda picked me up, but unfortunately she didn't know about the delay.
Reflection
Montreal is a beautiful city, with plenty to do even after what normally would be last call in Vancouver (11AM). It's a great place to visit to just sit and chill, with a drink in your hand. Just don't go when it has a heat wave like we did. From talking with the locals, the hot temperature isn't a common thing. Vancouver needs to take a page out of Montreal and retain it's history. You can see the history of Montreal everywhere, especially in the buildings, whereas in Vancouver it's all about modernization and green. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but nostalgia is never a bad thing.
We left for YVR airport at around 6AM, and went through check in without any problems. Almost too fast as we just ended up sitting at the terminal for over an hour. Julio found a $20 american bill on the floor of where we were sitting at.
The flight wasn't too bad. I fell asleep for a bit, but for the most part the soundless Discovery channel and sports highlights from TSN kept me busy.
It took under five minutes after clearing baggage at Trudeau airport for me to realize that my four years of high school French was useless. Reading every other word is pointless, and everyone was talking way too fast for me to comprehend. Luckily it's a bilingual country! We paid $7 to take the 747 express bus to La Centre Sheraton. While on the bus I guess we were talking a little loud, but no less then four people pointed out to us where to get off.
After checking into the airport we went to grab some dinner (lunch our time) at Mr. Steer on St. Catherines and Peel. We had poutine, chicken, burgers, and of course beer. Our waitress was clearly french speaking, but her english was decent enough. This was the same for just about everyone in Montreal. Most people spoke at least a little english (thank god).
Out of the restaurant we stopped at SAQ (Montreal liquor store) and purchased two bottles of sake. That's also where we saw a group of asian kids. Not too many asians in Montreal, outside of Chinatown that is.
We walked east on St. Catherines until we stopped at a La Belle Province to try some of that famous Montreal poutine. I wasn't overly impressed, maybe I played it up to much, but the poutine didn't blow me away.
Back at the hotel it didn't take us too long to drink the two bottles of sake. Sake goes down pretty fast when you include card games.
Instead of cabbing, we walked to another La Belle Province, this time ordering their specialty poutines. We ordered smoked meat, sausage, Italian, and beef poutines, with the smoked meat poutine clearly beating out the others.
It was a long walk back to the hotel, and as soon as I got back I passed out, damn sake. Our new song: Auburn - Perfect Two (don't ask).
Day 2 - Saturday July 10th
We woke up at 11AM, and decided to try out the bike system. The Bixi system is pretty uniques, you pay $5 and you can use their bikes all day, provided you return the bike every 30 minutes. Might seem like a drag but there's a Bixi station every two blocks in the more populated areas.
We biked to the famous Schwartz, but we didn't plan out the route too well as we ended up having to bike uphill on the sidewalk.
When we got to Schwartz there was a line up the length of the building. Luckily for us, the lineup was for the restaurant. We walked in to the deli which was right next door and sat at the back tables. The smoked meat sandwich on rye was a little dry, I had to douse it with mustard, but it wasn't anything special. Zero for two now on the specialties.
After lunch we grabbed some drinks at a local pharmasave (I think it was a pharmasave). Will bought two bottles, one for the road and the other he downed before leaving the store. The reason why we bought drinks was cause Shum had the bright idea to bike up Mont Royal. There's a Bixi station at the bottom of the mountain and there's a station at the top of the station. There was no way we were going to make it up there in half an hour, no way. But we decided to do it anyways. The bike up was grueling. Up hill the whole time, and our bikes weren't designed for that kind of biking. At points in time we were passed by people walking up the mountain, breaks were frequent. There was one couple that passed us four times. We started talking to them the fourth time they passed us. At the top of the mountain, we could almost see the whole city. It was almost worth the ride up. At the top we ran into that couple that passed us four times (Mike and Allison). Funny couple who poked fun at Vancouver, they recommended we go to Crescent street, and made some recommendations on where not to go.
The bike down the mountain was the best part of the whole journey. No pedaling at all, just you the road, and non-stop wind in your face. We started going up at around 2PM and finished close to 3:30PM.
Right by the station was a East Indian Festival, so we decided to check it out. From there we biked to Mont Royal Metro station where we would take the metro to Jean Talon. Famous for the outdoor market, the fruits and vegetables looked really fresh. Plenty of samples to dry, as well as fresh bread and drinks.
Shum kept going on and on about a girl in a blue white striped shirt. As we were sitting at a table that girl came over to talk to us. Unfortunately she worked for CBC and was trying to get people to be an audience for a french show that was airing soon.
We took the metro back to the hotel where we ended up eating at Bar (Sheraton's restaurant). I ordered a smoked meat sandwich that was better then what I had at Schwartz, but again didn't blow me away. We also had a cheese platter, not normally my thing, but it was good.
We all changed and started waling along St. Catherines east bound looking for a place to drink. We must've walked for a very long time cause you could see the scenery change. Somewhere along our route we saw a banner for an African Festival so we kept walking that way, but then we started seeing guys making out with other guys, then drag queens. That's when we realized we were in the Village (Montreal's gay and lesbian district). We just kept walking until we found a good place to drink.
I don't recall where we ended up drinking at but wherever it was they had the cheapest beer ever. It was under $17 for a pitcher of beer. The pitcher was 4L big! 120 oz of sweet sweet golden water. Julio and Will helped but it was mostly me and Shum who finished it.
We were done walking so we took a cab back to the hotel to pass out.
Day 3 - Sunday July 11th
We woke up late again, 12PM. This Bixi thing was growing on us, and we decided to bike to Old Montreal. Today was the World Cup finals so we had to find somewhere fast in order to catch the game. Near the Old Port was a restaurant called Viva. The waitress was really nice and even made a bet with us. We were cheering for Spain, she offered shots for us if Spain scored first. Unfortunately by the time the game was over, 1-0 Spain in overtime, the waitress was off already. She timed it perfectly. While at Viva's we order red Sangria and Rosee Sangria, pretty expensive at $32 per pitcher. Chicken and panini's were on the menu.
We walked around Old Montreal for a bit, admiring the cobble stone road, then made our way to the clock tower. A total of 192 steps and we were at the very top of the clock tower. When we got up there, there were two other groups, with another two groups right behind us. Needless to say it was pretty crammed. You could see most of Old Montreal from there, but the best view was of the islands just south of Old Port.
After leaving the tower we walked along Old Port and took in the view. On the other side of Old Port, we stopped by Scena where we ordered two more pitchers of Sangria. By now Will was red as a tomato, but it was me that dropped my glass of Sangria, part of it got splashed on Julio.
By now it was late afternoon, and we found out that Cirque Du Soleil was performing a free show on the street. We tried to get a good spot, but the crowd was huge. The show had one girl suspended in the air in a hoolahoop. Acrobats jumped off of trampolines and see saws, performing spins and flips in mid air. The whole show was less then an hour, but pretty impressive that they would just offer a random free show. Apparently this is common in Montreal.
We walked further into Old Montreal and into Rue des Artistes. Julio purchased another poutine, I had a few, but by now I was done with poutine. The Rue des Artistes and all of Old Montreal had a very European feel to it. Cobblestone roads, vintage buildings, and crowds of people just walking around. I've never been to Europe, but I imagine it's something similar to this.
We walked up Place Jacques Cartier (centre of Old Montreal) where we saw a bunch of street performers. Guitarists, violinists, artists. Vancouver street performers look like hacks next to these guys.
We Bixi'd back to the hotel, then decided to hit up Crescent street. Crescent street was a pretty busy area, with quite a few bars and restaurants. We decided to eat at Vino's on the corner of St. Catherines and Crescent. By now it was 1:45AM and they were open for a little longer then that. It was mostly a seafood place, but the best part of the restaurant was the fact that we sat on the second level, on the outdoor terrace. Something special about sitting outside like that just relaxing. Our waitress (Vanessa) was smoking hot.
Day 4 - Monday July 12th
The previous night, Julio and I craved breakfast so we decided to wake up early. Up at 8:30AM this morning we made our way to the Latin Quarters to eat at Brioche Lyonnaise. I didn't get a true definition of Brioche but I assume it's some sort of bread. We had omelettes and brioch, as well as latte's. Brioche Lyonnaise is one of those hole in the walls, we barely spotted it and we were trying to look for it. I'd recommend it, decent breakfast.
We walked along Latin Quarter, but there wasn't much to see, it's more of a night time place. From the Fromme's book that we had, Latin Quarters is where the students hang out?
We passed by the University of Quebec Montreal (QUAM). From the outside it had us confusing it for a church. Very gothic like structure. Inside was very disappointing though. Very ordinary, didn't match the outside at all.
From the university we Bixi'd to Chinatown where we spent the next several hours. We ate at Kam Fung restaurant for dim sum. Their dim sum had way too much white pepper, you could taste it in the ha gow and in the sui mai. Their chicken feet was really good though. After dim sum we wondered around Chinatown some more. Shum bought a China style triangle hat (think Raiden). Weirdest part of Chinatown was seeing all the Chinese people speaking french, not something you see all the time.
We walked to Old Montreal where we visited 20 different souvenir shops, which was a huge waste of time, because each of the souvenir shops sold the EXACT same things.
Made our way to Place Jacques Cartier where we had some drinks at Le Fripon. Sat on the outside terrace again, but it was unique in that they had little sprinklers above which shot mist out at random intervals. Probably to cool you down? Didn't make much of a difference though, we went to Montreal at a bad time, it was crazy hot. Throughout the whole trip it ranged from 28 to 32 degrees, but with the humidity it felt much hotter. At Le Fripon Will and Julio ordered some fruity drinks, Shum had the Aphrodisiac beer, and I ordered a Rosee beer (both from local breweries).
After cooling off we did a little more souvenir shopping, and then decided to eat. The book we had recommended going to Club Chasse. The map that was inside the book was completely wrong, and it didn't help that the street signs were all french, but it took us almost half an hour to find Club Chasse. And when we found it, we also found out they were closed on Mondays. Our second choice was Chez L'epicier, but after looking at their menu it was a little too pricy for us. We decided to look for Cafe Stash, but again couldn't find that restaurant either so we just settled at the Keg. Prime rib for everyone but Will who had the filet mignon, stick with what you know. Our waitress was really nice, and spoke perfect english. She said that in Montreal about 50% speak both english and french, Quebec city was more 95% french to english.
It was raining pretty hard outside, and being the geniuses we are we decided to walk it back to the hotel. At one point we were counting the distance between the flash of lightning and the thunder, and counted 20 seconds (supposedly 20km away). The rain was coming down pretty hard so we had to take a cab. In the cab, we saw a flash, and before any of us could count to one, we heard the thunder. Plus one for taking the cab.
Back at the hotel, the lobby elevators were packed, and when we made our way up to the 34th floor where our room was we figured out why. The ground was wet. When we got into our room, the washroom was drenched. We packed our bags and after Shum talked to the front desk, we had a new room, except this time it was on the 14th floor (1424), half as high as before. To compensate we got free water and WiFi for the week, and two free toothbrushes!
Afterwards we went to the casino, which cost us $18 in cab fare. A quick look around showed us that the minimum bets were $25, I guess you can do that when you're the only casino in the city. We ended up playing Royal Ascot horse racing, just like real horse racing, minus all the wait times. Shum and Will ended up down $5, and I was up a whopping $2. On our way out of the casino though, Julio found a $25 chip, how does he keep doing this?
Day 5 - Tuesday July 13th
Again craving breakfast, we woke up early and had breakfast at Eggspectations on Maisonnvenue and Peel. This was the breakfast we were looking for, omelettes, crepes, and benedicts. I had the crepe benedict (crepe instead of the usual biscuit). Also had cappuccino. After the hearty breakfast we walked to Centre Bell and took pictures of all the historic statues, and monuments of past Canadiens. Really makes you admire the team they had, with so many greats wearing the Habs jersey.
Inside Centre Bell I picked up a Carey Price jersey for Amanda. We then walked to Peel Metro station where we explored the underground shopping malls. It took us a while to get there, and it was a little disappointing when we finally arrived. There weren't any unique stores, pretty much whatever we have in Vancouver.
During the trip we were doing a lot of "That's what she said" jokes. Shum killed it today though. He wouldn't shut up about it, and even stopped trying to be suttle after a while.
We took the metro to the Olympic stadium. We tried to visit the Insectarium but there was a strike and it wasn't open. Back at the Olympic stadium, we paid $15 to ride up the arm of the structure. It's quite a unique structure, especially given that it was built back in the mid 70's. From the top of the stadium we could see parts of Montreal that we couldn't see from the clock tower or Mont Royal. Montreal doesn't have too many houses. In fact I don't recall seeing any houses, it was mostly condo's and row housing. Much like Vancouver the city is filled with greenery.
After the stadium we took the Metro to Mont-Royal station, where we talked to a fella t the information booth. We wanted to go to a restaurant that allowed us to bring our own booze. He made a recommendation (La Cantine) and even told us where to buy the wine. We ended up buying Chateau Bonnet Entre-Deux-Mers Sauvignon Blanc white wine, and Domaine de Moulines Merlot. When we finally found La Cantine, the hostess told us it wasn't one of those restaurants where you bring your own wine, grrr. We go back to the information booth, luckily for the guy, he wasn't there anymore, replaced by a new girl. She recommended we go to L'Academie on Duluth and St. Denis. Despite the pouring rain, we walked for 3-4 blocks getting soaked, then decided to take a $5 cab ride for the remaining 2 blocks. Don't ask.
At L'Academie, the waiters knew right away and had an ice bucket for our wine as soon as we sat down. The food was amazing, we had lamb chops, cannelonni, filet mignon, and duck breast. We also had an appetizer meal of clams.
Back at the hotel we went back to the Bar and ordered some wings, cheese platter, more wine (White wine Vigneto la rosse), and some more drinks. I ordered a dry martini with gin, James Bond's drink, he can have it back, way too strong.
Day 6 - Wednesday July 14th
We woke up late today, around 12:50PM. After some calling around we decided on jet boating. The concierge helped us book, and was roughly $65 per person. We Bixi'd to Notre Dam Basilica, the famous church in Old Montreal. $5 to get in, and the inside was beautiful, reminded me a lot of the St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. The stained glass and decor all around was astonishing to look at. And to think it was built in the 1800's, amazing. After the church we ate at a Vietnamese ran Chinese food, Noobox. Selling point for us was the Chinese take-out box.
The jet boating was located near the clock tower which wasn't too far away. We suited up with life jackets, wet boots, and wind breaking poncho's. The boat itself was 1,400 HP, and took us way out to the rapids. The tour guide person was unbelievably brave, tippy toeing his way around the ledge of the boat even when it was in motion. The tour guide told us that we'd be facing 4.5 to 5 level rapids, in comparison Niagra Falls is a level 6. Those rapids hit you pretty hard, if you're not ready for it, it would be pretty easy to hurt yourself. We went through the heavy rapids around five times, and it felt like each time was more and more intense. The boat also did 180 degree turns. One of the guys on the boat was sporting a Blackhawks t-shirt, took a lot of willpower for me to not say anything. It wouldn't have been pretty to see me taunt a team that knocked us out of the playoffs two years in a row, and then won the cup. The boating was around 2 hours, and finished at roughly 7PM. On our way out of the port Julio found $2, how does he keep doing this?
We took the Bixi back to the hotel to change then Bixi'd our way to Duluth and St. Denis. Half way there we took a break, and Will was drenched, not a pretty sight, funny but not pretty at all.
The restaurant we wanted to try was Au Pied de Cochon (cochon meaning pig). Not surprisingly there was a wait of half an hour for the restaurant. Well worth the wait though. By and far the best food I've eaten in Montreal. We started with appetizers: duck carpaccio, and foie gras poutine. Up until this point I was pretty disappointed with Montreal's poutine, the supposed birth place of poutine has yet to blow me away. The foie gras (duck liver) poutine, did just that. It cost $23 but by far the best poutine I've ever had, I was eating the liver gravy by the spoonfuls. For entrees we had lamb shank, bison rib, pork chop and duck in a can. At first I was going to order their Au Pied de Cochon, but after the waiter said that it was a stew of pig feet, brains, and eyes, I changed my mind. The duck in a can was really good though. Literally a duck in a can, they put a plate in front of you, and then they bring a hot can of duck that's been cooked in it's own broth and other ingredients. Open the can, pour on plate of vegetables and serve. Dessert we had creme brulee which was alright, not the best though. And of course for drinks we ordered Trembly beer and a cider called Cidre du Minot (I think).
After dinner we worked it off by biking around the Mont Royal and Plateau area. We made our way to Thursdays back at Crescent where we sat on the second level terrace enjoying our Rickards. We decided to go back to the casino again, where we horse raced till roughly 5AM.
Day 7 - Thursday July 15th
Last day in Montreal and we woke up around 11AM. Will and I went souvenir shopping, and after a long walk on St. Catherines, I ended up buying a blue and white striped dress for Gloria. We also stopped at Chocolatier on Masionnvenue and Montagne where we bought four boxes of specialty chocolates each.
Checking out of the hotel at 2PM, we went back to Eggspectation for one last breakfast/lunch of California benedict, corn beef hash, smoked meat and swiss cheese omelette. We sat there for a bit reflecting on the trip and coming up with ways to improve future vacations.
We went back to the hotel and grabbed our bags, took the 747 express bus back to the airport. At the airport we had a perfect view to see our luggage get moved onto the plane. The two guys loading luggage onto the conveyor belt didn't care at all. They were heaving and body slamming bags like they hated them. I watched helplessly as my bag hit the conveyor belt, bounced up did a 180 and then barely stay on the belt. A lady behind us must've heard us talking, cause she approached us to tell us that she worked for West Jet, and those luggage handlers are not employed by West Jet, they're employees of the airport. She told us to rest assure that she'll tell somebody about this.
Our flight back involved a stop at Toronto, making the initial flight very fast, but once at the Toronto airport, we found out that our flight was delayed an hour. We grabbed some quick food at Tim Hortons and waited out till our plane took off at 9:45PM. The flight from Toronto to Vancouver was pretty long, just about as long as it took to go from Vancouver to Montreal (4 hours, 45 minutes). Shum ordered a caesars, but it was too spicy so I took it. I ended up falling asleep before finishing it, and when jolted awake, I knocked the cup over. Luckily the splash didn't hit the girl beside me it was all contained on me...
We cleared baggage reasonably fast, but our luggage was wet, cause it had been raining in Toronto, or maybe our luggage was crying from the abuse. Amanda picked me up, but unfortunately she didn't know about the delay.
Reflection
Montreal is a beautiful city, with plenty to do even after what normally would be last call in Vancouver (11AM). It's a great place to visit to just sit and chill, with a drink in your hand. Just don't go when it has a heat wave like we did. From talking with the locals, the hot temperature isn't a common thing. Vancouver needs to take a page out of Montreal and retain it's history. You can see the history of Montreal everywhere, especially in the buildings, whereas in Vancouver it's all about modernization and green. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but nostalgia is never a bad thing.
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