...Bonjour, Bon Appetit, Bon Voyage.
As we crossed the long bridge over the St. Laurence into
Montreal, I felt an ominous feeling rising in me. The wavy and disjointed construction of the bridge sent a deep and slow heartbeat reverberating through the bus. Like babies in a womb, comforted by our cosy surroundings, I couldn't help but think that we were about to be born to something unknown. The city looked dark and unfriendly from the bus, and then I remembered that the buses windows were actually tinted. I had a sense of how foreign this place was, even though i had been living in Canada for long enough. These feelings were confirmed by the francophone chatter which steadily increased as we neared our destination.
The French Canadians had been so quiet when we left new York, where they were so obviously the foreigners and in the minority to us English speakers. As we disembarked and attempted our first efforts at communication, I felt very much in the minority and realised what I had been warned about, that these people did not like having to speak English in their home land. I have been in foreign speaking countries before but the French have special and not so subtle ways of letting you know that you really should be able to speak and understand french (even if you are Australian?). Lets be honest here, French people are really not... well i was going to say nice, but I can't (compassion for all beings and all that). You know what i mean; They have a unique way of being.
The very first waitress that me and Millie encountered in Montreal was kind of rude. Some of you know of the special bond I share with waitresses. We have an under
standing which allows 
me to charm them with my witty banter and entertain the other members of my table at their expense. Which usually just makes everybody uncomfortable, want to up and leave and tip high. But this girl just didn't fit the bill. She hated me, even before i spoke. She had us sized up the moment we stumbled in with our baggage and dazed complexions. I never had a chance to even smile at her. Anyway, i am over it now but she really could have been more welcoming to a couple of wherry travellers. Eh Millie? Yeah.
We were fortunate enough to be staying in a friends vacant apartment for the first few days. We were doubly fortunate as this apartment was in the trendy and happening area called Plateau Mont Royal. It lay in the shadow of Mont Royal which turned out to be a hill - if me and Millie walked up it, then it's a hill, not a Mont. Which we did, the first day we were there. Even though we were somewhat disappointed that it was not snowing (something that Millie had wished for the whole trip), we were blessed with fairly friendly weather, for that time of year, in that part of the country. There was however some snow left on the ground on the hill and Millie finally got to do what I suspect she had come all the way from London to do. She made a snow ball and hurled it at me.
We spent most of the rest of the week just wandering around eating and drinking more. Sampling local beers and trying different restaurants in our area. The streets of Montreal reminded me of some run down eastern European city
(not that I've ever been there). When we arrived the streets were pretty much deserted because it was the 2nd of January so all the shops were still closed, and I assume because it was freezing cold? There was gravel all over the side walks and remnants of snow banks which had hardened into dirty patches of windswept ice. The great thing about Montreal streets is the graffiti everywhere. Oh, and the hot french chicks.
We visited a few of the tourist sites around town too. In One day we managed to go to the Botanical Gardens, which where predictably frozen (They even wrap up some of the plants so they end up looking like these strange frozen figures), the Insectarium which was quite disturbing and the Biodome, which was pretty amazing; A collection of different environments from all over the world, including Antarctic and Tropical Rain forest, of which you can walk through and check out the flora and fauna.
As the weekend rolled around things livened up on the Plateau. We went out with a friend from Vancouver to a Breakdance Battle. It was being held in the upstairs of this big Chinese restaurant out in the suburbs, which on the same evening was the venue for a 30th Birthday party and an Indian wedding! The break dancing was pretty impressive and tensions were high as the locals defended their home turf from the challengers. At one point the MC just dropped the mic and walked off stage mid sentence to do battle with some young gun who had obviously had
the audacity to dance outside of the competition. I went and watched the battle that ensued and had to try really hard not to laugh out loud as the opponents stood arms crossed and breathing hard in between displays, sweating profusely in there all over trackies, their eyes all red from staring each other down.
The dancing was cool though and the final battle was filled with attitude and power moves. All the excitement put us and our lovely companions in a dancing mood so we headed back to the Plateau in search of a suitable venue. On the way we passed a photo booth and it was proposed that we get all eight of us into one photo. We tried and if you look very closely you can see my eye somewhere in one of them.
At an apartment later, an impromptu yoga session degraded into a little break dance battle of our own, after a few shots. This was my power move... Then we went out and tore up the dance floor at one of the Plateau's hottest bars.
With that mine and Millie's time in Montreal and indeed North America together was pretty much over. After a hard day recovering in a cafe I escorted her to the greyhound station and we said goodbye. As she was boarding the bus it started to snow, so I guess she finally got her wish.
As we crossed the long bridge over the St. Laurence into
Montreal, I felt an ominous feeling rising in me. The wavy and disjointed construction of the bridge sent a deep and slow heartbeat reverberating through the bus. Like babies in a womb, comforted by our cosy surroundings, I couldn't help but think that we were about to be born to something unknown. The city looked dark and unfriendly from the bus, and then I remembered that the buses windows were actually tinted. I had a sense of how foreign this place was, even though i had been living in Canada for long enough. These feelings were confirmed by the francophone chatter which steadily increased as we neared our destination.The French Canadians had been so quiet when we left new York, where they were so obviously the foreigners and in the minority to us English speakers. As we disembarked and attempted our first efforts at communication, I felt very much in the minority and realised what I had been warned about, that these people did not like having to speak English in their home land. I have been in foreign speaking countries before but the French have special and not so subtle ways of letting you know that you really should be able to speak and understand french (even if you are Australian?). Lets be honest here, French people are really not... well i was going to say nice, but I can't (compassion for all beings and all that). You know what i mean; They have a unique way of being.
The very first waitress that me and Millie encountered in Montreal was kind of rude. Some of you know of the special bond I share with waitresses. We have an under
standing which allows 
me to charm them with my witty banter and entertain the other members of my table at their expense. Which usually just makes everybody uncomfortable, want to up and leave and tip high. But this girl just didn't fit the bill. She hated me, even before i spoke. She had us sized up the moment we stumbled in with our baggage and dazed complexions. I never had a chance to even smile at her. Anyway, i am over it now but she really could have been more welcoming to a couple of wherry travellers. Eh Millie? Yeah.
We were fortunate enough to be staying in a friends vacant apartment for the first few days. We were doubly fortunate as this apartment was in the trendy and happening area called Plateau Mont Royal. It lay in the shadow of Mont Royal which turned out to be a hill - if me and Millie walked up it, then it's a hill, not a Mont. Which we did, the first day we were there. Even though we were somewhat disappointed that it was not snowing (something that Millie had wished for the whole trip), we were blessed with fairly friendly weather, for that time of year, in that part of the country. There was however some snow left on the ground on the hill and Millie finally got to do what I suspect she had come all the way from London to do. She made a snow ball and hurled it at me.
We spent most of the rest of the week just wandering around eating and drinking more. Sampling local beers and trying different restaurants in our area. The streets of Montreal reminded me of some run down eastern European city
(not that I've ever been there). When we arrived the streets were pretty much deserted because it was the 2nd of January so all the shops were still closed, and I assume because it was freezing cold? There was gravel all over the side walks and remnants of snow banks which had hardened into dirty patches of windswept ice. The great thing about Montreal streets is the graffiti everywhere. Oh, and the hot french chicks.
We visited a few of the tourist sites around town too. In One day we managed to go to the Botanical Gardens, which where predictably frozen (They even wrap up some of the plants so they end up looking like these strange frozen figures), the Insectarium which was quite disturbing and the Biodome, which was pretty amazing; A collection of different environments from all over the world, including Antarctic and Tropical Rain forest, of which you can walk through and check out the flora and fauna.
As the weekend rolled around things livened up on the Plateau. We went out with a friend from Vancouver to a Breakdance Battle. It was being held in the upstairs of this big Chinese restaurant out in the suburbs, which on the same evening was the venue for a 30th Birthday party and an Indian wedding! The break dancing was pretty impressive and tensions were high as the locals defended their home turf from the challengers. At one point the MC just dropped the mic and walked off stage mid sentence to do battle with some young gun who had obviously had
the audacity to dance outside of the competition. I went and watched the battle that ensued and had to try really hard not to laugh out loud as the opponents stood arms crossed and breathing hard in between displays, sweating profusely in there all over trackies, their eyes all red from staring each other down.
The dancing was cool though and the final battle was filled with attitude and power moves. All the excitement put us and our lovely companions in a dancing mood so we headed back to the Plateau in search of a suitable venue. On the way we passed a photo booth and it was proposed that we get all eight of us into one photo. We tried and if you look very closely you can see my eye somewhere in one of them.
At an apartment later, an impromptu yoga session degraded into a little break dance battle of our own, after a few shots. This was my power move... Then we went out and tore up the dance floor at one of the Plateau's hottest bars.
With that mine and Millie's time in Montreal and indeed North America together was pretty much over. After a hard day recovering in a cafe I escorted her to the greyhound station and we said goodbye. As she was boarding the bus it started to snow, so I guess she finally got her wish.
posted by Unknown at 1:27 PM
