Sorry for the lateness of this guys. The last week has been kind of intense and busy, with school and work and social interaction I haven't had a spare half hour to write this all out. But I want to get it out before I forget it all. Even now my time in Montreal seems like a dream, an awesome dream, but a dream all the same. I was so impressed by the city and how stress free and happy I felt there, that already I don't believe that my time there was real. Isn't that strange? I felt very at home in the city, despite the language barrier and the fact that I know very few people there. The atmosphere and architecture and the laid back nature of everyone around made such an impression on me, that I've already decided that at some point in my life I need to live there.
I ended up driving to Montreal with my cousin Anna's best friend. I met her once before last summer, but we had a lot in common so spending six hours in a car with a virtual stranger was not a problem. We actually both had backgrounds in feminist theory, and were both single girls, so we could cover both shallow and deeper conversation topics. We made it to Montreal in about six hours, even though it should have been less. The route we ended up taking into the city involved a lot of construction and stupid drivers so it added a good hour to the trip. Parking was also a little tricky to find, but we managed. We ended up parking on Doctor Penfield road, which I spent the rest of the weekend calling Dr. Burnt Toast road, mostly due to the Part of our Heritage commercial that featured the good doctor.
We met up with my cousin and her boyfriend and his roommate and all went our for Lebanese fast food (oh so tasty) and cheap beer (somewhat less tasty....). Sadly before we went out the power at the apartment I was spending the weekend at went out. It being a long weekend, the boys were going to be out of luck until the Tuesday. We spent the rest of our time there with one outlet working. It made it a bit tricky for us girls to primp, but with a little team work we managed just fine.
That first night in Montreal we hit a few bars, the last one we ended up at, Rouge, was somewhat sleazy. Yet due to the sleaziness I didn't have to pay for any of my drinks, so it was alright in my books. And I really enjoyed how last call wasn't until 3am, it made for a longer night out. Especially 'cause most nights we didn't end up leaving the apartment until midnight.
I also participated in the traditional drunken eating of Poutine after leaving the bar. I did only have a few bites, cause I wasn't drunk enough to think it would actually taste good or anything, but I still participated in the whole event. It was a good time. I ended up talking about Tess of the D'urbervilles with a man from Oxford for quite a long time, then catching a cab ride home with one of his friends. She was awesome too, she gave me and my friend advice on bars to check out the next night, and wouldn't take our money for our portion of the trip.
The next day, Saturday, us girls headed out to Mount Royale and this awesome little cafe. We drank coffee, ate Brie and people watched. It was a lovely time. The coffee was so good and so cheap, the stuff at Second Cup really isn't cutting it for me anymore. Which is sad. Edmonton definitely needs more little independent coffee shops. Preferably with cute Francophone waiters.
We went out that night to a few more bars and I had my one and only bad Montreal experience. Within ten minutes at the first bar of the evening I had my wallet stolen out of my purse. So there went my money, my id, my metro pass....everything. It meant I wasn't going to be able to go the Oshega festival the next day, and I was going to have a bitch of a time getting on the plane to go home. Fortunately I had taken most of the cash out of my wallet before we left for the bar, so I was going to have enough to eat for the rest of the trip, but it was still a very upsetting experience.
I allowed myself ten full minutes of freaking out after I discovered it was gone and then decided to make the best of the situation. I ended up having a fantastic night that night. I met some wonderful, generous people, had one of the best conversations of my life and discovered a new beer (Murphy's). It was pretty awesome, and a time I think I'm going to treasure for a long time.
On Sunday I went and filed a police report and then just wondered around Montreal by myself. I read in a park for awhile and then went to a cafe and treated myself to some Tiramisu. I had a great time being by myself. I felt much more confident in Montreal than I normally do in Edmonton. I'm not exactly sure why though. Sitting in the park, I felt at home and free. In a way there was a freedom in not having my wallet. I could have been anyone, with no id, and very little money. And I was also really proud at how I handled myself with the whole incident.
The last day in Montreal was pretty relaxed. I went to a friends for tasty breakfast and then just snoozed on the couch until it was time to drive back to Toronto. The drive back was a lot of fun, filled with girl talk, singing along to Arcade Fire and fist pumping. We got back into Toronto around 10:30 that night.
I had to get up hella early for my flight the next day, which kind of sucked. The airport people were particularity lovely though. One can actually get on domestic flights without picture id if you have a police report. My check in agent was especially sympathetic to my plight. She called me dear, and made sure I'd have no problems getting on my plane. I didn't even have to cry like I originally thought I would have to.
My new roomie was kind enough to come and get me from the airport and lend me money for groceries, thanks again new roomie! I did have the most ANNOYING seat mate on the plane ride though. So the trip home wasn't all that great. I was also pretty exhausted, I didn't do much sleeping on my mini vacation. It was worth it though.
And that's my eastern adventure. If you made it to the end of this long narrative I give you kudos!
Labels: Drinking, Travel
