Today we wished to visit the McCord museum, but due to the tardiness of my landlord (who I had to hand my keys back to) missed out on it and its FREE displays. My key chain went from full to empty, and after saying goodbye to St. Cathy's on St Catherine, we handed back to keys to our lovely condo and hit the road to Ottawa. It was the thing to do today, the line was enormous, and they just kept lining up buses, filling them and sending them off. We piled onto the bus together, and slept (I think).
We arrived in Ottawa at 3, checked into our hostel and met very quaint office staff. Sophie is enthralled already! We then decided to head out, check out the ByWard Markets and OBAMA COOKIES! We each had one, and mum and Sophie even managed to get in a coffee in a bowl! They were most enjoyable! Yay Obama, and your photo everywhere in the bakery. We bought supplies for our stay, and attempted to drink. Sophie is underage in Ontario, we tried to play dumb, we failed in getting her booze, but she did however receive free coke and free hot chocolate! I had some cider, and mum had some wine (such rarities in Montreal). We then came back to our hostel and cooked a nourishing stir-fry (minus the noodles which we forgot to soak, but next time for sure). I espcailly enjoy the named "maxi-pippins" here, Sophie pats him a lot, but mum and I are hesitant. His presence is nice though.
The year started with snow and fireworks in place Jacques Cartier. and then many hours later: good morning twenty-ten! but not good morning Montreal, most everything, including a 24/7 bagel hut was closed. Today we were going to try the great bagel challenge - St Viateur VS Fairmount. Fairmount won by default (as only it was open new years day)... I think the photographic evidence speaks louder than words:
St Viateur =
and Fairmount =
We met up with Annabel and Dave and had coffee in a bowl! We then strutted around Mile End and enjoyed st Micheal's and st Anthony's church. It has a hyper-dome!! We caught many a bus and many a metro, and made it out to St Joseph's oratory. You could touch Jesus's feet for luck if you wanted, so I did in the name of pro-choice, gay rights and the abolition of Tony Abbot. Lets hope he took some notice. There are 300 stairs to the top, and if you are extremely devout, you may climb them all on your knees praying on each step.
We attempted more activity in Montreal, but both daylight hours and the closed state of everything prohibited us. We had some champagne on the roof of our condo and enjoyed the views of Montreal and the glorious farine: five roses sign.
Today was a hearty Canadian tribute to the end of the year.
After nourishing breakfast and waiting around to get the new keys to the condo we are renting (the locks were changed to the unsuspecting property owners of the complex) we trekked up Mont Royal. We wound our way up the mountain and stomped through much unnecessary snow, when we couldn't find the path. We ice skated / learnt to ice skate on lac du Castor (lake of the beaver / beaver lake) which is a charming lake near the top of the mountain. This was much fun. The little children proved to be a danger, they have wild movements, and are prone to sudden falls. I was quite worried one would take me out, but with impressive dodging skills I survived. As the sun was beginning to set, we decided we should climb down the mountain. After making it down, we stopped in at Horto's for a warming hot chocolate and cookies. We then waited 45 minutes in a line that started around the block to get into the SAQ to buy delicious sparkling and still ice cidre. We had to seedly carry this home as the store was out of bags.
We had some sushi, drank Quebec cidre and watched quality Canadian T.V in the wait for New Years. Later we are going to head down to the old Port to watch the new year firework show...
Today was cold enough to warrant the thermals! They say it felt like -26...
This morning we caught the metro to the Olympic Stadium. It was so glorious all covered in snow. We took the funicular to the viewing podium. The man operating the funicular asked where we were from and when we responded Australia he gave us a pamphlet all about how the building stays upright thanks to gravity! It must be something Australians take a special interest in... The views were lovely - we were quite lucky to get a clear day.
After doing a few laps of the tower, we went over to the biodome. It was AMAZING! All the animals we saw sat next to their signs, which was both perplexing and helpful. We saw a beavers. They swam and frolicked around, and even did a flip under water. The people watching were going mental. They were a very appreciatory crowd, "ohhh-ing", "aaaaaa-ing" and general cheering loudly. We also saw penguins! We stopped at the penguin exhibit for ages, they were so cool. The children getting photos with the penguins thought they were very cool too, and would not pose in photos their parents were trying to force them into. The children clearly did not want to look at the camera - they wanted to look at the penguins! Finally we saw the crowning glory of the biodome - the sloth!!!! This was the first time it had been spotted in a week! It was too exciting, sloths move so slowly that moss grows on them. It was just chillin in the high, high tree tops.
We posed on the podium and metro-ed to berri UQAM, one of the French universities of Montreal. We saw the bibliotheque et archives nationale du quebec, which is an acclaimed architectural glory (to some). We wandered inside to warm up and plan our route home. We stopped by the palais des congres, which was almost a disappointment, as we couldn't find the right side to look, but then after walking around the 3 other sides became a joy as we saw the pretty coloured windows the building is famed for. We also saw the place d'youville obelisk before drinking cherry beer (at 4:30) in the old port!
The temperature took a turn for the worse today - it plummeted down to -15 with a wind chill of -26! So after a brisk walk in the morning the majority of the rest of the day was spent indoors. We packed up my room into two suitcases! It took hours and hours, but my room is now ready to be inhabited by someone else.
We took a break, did some window shopping, laughed at spoon busker and stopped in at a chocolatier. The shop was filled with clocks, which were all set to different times, so would chime while you were sitting or browsing the shop. I know this sounds like an annoying concept, but the chimes were not obnoxious, they were merry and enjoyable. At the chocolatiers you could get a hot chocolate in a variety of novel flavours. Sophie had a toblerone hot chocolate, mum had orange chocolate and I had coconut-white. It was SO good! Sophie also spied some Absinthe chocolate she would like for later...
Today we tramped around the Old Port for hours - we were making the most of the 0 degree weather!
We started by trying to get into the Bank of Montreal, which had instead called a bank holiday!
Many places also had this stance, and had prohibited from entering them, due to the nature of the day (a Monday) and its proximity to Christmas. We enjoyed the moat and snowy surrounds of the Champs de Mars and adjoining metro station art (which was un-adjoiningly appreciated by Sophie). I smelt the rich mahogany of the Chateau Ramezay and shook my fist at the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours as I was turned away at the door (what sort of Church gives itself a day off!). Instead we took in the Bonsecours marche and did a round walking tour of Old Montreal. Starting with Place d'Arms and ending 2.5km later with Place d'Arms.
In the afternoon we went to the Biosphere! This is a water wonderland, teaching all about the joys of proper water and environment management and the majestic fleuve St. Lawerence. Sophie and I splashed about in the kiddy play section (as we did lie and pretend to be child age so we could get in for free). When asking for two children tickets, Mum was asked: "Do you have proof their underage?" mum's response: "no". This was good enough for them, and in strutted Sophie and I! We got to walk on water like a certain Jesus. We had races but I think because I shrieked WWJD about 20 times, I lost. There was the most amazing viewing tower in the biosphere. We could see out over all of Montreal, as the sun was picturesquely setting. What a sight! We also rode the glass elevator (with equally nice sights) about 5 or 6 times to take in the view in style. ------ ---------
We then aged rapidly and went to the CASINO! Woo - Sophie's first gamble! We had cocktails on the top level. We had a great view of the mini horsey track, and of the bright lights of the casino. We even managed a gamble - on the fun machines where you get to pull the lever. No wins to report. It was a little bit sad, as the casino was PACKED, and it was only a Monday night!!!
Today I baked pancakes for breakfast and ate them with pure Maple Syrup!
Mum, Sophette and I cultured ourselves and visited the Museum of Fine Arts. They managed to cram a lot of fine arts into a small museum, we felt torn between too many art subjects and focuses. There were some nice paintings of Quebec which I could relate to, which was mildly exciting.
We had poutine for lunch. Mum and Soph enjoyed their first taste of Montreal's finest cuisine. We even splashed out and had a crazy flavor (with mushrooms, peppers, onion and NO bacon). bon appétit!
We then explored the Plateau, wee galleries, and generally slushed around in the snow. We tried to get into Schwartz's Deli (the most glorious meat shack in the land) but could not, as people were queing up out the door to shove their gobs with unholy amounts of smoked meat, and our need to oogle at meat did not strike us that die hardly. The temperature was above zero, which was a shame as all the snow started to melt. Making the grounds both slippy and sloshy! When Sophies feet got too cold from stomping snow we took shelter in a warm cafe and planned our trip to Redpath Museum. We were most undelighted to find it CLOSED! Bastards! We then had to come up with a makeshift plan of Ville Marie (the start of underground city) and we poked our heads into a service of the Cathedrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde. We retreated home in the wind-chill to glorious, warming eggnog and pumpkin pie.
