My first day in Montreal was exploring the city itself. The hostel was situated in the gay community. Multicoloured ribbons filled the Main Street. I purchased an MTL Passport. Recommended by Lisa and Arne. It was a card that you paid a one off fee and then were able to access all the activities and sightseeing in the city. Plus transportation. The first night I met a few people in my dorm room. Two of the boys, Yve’s from the Netherlands and Sean who was, I think, Canadian. They were both pretty young and had a strange way about them. We wandered down the road for something to eat. That evening a group of us in our room all played drinking games until they eventually went out, I decided to go to bed.
The next day I caught a cruise at the of port of Montreal which took you down the river on the city and visited the Biosphere Environmental Museum. Later that night Rob had arrived at the hostel. We arranged to meet up later that evening to head towards the Montreal casino. Before heading out we decided to go down into the hostel bar which had karaoke on. We had a few jugs and watched people sing. Some people were absolutely loving it, there was particularly one Chinese boy who was getting people off there feet and dancing. Another guy who thought he was an amazing singer and wouldn’t get off the microphone interrupting people while they sung so he could get more singing time. Me and Rob were holding back our laughter. Rob joked that the Chinese guy was his hero. Absolute fan girl. In the end we headed off to the casino where we made a pact that would only get 50 CAD and once it was gone that was the end of our betting. At first we were wandering around the casino. Clueless. We nearly walked into the high flyers until we were pointed in the direction of the 5 CAD bets. Rightly so. We both lost our money very quickly and headed to the bar for a drink.
Rob bailed the next morning. He couldn’t hack the drink. So I ventured out and headed to a virtual reality museum. The whole experience was so different to any museum I had been to. Each room had different virtual worlds. Environments, space and some other artist works and ideas that were made into virtual realities. In the environment room you put on a full suit, headset, gloves and feet. You could walk a few feet forward and back and use your hands to touch the partials in the air. The space room made you feel like you was there and floating in space. You could see the potential use for future gaming. Although beware of motion sickness when using these virtual headsets. After an hour I was feeling a little queasy.
That evening I met up with Rob who had finally recovered from his hangover. We headed out to the Mont Royal viewpoint. We grabbed a bus to the bottom of the hill and began to walk until we reached the steps. 400 Steps. Along the way we took lots of breathers and watched the wildlife, a few raccoons up to mischief. We made it to the top and were rewarded with full view of Montreal city. The buildings slowly lighting up as the sun set. We got in a few photo ops and decided to head back before we were eaten alive by swarms of mosquitoes. On the way back Rob was much more concerned about being in a park at night. He was terrified of being bitten by wild rabid dogs. He told me this was his ultimate fear, that and goats.
It was another nice, sunny day in Montreal. We decided to head to the Olympic park for a tour of the grounds and to head up to the viewing tower. Personal opinion. I didn’t really like the look of the Olympic stadium here. I felt it was completely out of place. You couldn’t miss towering in the skyline.
Once inside the stadium we were able to walk through the swimming pools through to the main arena. It was pretty impressive when you walked into the middle of the stadium. Imaging the sounds of cheering crowds and how the Olympians must of felt standing beneath like tiny ants. It turned out to be a good tour through the stadium. We headed up to the viewing tower where we were able to see great views of the city.
Afterwards we went to the Botanical gardens and followed the blue dotted path through the park grounds.
My final evening, we decided to go for dinner at a restaurant recommended by a guy, Mike, and his girlfriend who we met in the hostel bar. Le Hieu Fumant. We ditched the free pasta provided by the hostel and headed here. It was the most incredible food. After we met up with, Mike in the hostel bar where we drank and played pool. We were all drunk and tipsy. A random guy came up to me in the bar saying inappropriate comments. I told him to go away. He didn’t like the fact I was with Rob and Mike. He tried starting a fight with them. It all ended badly, the boy was kicked out the bar and we had retreated through the smoking area doors. I was so angry at what had happened. Rob joked that he was obviously threatened by a good looking lad. The next morning, embarrassed by what had happened and a mouth tasting like a brewery. Rob assured me we was in our right to fight back and that the boy was being a total douche.
I packed my bag and checked out before 11am. We had quickly recovered from our hangovers and headed out into the city one last time. We decided to walk along the river and went on the zip line which was part of the MTL passport. After this I grabbed my bags and said my goodbyes to Rob. We walked to the station. He grabbed his greyhound ticket for Toronto which was leaving for the next day. The city itself wasn’t my favourite but meeting Rob made my time in Montreal. I had learnt a huge lesson from him. To have fun and not take life too serious. We had an amazing few days laughing, we joked and bantered the whole time. I have never know a boy to talk so much. When I left Montreal it was silent on the train. No chirping noises in my ear. I would definitely miss him.
Sarah’s Voyage 