Tuesday, June 24, 2008

East Coast of America Trek: Montreal

A beautiful sunny morning! Even warm. We had breakfast packed up the tents and punctually at 9.30am we were on our way to Montreal. It was a long drive and unfortunately we didn't take the "weather with us", it got consistently worse and by the time we got to Montreal it was really raining!
I suppose we were lucky we got stuck in traffic, as by the time we pulled up at the campsite the rain took a break, and we were able to build up the tents without trying to dodge the raindrops. We stayed at a KOA campground which had a shelter for us to cook under. That proved very handy, as it started raining again once the tents were up.

Dinner today was hot dogs and salad, then it was off on a rainy sight-seeing tour of Montreal. We drove up Mound Royal for a great but very cold night view of the city, then we went into town to a bar for a quick drink, the bar was called "Thursdays", we didn't all feel welcome there.
For a start we were given the once over, when we walked in and the waitress was extremely rude. When we paid we were all separately told "Service is not included", that's the first and last time anyone demands a tip from me. She was lucky though, we were too shocked to give her the reaction she deserved. We left the bar at 12.30 and it was back to the campground for a very, very cold night.

I think my face froze off last night. I will have to master the art of sleeping with my face in the sleeping bag. It was a bit cold when I woke to a frozen nose this morning. At breakfast we actually found ice on a puddle on the buckets, so the temperature was definitely very low last night. We packed up in good time and sunshine, the rain has completely cleared up leaving sunshine, but also unfortunately a bitingly cold wind.

Today was our sightseeing day in Montreal, or for some jet-boating, which everyone really enjoyed. I skipped that as I will all sports involving water, cause of my cold. Instead of drowning ourselves, Erica and I explored the old town of Montreal. Our first stop however was a café for a hot chocolate (or in Erica's case - tea) to warm us up a bit, as the wind is really icy cold!

Notre Dame in Montreal - Beautiful!We then made our way to the Notre Dame church via the Bureau de Change. The church was incredible, we were there at a good time and waited for a guided tour, which came free with the $2 entrance fee. It was very interesting. After that we were getting hungry and we found a very nice place in the old town, where they did sweet and savoury crêpes. They had a lunch menu which included a soup or salad and dessert. Soup was Asparagus - delicious, then we both had crêpes with ham and cheese and béchamel sauce. I left some of that to leave room for dessert which was a crêpe with warm banana and chocolate sauce. Delicious, the rest of the afternoon 'til we re-met the others at 3.30pm we spent in and out of souvenir shops. And now we are in the van on our way to Quebec.

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