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Living room of my apt at Solin Hall |
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Kitchen/dining area - I just used the table to throw my backpack on! And the fridge to keep | fruit and water cold. |
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Cafe where I had my bagel |
Didn't have a good sleep last night - kind of noisy with traffic and people and a new bed. But at least this one had a box spring and not a board underneath the mattress!!! Anyway I headed off about 7:30 - ran back to change into long pants and put on my rain jacket which is a very good thing. At this point it had rained overnight but had stopped. I took the metro to Place D'armes and found the Travelodge where the 10km walk of Old Montreal started. I hadn't had breakfast at this point but after a couple of km I found a diner so had a coffee and bagel and cream cheese. Nothing like a Montreal (or New York) bagel...I hate the ones that are like a bun with a hole in it which is basically what any you get at home are like.
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Tres wet Vieux Montreal |
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Display of Seabirds at the Biodome |
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Notre Dame |
From there I carried on walking in the rain through the old town and went into a Montreal history museum which was excellent - could have spent longer and in retrospect I wish I had. Did not realize how they razed whole neighbourhoods for Expo 67. Very sad. Also there was an exhibit on immigrants - one out of five Montrealers are born elsewhere and a lot come to Canada to escape oppression in their home country. I could have sat all afternoon listening to their stories on the ipads provided. I admire immigrants so much. From there I stopped and had a egg, cheese and ham crepe as it was lunch. Little did I know that one block away was St. Paul street which had loads of quaint restaurants. Oh well. I walked a little further and then got fed up and said to hell with this walk and got the metro to the Biodome. A good 30 minutes in line as everyone else had the same brainy idea. Anyway I enjoyed the Biodome - was there in about 1993 and loved it more then as it wasn't as crowded. So many damn kids screaming their fool heads off. Why do people take their two year olds to something like that...they have no clue. Oh yeah...they want to see it and they are too damn cheap to pay a babysitter so we all have to suffer while their brat is exhausted from being dragged around and has a tantrum. I gave up trying to video at one point as this kid was having a total melt down and the parents did nothing. Oh my hand was itching it was....I'd give her something to cry about. :)
Anyway the Biodome is the former Velodrome from the Olympic games in 1976 - I guess something good came out of the Olympics. It has four ecosystems with the appropriate animals and plant life - Tropical, Laurentian forest, polar and the coastline. The latter was really neat with all sorts of sea birds flying over our heads. The penguins were adorable. I love the way they walk - reminds me of me on a bad knee day. :)
From there I decided to go to Little Italy so got off at the metro station but could not find it and no one I asked had a clue. Well one directed me but could not find it. By now I was getting annoyed so hopped (or staggered to) the metro and ended up having an Indian meal downtown. This is a very abreviated version of events. By this time I was tired and hungry and some strange fellow started whistling as we were waiting for the train - he kept wandering up and down the platform almost testing to see how it sounded - I HATE whistling - have done since I was a child - it was a toss up whether to push him onto the tracks or tell him to shut the f**k up. (or do both in reverse order) Luckily the train came in before I had to make the decision.
Anyway veggie korma which was the best I've ever had - with naan followed by masala chai. Very nice!!!
I picked up a copy of the Montreal Gazette so up to my apt now to relax and read for a bit. I am very very tired and bitchy. (in case you hadn't noticed)
Tomorrow more rain is predicted so looking at more museums - the original plan was to go on a 10km walk up to Mount Royal park....oh well what can you do you can't control the weather so you have to go with the flow.
Two weeks and two days on the road and I am getting a bit travel weary. How sad is that.
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