Friday, June 4, 2010

Oh Canada!


So today it happened. Me and Wingman left quasi familiar New York to continue our journey towards and into Canada. The ride through New York state was quite scenic. We actually saw a wild deer running alongside us at one point. The nature was full of rolling green hills, lush trees, and wild life. At about 1:30, we reached the border. Customs went quick, although we had the slow lane.

Then shit got real. After customs we were told we could just go. Um, k. There were buildings and parking spots but we just went to the road. Suddenly miles per hour were a thing of the past as I look at the inside of my speedometer at the kilometers. The signs, clearly in French, not as easy to follow as I imagined. Because of international fees, my iPhone has been set to airplane mode. This means no more GPS. However, I had insight enough to map out where our Montreal hotel is. Although we could follow the path, we lost the blinking blue dot. Life continues.

Montreal is not far from the border nor was it hard to find. So, we reach the city. The hotel doesn't have parking, we need to ditch the car. Shit. We find all day parking lots but we of course do not have any Canadian dollars. The roads are similar to NYC as they are mostly one way and the lanes are highly ambiguous. Compared to NYC though, it's a walk in the park (central).

Dilemma solved by finding hour parking near the hotel and going to them for advice / guidance. This is where we met Harp (our angel). She runs / lives in the hotel, speaks fluent English, had maps and advice, let us check in early, told us where to pay to park, and where the nearest ATM is. Yes. So, we did all that.

On a side note, I'm pretty certain everyone at this tiny hotel think me and Wingman are a couple. For one thing, it is a gay friendly hotel, the rooms are just a double bed, Harp suggested clubs we could go too, and we basically fit the bear & cub profile. Yikes. It doesn't bother me, but it's pretty damn funny.

So we walked down St. Catherine street, quite amazing. I could get use to this city. It's very friendly, very clean, and has a plethora of attractive women. After much exploring, we could a bar/ restaurant to eat at. The burgers were cooked in beer but tasted like meatloaf. The place was a micro brewery and was happy hour. Did I mention the beer comes in liters? Well it does. It was damn good beer and sobriety left town. 3 o'clock.

We followed dinner with some more exploring and went back to the hotel We got out internet working and I think I took a drunken nap. Regardless, we went back out, this time Saint Dennis St. West was much like Atlantic and east was like Duval St. Cafes, bars, restaurants, attractive women, the whole deal. Fun place, fun times. We found a pool bar, had some Molson Ex, watched part of the hockey championship, and played some pool. Yea, we are running the gambit. Canadian money is confusing. The 2-dollar coin is neat though. Wingman calls it the crown. The one-dollar coin is now the duck.

We don't have plans for tomorrow. We will do some sight seeing, some drinking, some metro riding, some museum viewing, lots of walking, who knows. We will continue doing it live.

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