Montreal

My train from Toronto got into Montreal on Sunday night. The Montreal train station was pretty dead, and its surroundings downtown even more so. It took me a while to find the metro (subway) through a series of complicated underground tunnels. I had of course made it more complicated than I needed to because I hadn't even gone to the nearest metro. But that's all a part of the fun in getting lost in a foreign city.

All across Canada, in many of the English speaking places, signs were bilingual – English and French. So I was surprised that when I got to Montreal and most of the signs were in French only. Thanks to a combination of my sub-basic French and the similarities between French and English words, I usually managed to figure out the meaning of most signs. However when someone started talking to me in French, I pretty much had no idea beyond “Bonjour!”

My first night at the hostel was a quiet one. It was to be my last quiet one in Montreal, I just didn't realise it yet.

My first full day in Montreal was to begin with a hostel-organised bike tour, but the weather was bad and there wasn't much interest so it was canceled. I went on a self guided walking tour instead (ie. just walking around) but after it started raining, I lasted only about 2 hours of walking in the rain until I gave up, drenched. I went into a warm bar for lunch and ordered a local beer and some poutine. Poutine is a famous Quebecan food which consists of french fries and cheese curds covered in hot gravy. This rather unhealthy treat is so good when you eat it, but as you can imagine leaves you feeling a little sick afterwards. I had it 3 times in my first 2 days in Montreal so I had to do a lot of walking to work it off! But no more that dreary, rainy day: I went back to the hostel to do my washing.

That night was hockey night, a very important night in Montreal. The Montreal Canadians are in the ice hockey playoffs, and the city is completely hockey crazy. Canadiens flags are being flown on a quarter of all cars in the city, from many houses and buildings and Canadiens murals are found on various walls around the city. School kids wear Canadiens T-shirts with their school uniform, and the public transport bus displays switch between the bus number and destination and “Go Canadiens Go!”

A hostel staff member painted “Go Habs!” on my forehead with paint and a whiteboard marker and we headed to a bar to watch the game. It felt good to get into the spirit of things.

Unfortunately Montreal lost. But it was a good night anyway, and I had a chance to meet a bunch of people.

I spent the next few days exploring more of the city. The rain had held off, and even though most of the time it was still very chilly, but good enough to appreciate the sights around the city, including Old Montreal, the park islands in the St Lawerence River and the downtown shopping areas.

My third night in the city, a Tuesday night, was a massive one thanks to a hostel-organised pub crawl which began in a place offering five shots for $11. My fourth night required further bar drinking as it was another hockey night. My fifth night (and I note I was originally only going to stay three nights) was another pub crawl and who am I to say no to that.

Before I got to Montreal I had heard that it has the most beautiful women in Canada. My somewhat extensive observations in the city proved that to be correct. Just riding the metro was interesting but I was blown away by how gorgeous pretty much each and every bar maid was. I guess that helps when you work behind the bar in a tipping country like Canada.

My last full day was spent hanging out with a Brisbane girl and two girls from Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada. We covered a lot of ground, from the Biosphere on one of the islands in the St Lawerence to Little Italy in the northern suburbs.

By the time it hit Friday it was definitely time to leave. I loved my time in Montreal but it was time to move on. The amount of going out I had done in the week made me think that it might be dangerous to try to survive a weekend in Montreal.

I would head to Halifax, Nova Scotia. It wasn't on my original itinerary but many people I met in Canada along the way, including Robin and Livia who I'd hung out with in Montreal, were adamant that I should check out Nova Scotia. I also liked the idea that I could then say I've made it from coast to coast by rail. And as a final incentive, my friend Jen who I met in Europe in 2006 had good friends in Halifax that I could stay with. The beauty of traveling on a rail pass is the flexibility to change an itinerary at a whim, so on Friday I boarded a train bound for a 20 hour train ride to Halifax.