Baguettes are not bagels
I’m in serious denial of my schoolwork and the official end of vacation, so I’ve uploaded about ten million pictures to prolong my procrastination…and that’s only part one. You’ve been forewarned!
Day one & two: Montreal
Montreal and I got off to a sour start. Well, it wasn’t exactly that bad, but just not what I imagined at first when I pictured myself sightseeing around the city. I had mentally prepared myself for the snow and the cold, but when Christine and I arrived (after 10 hours of train travel) it seemed that the city was recovering after its last major snowstorm. Thus, the streets of the historic Old Port, our first stop, were either full of brackish, muddy snow or sidewalk puddles you’d have to jump to cross.
I feel like this adequately captures the state of the streets
The main Marche, ie market
To amuse ourselves, we posed with lots of statues
City Hall
Palais des Congres, or Convention Center.
Nonetheless, being resourceful Americans, we did one of two popular options for Montrealers: shop or drink. Walking around the city, I was wondering why the streets seemed so empty even for a downtown area: I would see no more than twenty, thirty people walking in a commercial district in the middle of a weekday. However, when we finally entered a mall we figured out why: nearly three-quarters of the city seemed to be underground, either shopping or using the interconnected passages. Just picture your average, suburban, multi-level shopping complex-but underground, and all connected. I’m up for shopping most of the time, but there’s only so much I can take after seeing the same Zara/Limite (like H&M)/Aldo combination for three times in a row.
My only picture inside the mall(s).
Posing as students at McGill University so we could use their free internet at the library
Walking around downtown
We got back the hostel, and we found out there was a pub crawl later that night, so naturally we tagged along. I love that about a hostel-meeting foreigners and hanging out with them through random invitations. We met two Australian girls working in Vermont ski resorts for the season; a Panamanian international student at a Canadian university; and a Polish teenager on his gap year. I made the mistake of trying to out-drink the Pole; I didn’t realize a “sip” for them meant chugging an entire pint. Our last stop was a dance club, and it taught me that Canadian clubs will almost always end up playing up techno. They may dabble with one or two hip-hop songs, but by far the music of choice is techno. Just no way around it! It also started to snow heavily in the middle of our outing, and that was an adventure-trying to navigate the snowy streets with my open-toe heels. Trying to keep it classy, that’s all I can say. But next time, I’m bringing boots.
Still snowing at night when we left the club...
As well as in the morning, when we left for Quebec City
Day one & two: Montreal
Montreal and I got off to a sour start. Well, it wasn’t exactly that bad, but just not what I imagined at first when I pictured myself sightseeing around the city. I had mentally prepared myself for the snow and the cold, but when Christine and I arrived (after 10 hours of train travel) it seemed that the city was recovering after its last major snowstorm. Thus, the streets of the historic Old Port, our first stop, were either full of brackish, muddy snow or sidewalk puddles you’d have to jump to cross.
I feel like this adequately captures the state of the streets
The main Marche, ie market
To amuse ourselves, we posed with lots of statues
City Hall
Palais des Congres, or Convention Center.
Nonetheless, being resourceful Americans, we did one of two popular options for Montrealers: shop or drink. Walking around the city, I was wondering why the streets seemed so empty even for a downtown area: I would see no more than twenty, thirty people walking in a commercial district in the middle of a weekday. However, when we finally entered a mall we figured out why: nearly three-quarters of the city seemed to be underground, either shopping or using the interconnected passages. Just picture your average, suburban, multi-level shopping complex-but underground, and all connected. I’m up for shopping most of the time, but there’s only so much I can take after seeing the same Zara/Limite (like H&M)/Aldo combination for three times in a row.
My only picture inside the mall(s).
Posing as students at McGill University so we could use their free internet at the library
Walking around downtown
We got back the hostel, and we found out there was a pub crawl later that night, so naturally we tagged along. I love that about a hostel-meeting foreigners and hanging out with them through random invitations. We met two Australian girls working in Vermont ski resorts for the season; a Panamanian international student at a Canadian university; and a Polish teenager on his gap year. I made the mistake of trying to out-drink the Pole; I didn’t realize a “sip” for them meant chugging an entire pint. Our last stop was a dance club, and it taught me that Canadian clubs will almost always end up playing up techno. They may dabble with one or two hip-hop songs, but by far the music of choice is techno. Just no way around it! It also started to snow heavily in the middle of our outing, and that was an adventure-trying to navigate the snowy streets with my open-toe heels. Trying to keep it classy, that’s all I can say. But next time, I’m bringing boots.
Still snowing at night when we left the club...
As well as in the morning, when we left for Quebec City