if you ___ in canada, you ____ in real life
I can’t believe it’s already been five days since we’ve returned from Canada! Time goes too quickly. :(
The whole trip was brilliant. :D No surprise there, but I'm still basking in it and a little sad that I'm back in real life. Between the two cities I preferred Toronto over Montreal, but I know that since I only spent one night in Montreal I didn't get a very good feel for the city. One thing I do know is that Toronto is a little bit better about cleaning up their snow. Not much, but a little. I'm intending to go back to both cities and spend more time in each so that I can honestly say I really saw both of them.
Toronto - We just barely made it for the hockey game after fighting through rain, then ice, then a blizzard on the way to our (very nice) hostel. It was a taxing drive but my car is a fucking champ and we got to see the last two periods of the game. I looove the Air Canada Centre. Everyone was very nice even though we were wearing the opposition's colors, and the fan presence there is... wow. It's really exciting to be somewhere that actually has a large number of hockey fans. Air Canada Centre over the Prudential Center by far. Plus, our row won a prize! Woo! I gave it away, however, since it was a huge Maple Leafs flag and really what am I going to do with a Leafs flag bigger than me?
Hockey Hall of Fame and CN Tower were both really cool. I got to touch the Stanley Cup! :D
I love heights, so seeing Toronto from above was quite a treat. From above it's obviously not as impressive looking as NYC, but it was still worth beholding.
On our way from lunch at the Richtree Market, one of the most novel ideas for a restaurant ever, we passed a big film crew in the process of shooting a scene for Max Payne. They stopped traffic and pedestrians to film two people walking down the snowy sidewalk. The world really stops turning during a movie filming. Well, as we walked past the crew, Sarah quietly pointed out Marky Mark himself. I flashed him my winning smile and he said hi. I returned the greeting, held my composure... and flipped out about a block later. He had a fake scrape on his right eyebrow, so you know what I'll be watching for when Sarah and I go watch Max Payne!!
Montreal - We met up with 8 TCNJ comp sci folks who were fresh from a competition in another part of Quebec. We all stayed at the same hotel, which was pretty nice for a place overrun with drunk/high teenagers. I'm pretty sure we were the oldest guests there who weren't staying on the penthouse floor. Regardless, we had a great time. It was such fun to be with a big group of people and we continuously took over the sidewalks, restaurants and subway cars with our group of 10 lost, boisterous young Americans. I just wish all the museums weren't closed on Mondays. '
I was surprised at how French Montreal was. Though I'm now exceptionally grateful for my two years of HS French, I was definitely expecting it to be a more bilingual city. While the shopkeepers, waiters, etc., all spoke English once they found out you didn't know what the heck they were saying, all the signs were definitely in Francais.
I took some pictures, though not as many as I'd have expected, and I wish that I'd actually gotten the whole group in a shot in Montreal. One of the guys, Chris, pretty much took over photo duties. I think he had a thing for my camera. (As I'm writing this, I haven't finished naming/tagging/captioning all the photos. In a few days' time, they'll be more descriptive; I promise.)
Our trip home was sunnily uneventful, though I've been left with the revelation that people in the Albany area north of Lake George apparently don't eat. Ever. The other possibility is that there actually are no people up there, which wouldn't surprise me.
The whole trip was brilliant. :D No surprise there, but I'm still basking in it and a little sad that I'm back in real life. Between the two cities I preferred Toronto over Montreal, but I know that since I only spent one night in Montreal I didn't get a very good feel for the city. One thing I do know is that Toronto is a little bit better about cleaning up their snow. Not much, but a little. I'm intending to go back to both cities and spend more time in each so that I can honestly say I really saw both of them.
Toronto - We just barely made it for the hockey game after fighting through rain, then ice, then a blizzard on the way to our (very nice) hostel. It was a taxing drive but my car is a fucking champ and we got to see the last two periods of the game. I looove the Air Canada Centre. Everyone was very nice even though we were wearing the opposition's colors, and the fan presence there is... wow. It's really exciting to be somewhere that actually has a large number of hockey fans. Air Canada Centre over the Prudential Center by far. Plus, our row won a prize! Woo! I gave it away, however, since it was a huge Maple Leafs flag and really what am I going to do with a Leafs flag bigger than me?
Hockey Hall of Fame and CN Tower were both really cool. I got to touch the Stanley Cup! :D
I love heights, so seeing Toronto from above was quite a treat. From above it's obviously not as impressive looking as NYC, but it was still worth beholding.
On our way from lunch at the Richtree Market, one of the most novel ideas for a restaurant ever, we passed a big film crew in the process of shooting a scene for Max Payne. They stopped traffic and pedestrians to film two people walking down the snowy sidewalk. The world really stops turning during a movie filming. Well, as we walked past the crew, Sarah quietly pointed out Marky Mark himself. I flashed him my winning smile and he said hi. I returned the greeting, held my composure... and flipped out about a block later. He had a fake scrape on his right eyebrow, so you know what I'll be watching for when Sarah and I go watch Max Payne!!
Montreal - We met up with 8 TCNJ comp sci folks who were fresh from a competition in another part of Quebec. We all stayed at the same hotel, which was pretty nice for a place overrun with drunk/high teenagers. I'm pretty sure we were the oldest guests there who weren't staying on the penthouse floor. Regardless, we had a great time. It was such fun to be with a big group of people and we continuously took over the sidewalks, restaurants and subway cars with our group of 10 lost, boisterous young Americans. I just wish all the museums weren't closed on Mondays. '
I was surprised at how French Montreal was. Though I'm now exceptionally grateful for my two years of HS French, I was definitely expecting it to be a more bilingual city. While the shopkeepers, waiters, etc., all spoke English once they found out you didn't know what the heck they were saying, all the signs were definitely in Francais.
I took some pictures, though not as many as I'd have expected, and I wish that I'd actually gotten the whole group in a shot in Montreal. One of the guys, Chris, pretty much took over photo duties. I think he had a thing for my camera. (As I'm writing this, I haven't finished naming/tagging/captioning all the photos. In a few days' time, they'll be more descriptive; I promise.)
Our trip home was sunnily uneventful, though I've been left with the revelation that people in the Albany area north of Lake George apparently don't eat. Ever. The other possibility is that there actually are no people up there, which wouldn't surprise me.