I'm used to being in class at this time on a Monday. But the CAS are still on strike, which means Christopher Smith is out picketing. When he was asked "would you mind teaching a news photography course?", I'll be this is one potential situation he didn't expect to be in.
So I'm starting to wonder what I should do with this abnormal three hours of free time. Had an early flight out of Montreal this morning, so I've been up since 5:45 AM. That site where people think Pokemon really exist isn't holding my attention any more. What to do, what to do? Maybe I'll take a nap. But then I might as well just go to bed and wake up at like 5 AM.
Wait. Hold up.
Montreal.
I can blog about Montreal.
It was fun. Good food, good culture, not a lot of sleep (two 5:45 wakeup calls will do that).
I suppose one of the things I was most looking forward to - erroneously, as it turned out - was the language. What I failed to take into account was that I would seldom be in public and not with my parents, and if a worker sees two parents and two children, they will naturally start talking to the parents. This would inevitably lead to one of two reactions - a blank stare of incomprehension from my mom, or an "anglais s'il vous plait" from my dad (spoken in an Anglophone accent so strong I can't replicate it).
So the only times I was really able to use my quickly-denigrating French skills were when I was alone, which basically limited me to concession stands at the Bell Centre. Thought I did pretty well there, though.
And that would be the perfect segue into talking about the hockey game. I've been to NHL games in Toronto and Washington, and assorted minor league and junior games all over the place, but I've never seen a crowd anything like the one in Montreal. There was loud cheering and "Go Habs Go" chants WITHOUT the scoreboard telling the fans to start doing that sort of thing. There was one of the "Olé" songs (the one where a few people know it better with the words "Red Team") - at one point, one end of the rink was singing "Olé" while the other end chanted "Thomas...Thomas..." (Boston's goalie was Tim Thomas). And the game was great too, it went to a shootout and then Saku Koivu scored to make everybody happy. Definitely the most amazing atmosphere I've ever seen at a sporting event.
Good food, too. I regret not having the chance to get any poutine - the opportunity was there, I just always figured "I'll get it somewhere better later". However, we did make it to Schwartz's Deli for smoked meat sandwiches. You can see a picture of the sandwich via that link - it's a lot of smoked meat (basically corned beef) in a little bit of bread, with mustard. It's also very, very good. Seriously. Don't go to Montreal without stopping at Schwartz's. But budget a fair bit of time - it's fairly small, and there's always a lineup outside the door.
The other food I had - including everything from rack of lamb to seafood risotto to eggs and sausage - was also great. Don't think I had a bad meal the whole trip, except for maybe some airport food. Kinda pricey, though, hence why I'm not focusing on it more. Good thing I wasn't paying.
We did a lot of the other tourist stuff too - the Undergroud City, the Biodome, the Olympic Tower, le Musée du chateau Ramezay - but I'll save those stories for another time.
--Ryan
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