Where is the good life?
Well if you'd like to follow me...... and here it is. Our new home.
Now it's not the exorbitant rent that is making me nervous, although it is preying on my mind somewhat. The main source of worry is that we wont live up to the apartments expectations. The calibre of the people we have passed in the lobby and corridor are top quality, working professionals with genuine designer bags and clean fingernails. I'm not sure flying down in your penneys pjs to check the post will be acceptable but our new concierge is awfully friendly so we'll see how it goes.
We move in tomorrow and it feels a little bit like waiting for Christmas when you're 7. The block has a private movie theatre with seats for up to 10 people, a pool, steam room, sauna, jacuzzi, fully equipped gym with flat screen tvs, a 5th floor outdoor BBQ area, a massive party room with it's own kitchen for entertaining large groups, a chill out reading room with current newspapers and mags provided, a fresh air circulation system so you don't get stale air, a recycling trash chute where you just press a button. We're on the 28th Floor and our balcony gives a whopper view of lake Ontario and the city centre, there is a mini dishwasher...woop!! a massive fridge..woop!! huge wardrobe with full length mirrors, it comes nearly fully furnished and it's right in the centre of town with the subway 30 seconds away( good for the freezing winter time).
So the draw backs....it's beyond budget, it only has 1 bedroom and emmmmm can't remember too enamored with it!
The girls also found somewhere which is only a small walk away so we are all sorted with a home just need to find an old J.O.B now. But the main news of the day is that we don't have to stay in a hostel for the next month. The rental systems go from the 1st of every month so if we hadn't found somewhere before Wednesday we would have been checking into the dorm longterm until oct 1st!
The girls found against all odds a 3 bed apartment within budget in Kennsington market area, well it's a 3 bed with no living room so maybe it's was a 2 bed once upon a time but we're not picky. The landlady however told them 2 key rules. No cooking in your bedroom and no squirrels allowed inside. You can only imagine what the previous tenants were getting up to...grilled squirrel on toast, breakfast in bed Canadian style.
There is also a large hole in their back garden just outside the back door but they were told not to worry about that hole, they are not renting that particular part of the garden, just the hole less part.An interesting attempt at fobbing someone off to say the least! Anna tried to point out that even if they weren't leasing the hole itself they could still fall into it and suffer some horrific injuries, the landlady is now looking into getting it filled!.......hmmmm.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
The fox is in the box and the mouse is in the house.
Well we were in Toronto barely a wet weekend ( it actually was lashing rain all weekend) when we had our first visitor. FoxDog Senior is his title of preference but to the rest of you he's the brother with the extremely gangly limbs and (very very very dark) blonde hair! He was due for a 3 hour stop over in Toronto last sunday so the plan was to meet in the airport for drinks agus craic but due to extreme security profiling he missed the connection and had to spend the night in the big TO to catch the next flight.
The arrangement was already doomed since I had thought he was coming the following sunday and it was only when my mum emailed that afternoon saying she hoped we had fun 'today' alarm bells began to ring. So the wonders and worries of new age technology were revealed. All I had to do was post does anyone know if Lorcan is flying to Toronto today? and within minutes I was chatting to school friends of his back in Dublin and all was revealed. But just goes to show the world is getting smaller by the day as each new face booker donates their life to public view.
Anyway we figured it out, managed to wrangle a bed for the night for him and took a stroll to sample some of the highlights of a city famed for it's food and drinks culture. The staff were friendly, it was a great location and the prices were dirt cheap. I have to say although my spicy chicken wrap tasted likes franks sauce..mmm.... I was jealous of Anna and Bobbi's bacon cheeseburgers. Sounds like a great place to eat out?...add a few more objects to the picture in your mind e.g. plastic seats nailed to the floor, garish lights, a plastic tray, filthy tables.....
Yes, I am ashamed to admit it but we went to McDonalds. Aw well the pitchers of beer after were authentic and he was starving so it seemed to safer to just fuel the beast. Lorcan had arrived on a bad day for us. We have reached a low point in the apartment search and were not exactly glowing with positivity. So we were full of comments that began with.."another thing I don't like is....." "the problem with this place is.."
If only he could see us now, about to move into a palace ( I think the new apartment might deserve it's own post so I'll come back to that) and finally figuring out how everything works and making friends, so we are full of positive mental attitude! He really missed out there in the accommodation stakes, it's always unfortunate when you have to book your guests into a grubby hostel and charge them for the pleasure!
Unsurprisingly we ended up back at the hostel bar til the wee hours and when we woke our guest was gone, we all felt like we had just dreamt it! The only thing that confirmed it was a little pressie left behind. In the middle of the floor was, a lovely pair of grey flannel boxers. Thanks champ, we'll post them on!
The following day we were sitting in the Quad room when bobbi let out a shriek. A little grey mouse was running around the floor, now it's an old building and there's also the issue of the empty crisp packets decorating the floor but either way we felt differently about the place after that and were almost glad to be moving to the dorm ( can't keep living the high life in the private room, we're going public in the dorms!)
our last night in the mouse room was sleepless with regular horrified updates from bobbi...'Oh!.Oh! he just ran over to the shoes. Oh! he's in one of the shoes! Oh he's under the bed' and so on! At point it was suggested we all get into the top bunks two in each, but Anna and Hannah remained silent and motionless from their rodent free perches!
The one occasion that a staffmember braved our room was to empty the bins which he couldn't find! The poor guy came in and we were asleep so he said he would grab the bin and paused and looked around at the bomb site and paused again until he located it, and left rapidly. We have been unable to look him in the eye since!
I have to go......need to find a job......eeek!
The arrangement was already doomed since I had thought he was coming the following sunday and it was only when my mum emailed that afternoon saying she hoped we had fun 'today' alarm bells began to ring. So the wonders and worries of new age technology were revealed. All I had to do was post does anyone know if Lorcan is flying to Toronto today? and within minutes I was chatting to school friends of his back in Dublin and all was revealed. But just goes to show the world is getting smaller by the day as each new face booker donates their life to public view.
Anyway we figured it out, managed to wrangle a bed for the night for him and took a stroll to sample some of the highlights of a city famed for it's food and drinks culture. The staff were friendly, it was a great location and the prices were dirt cheap. I have to say although my spicy chicken wrap tasted likes franks sauce..mmm.... I was jealous of Anna and Bobbi's bacon cheeseburgers. Sounds like a great place to eat out?...add a few more objects to the picture in your mind e.g. plastic seats nailed to the floor, garish lights, a plastic tray, filthy tables.....
Yes, I am ashamed to admit it but we went to McDonalds. Aw well the pitchers of beer after were authentic and he was starving so it seemed to safer to just fuel the beast. Lorcan had arrived on a bad day for us. We have reached a low point in the apartment search and were not exactly glowing with positivity. So we were full of comments that began with.."another thing I don't like is....." "the problem with this place is.."
If only he could see us now, about to move into a palace ( I think the new apartment might deserve it's own post so I'll come back to that) and finally figuring out how everything works and making friends, so we are full of positive mental attitude! He really missed out there in the accommodation stakes, it's always unfortunate when you have to book your guests into a grubby hostel and charge them for the pleasure!
Unsurprisingly we ended up back at the hostel bar til the wee hours and when we woke our guest was gone, we all felt like we had just dreamt it! The only thing that confirmed it was a little pressie left behind. In the middle of the floor was, a lovely pair of grey flannel boxers. Thanks champ, we'll post them on!
The following day we were sitting in the Quad room when bobbi let out a shriek. A little grey mouse was running around the floor, now it's an old building and there's also the issue of the empty crisp packets decorating the floor but either way we felt differently about the place after that and were almost glad to be moving to the dorm ( can't keep living the high life in the private room, we're going public in the dorms!)
our last night in the mouse room was sleepless with regular horrified updates from bobbi...'Oh!.Oh! he just ran over to the shoes. Oh! he's in one of the shoes! Oh he's under the bed' and so on! At point it was suggested we all get into the top bunks two in each, but Anna and Hannah remained silent and motionless from their rodent free perches!
The one occasion that a staffmember braved our room was to empty the bins which he couldn't find! The poor guy came in and we were asleep so he said he would grab the bin and paused and looked around at the bomb site and paused again until he located it, and left rapidly. We have been unable to look him in the eye since!
I have to go......need to find a job......eeek!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
goodbye porpoise spit!!
The moment finally arrived… we are here, there, wherever it is for you, but we are definitely here- the big TO.
We had originally intended on getting the train from Montreal to Toronto but after a few attempts to relocate any distance en masse with luggage we decided to re-think it. At 130 dollars each for a one way ticket and a load of foreseeable hassle we managed to find a rental company that allowed a different drop off location without demanding half a kidney and your first born child. The monetary equivalent is 800 dollars on top of the rental fee, nearly a grand just to drive five hours from A-B as per the majority of rental companies quotes. We got lucky at the central station because they had a car that needed to be retuned to TO so for $160 got a nice big white chevvy and we blazed a trail on the 401. Over 500 km in one fail swoop Bobbi took to the wheel and with some sweets and a satellite radio that had 300 stations - the jesus channel, BBC news, hits of every decade and our favourite the family channel with the star song’ Shampoo me’ which made bobbi laugh so hard we had to turn it off before she crashed the car! So all in all we had a surprisingly pleasant journey. Until that is we got to the outskirts of the city and just COULD NOT get to where we needed to be Spadina and King St, circling around and around for a good hour, roads disappearing on maps and bloody road works blocking our every route. It was after midnight, we’d been up early having already driven from Saint Donat to Montreal to return the first rental. But we managed to not lose it, we kept pulling over and pullling out the 5 different maps of Toronto that we had. None of which were a full and detailed version so we pieced them together and arrived exhausted and frazzled but not killing each other which is the main thing.
The hostel is alright- seen worse and definitely seen better but it does the job and is right in the heart of downtown. We made a holy show of ourselves horsing up the 2 flights of stairs in a little chain passing bag to bag with every passer-by offering to help and us red faced and breathless exclaiming ‘Oh god no, we’re grand thanks’ and in true Irish fashion desperately hoping they were understand we are culturally conditioned to refuse the offer but secretly would love some help! The quad-bed room is already a pig sty ‘Quell surprise’.
We sat in a shell shocked silence staring around at the stained walls, stark lighting and rickety bunk beds of our new home suddenly wondering what in the hell we were doing here. Just when spirits were sinking to a dangerous low- Hannah rose to the fore and demanded we head to the hostel bar to mark the occasion and cheer up. After the whopper drive Bobbi hit the hay but the 3 of us forced ourselves to go down and toast our arrival. A few coronas later and a chance to catch our breath and we were feeling marginally more positive. A good nights sleep and we were up and out for brekkie, bailed into the rental and took a drive around our new hometown. It was a great chance to see the different areas and try to get our bearings without having to do it all on foot. We took a spin over to Cabbage Town the aptly named little Ireland with a vague fantasty of maybe living there but as per everywhere we seem to go there was packs of crazies. Roaming every street corner half naked with long beards and mad head wear. Wandering aimlessly with giant dogs on a rope shouting at no one in particular and begging for change we made a collective decision there and then that Cabbage Town was now off the prospective apartment location list. The unusually high level of crazies at 1.30 on a Thursday afternoon suggests that a weekend night would be reminiscent of a scene out of night of the living dead.
Trying to buy a mobile phone was a days worth of work in itself- over 2 hours we spent wearing the ear off poor Ahmed our sales rep in one of the phone shops. Price plans are extremely detailed and complicated entities here and thats not including optional extras such as voicemail and caller number display. You need 2 forms of Photo id and a credit card to buy a phone and they run a credit check on you and do a quick blood test to see if you and the phone are compatible (maybe I exaggerate a little!). Anna had no passport with her nor credit card so I ended up just ‘deciding’ that I needed 2 phones registered in my name- one for business and one for pleasure. Well what can they say, whatever I decide to do with it after is up to me! So we now had Toronto numbers and can start the arduous task of phoning letting agents and applying for jobs- Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Best thing is tomorrow never comes but we decided to dry out tonight and bar a cheeky margarita with dinner we going cold turkey and having an early night so we wake up fresh in the morning ready to cracking on a home and a job, just a few minor details that really make living in a new country that little bit easier!!!
We had originally intended on getting the train from Montreal to Toronto but after a few attempts to relocate any distance en masse with luggage we decided to re-think it. At 130 dollars each for a one way ticket and a load of foreseeable hassle we managed to find a rental company that allowed a different drop off location without demanding half a kidney and your first born child. The monetary equivalent is 800 dollars on top of the rental fee, nearly a grand just to drive five hours from A-B as per the majority of rental companies quotes. We got lucky at the central station because they had a car that needed to be retuned to TO so for $160 got a nice big white chevvy and we blazed a trail on the 401. Over 500 km in one fail swoop Bobbi took to the wheel and with some sweets and a satellite radio that had 300 stations - the jesus channel, BBC news, hits of every decade and our favourite the family channel with the star song’ Shampoo me’ which made bobbi laugh so hard we had to turn it off before she crashed the car! So all in all we had a surprisingly pleasant journey. Until that is we got to the outskirts of the city and just COULD NOT get to where we needed to be Spadina and King St, circling around and around for a good hour, roads disappearing on maps and bloody road works blocking our every route. It was after midnight, we’d been up early having already driven from Saint Donat to Montreal to return the first rental. But we managed to not lose it, we kept pulling over and pullling out the 5 different maps of Toronto that we had. None of which were a full and detailed version so we pieced them together and arrived exhausted and frazzled but not killing each other which is the main thing.
The hostel is alright- seen worse and definitely seen better but it does the job and is right in the heart of downtown. We made a holy show of ourselves horsing up the 2 flights of stairs in a little chain passing bag to bag with every passer-by offering to help and us red faced and breathless exclaiming ‘Oh god no, we’re grand thanks’ and in true Irish fashion desperately hoping they were understand we are culturally conditioned to refuse the offer but secretly would love some help! The quad-bed room is already a pig sty ‘Quell surprise’.
We sat in a shell shocked silence staring around at the stained walls, stark lighting and rickety bunk beds of our new home suddenly wondering what in the hell we were doing here. Just when spirits were sinking to a dangerous low- Hannah rose to the fore and demanded we head to the hostel bar to mark the occasion and cheer up. After the whopper drive Bobbi hit the hay but the 3 of us forced ourselves to go down and toast our arrival. A few coronas later and a chance to catch our breath and we were feeling marginally more positive. A good nights sleep and we were up and out for brekkie, bailed into the rental and took a drive around our new hometown. It was a great chance to see the different areas and try to get our bearings without having to do it all on foot. We took a spin over to Cabbage Town the aptly named little Ireland with a vague fantasty of maybe living there but as per everywhere we seem to go there was packs of crazies. Roaming every street corner half naked with long beards and mad head wear. Wandering aimlessly with giant dogs on a rope shouting at no one in particular and begging for change we made a collective decision there and then that Cabbage Town was now off the prospective apartment location list. The unusually high level of crazies at 1.30 on a Thursday afternoon suggests that a weekend night would be reminiscent of a scene out of night of the living dead.
Trying to buy a mobile phone was a days worth of work in itself- over 2 hours we spent wearing the ear off poor Ahmed our sales rep in one of the phone shops. Price plans are extremely detailed and complicated entities here and thats not including optional extras such as voicemail and caller number display. You need 2 forms of Photo id and a credit card to buy a phone and they run a credit check on you and do a quick blood test to see if you and the phone are compatible (maybe I exaggerate a little!). Anna had no passport with her nor credit card so I ended up just ‘deciding’ that I needed 2 phones registered in my name- one for business and one for pleasure. Well what can they say, whatever I decide to do with it after is up to me! So we now had Toronto numbers and can start the arduous task of phoning letting agents and applying for jobs- Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Best thing is tomorrow never comes but we decided to dry out tonight and bar a cheeky margarita with dinner we going cold turkey and having an early night so we wake up fresh in the morning ready to cracking on a home and a job, just a few minor details that really make living in a new country that little bit easier!!!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
our social life in Quebec
Madeline and Pierre who live across the road came first to offer us the use of their apartment that is below their house, despite being slightly swayed at the prospect of a cosy clean bed, tv and a shower we stood firm and thanked but said we prefer the caravan, they looked a little surprised but accepted that maybe we were as crazy as they thought. We did pounce on the idea of a shower and said we would call over later that day. We do have some hygiene standards and swam in the lake everyday, even washing our hair in the sink of the public toilets by the lake but a hot water shower was too good to turn down! They had come earlier in the day but we were still asleep!!
Ten minutes later we had progressed the getting ready to PJ bottoms and bikini tops, when our next guest came driving up the lane. Jean Guy, a neighbour from 2 houses over appeared looking a little embarrassed as he handed over a handful of papers with a note attached. He speaks very little English and when his wife Rolande heard we were hoping to get the train to Toronto she printed out all the timetables and prices and maps etc and send him to deliver it all with a cover letter explaining all of this and inviting us to come to dinner that evening. The sweetest touch was that she had also affixed a posit RSVP note with 2 options to tick Yes we will come or No thank you which we were meant to check off and give to Jean Guy to return home with. We managed to muster up enough pigeon French to accept ourselves in person.
5 mins later our third caller arrived, Joseph a young local guy who lives up the mountain with his girlfriend and son. He didn’t have much English but we attempted to invite him and Isabelle to come for a drink round the fire the following evening unsurprisingly he didn’t seem to keen so suggested we come to his place instead. So that was grand he headed off saying he’d pick us up the next day.
But then we had a problem, we had planned to go to Mont Tremblant National Parc that day but as it was now after 1 and we were expected to dinner at 5.30 but had to all have showers before hand as we had arranged with our first callers BUT we realised it’s pretty poor form to refuse someone acceptance of an offer to stay but come just to use the shower before heading straight to somebody else’s house for dinner. We drove to Saint Donat and had a quick swim and sunbathe down by the lake instead.!
We raced back to use the neighbours shower but had only arrived and were one person in the shower, 3 to go when Joseph and a younger guy came bounding in and announced ‘BOAT?!’ Jean Philip was 17 and spoke very good English so we gathered they were offering us a trip on a boat. But we were due for dinner in an hour so had to decline. No such thing, they rang our dinner hosts and told them we would be late because we were going on a boat! Suddenly the showers seemed like they were no longer happening but we held firm and had to explain much to our mortification that it had been a number of days since our last shower so if they were happy to wait for us to finish we would go then! We still weren’t sure what was happening but we were led to a massive black jeep/truck all climbed in and drove to the mysterious ’boat’. Now we hadn’t a clue who owned the boat or who was going to drive the boat but it was an adventure anyway! Turns out it was the home of another of mum’s neighbours Denise and Marc, who has a really lovely house right on the lake so after a quick tour around the lake on a super snazzy speedboat we had a drink in Denise’s (After they insisted and rang our hosts again to explain in French why we were late!) Then dropped us up for dinner. Rolande had cooked a lovely spaghetti Bolognese and we were so happy to have a home cooked meal. They are both very sweet and we made a special effort to speak in French so Jean Guy could understand. But once it started to get dark we headed back up the road to our humble abode.
Back at the ranch, the Cabbage Town Quartet sang a few songs and drank a few beers before squeezing into our wee beds!
We slept late again the next day and woke to discover we had missed more callers due to excessive sleeping, a little note was attached to the car door from Joseph and Isabelle telling us they would collect us around 5 for dinner that evening and to bring our bathing suits and towels!
So we legged it over to Mont Tremblant parc drove around for about 53 minutes getting out every few minutes to stretch our legs and take in a view. We missed one of the star attractions Chute des Rats because as we were driving along following the signs to it, I think I saw an actual rat so we decided to give it a miss.
So we were in and out of the parc in less than an hour- rapid transit sightseeing at it’s best!
Now usually in irish socialising times, around 5 means half 5, or so… Well we had planned to get back to the caravan at quarter to giving us 15 mins to get changed and be ready to go when they arrived- around 5! We passed Joseph and Jean Philip aka TeLou as we drove past the stables near my mum’s driveway and gave them a wave but unfortunately this implied to them we were ready to go so they followed us up the driveway in the truck but we were tearing around inside the caravan desperately trying to improve on rough new look! Yet again they had to wait for us to get ready- it made us seem like enough more girly girls but ah well we’re the same every where we go…ALWAYS late!
Eventually we piled back into the truck and took off with the country western music blaring. Thinking we were going to Josephs house, we had bought a case of beer for himself and Isabelle to thank him for setting up the caravan for us, and digging a hole in the ground for the chemical toilet to be emptied into at the end of our stay. Obviously we didn’t understand that and used the hole as is so it was a pretty silent moment when he asked had we found the hole and how was the toilet working out! We just smiled.
So we had the beer for him and then a bottle of red and a bottle of white for dinner. But the truck pulled up outside Denise’s house and then we came in with a crate and 2 bottles of wine and just seemed like the biggest booze hounds ever. We couldn’t take the beer back and say no that’s for Joseph as it was already lifted out of the truck so it just seemed like we had brought lashings of booze with us.
Turns out there was a change of plan and we were actually having dinner there instead. And oh my…what a dinner!!!! Meat fondue with Moose, Deer, Chicken, Rabbit, Beef, Pork, Scallops, Tiger Prawns…the works. It was fab and with 12 of us around the table we made for a great atmosphere eating plates of beautifully flavoured meats. They are a lovely family really friendly and warm and the dinner went on all evening. Thinking it was drawing to a close we made some Irish coffees which went down a storm and then suddenly everyone was in swimming togs and the outdoor hot tub was bubbling away, the gas fire lighting the path to it and they set the underwater lights to green just for the Irish guests. Denise produced some santa hats to wear in the tub and we all squeezed in! After a little while Isabelle full of dutch courage from the massive glasses of wine marc was pouring suggested jumping into the lake. So out we climbed in the cool night air walked down the private jetty at the end of the garden and we jumped into the black dark lake! It was freezing especially coming out of a roasting hot tub but such a beautiful sight to float in a late in the pitch darkness and see all the stars! It is a certain time of the year now where you see more shooting stars than normally but we didn’t get lucky!
After a few more jumps off the jetty it was decided that a spin on the boat was in order, with an impressive built in sound system on the go we went roaring around the lake with Anna and Hannah getting drenched up the front. We had a fantastic night, such fun and such amazing hospitality over those few days that we all felt sorry to be leaving Quebec.
Ten minutes later we had progressed the getting ready to PJ bottoms and bikini tops, when our next guest came driving up the lane. Jean Guy, a neighbour from 2 houses over appeared looking a little embarrassed as he handed over a handful of papers with a note attached. He speaks very little English and when his wife Rolande heard we were hoping to get the train to Toronto she printed out all the timetables and prices and maps etc and send him to deliver it all with a cover letter explaining all of this and inviting us to come to dinner that evening. The sweetest touch was that she had also affixed a posit RSVP note with 2 options to tick Yes we will come or No thank you which we were meant to check off and give to Jean Guy to return home with. We managed to muster up enough pigeon French to accept ourselves in person.
5 mins later our third caller arrived, Joseph a young local guy who lives up the mountain with his girlfriend and son. He didn’t have much English but we attempted to invite him and Isabelle to come for a drink round the fire the following evening unsurprisingly he didn’t seem to keen so suggested we come to his place instead. So that was grand he headed off saying he’d pick us up the next day.
But then we had a problem, we had planned to go to Mont Tremblant National Parc that day but as it was now after 1 and we were expected to dinner at 5.30 but had to all have showers before hand as we had arranged with our first callers BUT we realised it’s pretty poor form to refuse someone acceptance of an offer to stay but come just to use the shower before heading straight to somebody else’s house for dinner. We drove to Saint Donat and had a quick swim and sunbathe down by the lake instead.!
We raced back to use the neighbours shower but had only arrived and were one person in the shower, 3 to go when Joseph and a younger guy came bounding in and announced ‘BOAT?!’ Jean Philip was 17 and spoke very good English so we gathered they were offering us a trip on a boat. But we were due for dinner in an hour so had to decline. No such thing, they rang our dinner hosts and told them we would be late because we were going on a boat! Suddenly the showers seemed like they were no longer happening but we held firm and had to explain much to our mortification that it had been a number of days since our last shower so if they were happy to wait for us to finish we would go then! We still weren’t sure what was happening but we were led to a massive black jeep/truck all climbed in and drove to the mysterious ’boat’. Now we hadn’t a clue who owned the boat or who was going to drive the boat but it was an adventure anyway! Turns out it was the home of another of mum’s neighbours Denise and Marc, who has a really lovely house right on the lake so after a quick tour around the lake on a super snazzy speedboat we had a drink in Denise’s (After they insisted and rang our hosts again to explain in French why we were late!) Then dropped us up for dinner. Rolande had cooked a lovely spaghetti Bolognese and we were so happy to have a home cooked meal. They are both very sweet and we made a special effort to speak in French so Jean Guy could understand. But once it started to get dark we headed back up the road to our humble abode.
Back at the ranch, the Cabbage Town Quartet sang a few songs and drank a few beers before squeezing into our wee beds!
We slept late again the next day and woke to discover we had missed more callers due to excessive sleeping, a little note was attached to the car door from Joseph and Isabelle telling us they would collect us around 5 for dinner that evening and to bring our bathing suits and towels!
So we legged it over to Mont Tremblant parc drove around for about 53 minutes getting out every few minutes to stretch our legs and take in a view. We missed one of the star attractions Chute des Rats because as we were driving along following the signs to it, I think I saw an actual rat so we decided to give it a miss.
So we were in and out of the parc in less than an hour- rapid transit sightseeing at it’s best!
Now usually in irish socialising times, around 5 means half 5, or so… Well we had planned to get back to the caravan at quarter to giving us 15 mins to get changed and be ready to go when they arrived- around 5! We passed Joseph and Jean Philip aka TeLou as we drove past the stables near my mum’s driveway and gave them a wave but unfortunately this implied to them we were ready to go so they followed us up the driveway in the truck but we were tearing around inside the caravan desperately trying to improve on rough new look! Yet again they had to wait for us to get ready- it made us seem like enough more girly girls but ah well we’re the same every where we go…ALWAYS late!
Eventually we piled back into the truck and took off with the country western music blaring. Thinking we were going to Josephs house, we had bought a case of beer for himself and Isabelle to thank him for setting up the caravan for us, and digging a hole in the ground for the chemical toilet to be emptied into at the end of our stay. Obviously we didn’t understand that and used the hole as is so it was a pretty silent moment when he asked had we found the hole and how was the toilet working out! We just smiled.
So we had the beer for him and then a bottle of red and a bottle of white for dinner. But the truck pulled up outside Denise’s house and then we came in with a crate and 2 bottles of wine and just seemed like the biggest booze hounds ever. We couldn’t take the beer back and say no that’s for Joseph as it was already lifted out of the truck so it just seemed like we had brought lashings of booze with us.
Turns out there was a change of plan and we were actually having dinner there instead. And oh my…what a dinner!!!! Meat fondue with Moose, Deer, Chicken, Rabbit, Beef, Pork, Scallops, Tiger Prawns…the works. It was fab and with 12 of us around the table we made for a great atmosphere eating plates of beautifully flavoured meats. They are a lovely family really friendly and warm and the dinner went on all evening. Thinking it was drawing to a close we made some Irish coffees which went down a storm and then suddenly everyone was in swimming togs and the outdoor hot tub was bubbling away, the gas fire lighting the path to it and they set the underwater lights to green just for the Irish guests. Denise produced some santa hats to wear in the tub and we all squeezed in! After a little while Isabelle full of dutch courage from the massive glasses of wine marc was pouring suggested jumping into the lake. So out we climbed in the cool night air walked down the private jetty at the end of the garden and we jumped into the black dark lake! It was freezing especially coming out of a roasting hot tub but such a beautiful sight to float in a late in the pitch darkness and see all the stars! It is a certain time of the year now where you see more shooting stars than normally but we didn’t get lucky!
After a few more jumps off the jetty it was decided that a spin on the boat was in order, with an impressive built in sound system on the go we went roaring around the lake with Anna and Hannah getting drenched up the front. We had a fantastic night, such fun and such amazing hospitality over those few days that we all felt sorry to be leaving Quebec.
Friday, August 20, 2010
If you go down to the woods today....
Well we survived. 4 city dwellers packed up our growth hormone injected cases and headed for the woods. After smiling nicely at the car rental staff we were upgraded for free to a massive brand new ford fusion. Nice, very nice. But how the hell do you drive this beast! Unfamiliar automatic drive, wrong side of the road, all signage in French, unknown route, cavernous blind spots and so on. We were a more than a touch tentative as we eased her onto the main road. A hyper sensitive brake gave rise to some mild whiplash and some coffee spills but after a little screaming and very effective co-piloting we managed to avoid a full on recreation of the scene from clueless “ we’re on the freeeeewaaayyy!”
My hands began to seize after an hour or so as I gripped it as if my life depended on it…wait it did but the drive wasn’t too long 130 km approx. Head North on the15 until Saint Agath des Monts then try to find the 323, fail, turn around and try again. Canadian drivers are very courteous, well of our experience to date maybe it’s just the Qubecers so even if you are trying to move across 3 lanes of motorway at the last minute it is possible. The speeds are lower at between 60-100 on the motorway so it’s not as scary to try and rectify a wrong turn.
One thing we have learnt about Canadians is that they love rules, making them and following them, so the speed limits are actually real speed limits and the recycling bins are there for a reason. As Hannah learnt to her detriment when she idly tossed a plastic bottle into a bin in downtown montreal……
“madammoiselle… madam…excuse me, hello MADAME!’ I see you just threw a bottle into the trash, you know that could be recycled don’t you. I mean I saw you do that and I just HAD to say something, I was like oh my god did she just do that!?’ So with as much dignity as possible in such a situation Hannah gingerly picked through the bin and guided the offending article to its rightful home.
But I digress, back to the woods! We headed north to stay in mum’s wee caravan near Saint Donat. When she described it there was a mild reference to a certain holiday home favoured by Ted crilly and his colleague Dougal. She was not joking, we arrived at THE Father Ted caravan in a little clearing in the woods. Well moving in didn’t take very long as our cases didn’t fit inside at the same time as us, so we had to use the car as a portable wardrobe and when we went ouT transfer them back into the caravan. But we could never be in the same place for the rest of the week. Our car betrayed our rugged back to nature image, with it’s lit-up cup holders and sparkling rims but we usually had it draped in a girly camouflage of wet towels and sarongs. The kitchen table moonlighted as a double bed and the end couch was already set for a cosy double up.
After a quick unpack, a good solid laugh at the facilities (or lack thereof) we drove into Saint Donat town for some dinner. We still haven’t learnt that the portions here are massive, 1 main dish is always more than enough for a small family of working ponies. With big hungry eyes anna ordered a medium size pizza- but was helpfully advised to downsize to a bambino size with which we all followed suit. It was still a waist thickening diameter that left us all bringing half home in a doggy bag. But we are learning to co-op order, one salad, one pizza, one fries between us.
Our next port of call in Saint Donat was to a place which we would return to again and again. It was a place of many things, but a place we grew to hate…. ‘Le metro’. The one and only supermarket and despite a hefty 200 dollar shop on our first visit we returned every single day of our week in Quebec. Something to do with sleeping in the middle of the woods with 3 girls of a collective 15 foot height leaves one a little nervous, hence I wouldn’t quite call it binge drinking. It was more courage drinking. If you have to head out to the dark forest for a wee in the black of the night you need some fire in your belly. So everyday we drove to le metro and trooped in with our empties to restock. One litre bottles of wine herald a greater degree of hardcore-ness to the cheese and wine club!
So according to my mum, there are absolutely no bears, no beasts no dangerous animals..quote on quote ‘perfectly safe’. I believed her and the girls believed me heading out alone to the car or the great open outdoor loo. Well we woke one morning to a series of animal prints around our ‘dunny’ area. One racoon paw, no worries there. But beside it, a larger one with 3 round pad imprints. “A bear” we squealed and took the mandatory photo for evidence. Later that night we showed the photo to Joseph a local man who works as a trapper. He studied it carefully and after some gentle calm conferring with his girlfriend announced ‘C’est un Loup, non?’ Excuse me, did he just say ‘wolf’? It’s ok, he’s more scared of you than you are of
him they reassured us. Until Isabele thinking aloud said, ‘but its strange a Wolf is never alone’. Fantastic, now we’re dealing with a pack of the bloody things so much for worrying about a little black bear going through the rubbish. Thankfully we had read up on the national park nature guide on what to do if you encounter a Wolf or a bear. Unfortunately the lengthy piece offered so many different scenarios of what to do, we were still a little unsure whether it’s the bear or the wolf that you calmly introduce yourself to or which one you start shouting at, or the distance that it’s ok to turn and legit or stay and fight back ‘aggressively’. You need to speak to the bear so it hears your voice and will realise you are a human and not for eating. Unless it’s a hungry bear with PMS in which case you may aswell accept your fate and sprinkle a little salt on yourself to season the meat!
Saint Donat lake is big and wide and very pretty unfortunately, it’s all privately owned land on the lakes edge so we were left with a scrub of imported sand on a 20 metre stretch of the public beach in town the only public access for swimming and sunbathing. Due to school holidays the local kids summer camps like to descend onto the stamp sized beach so we lay amongst the swarms of life jacketed children who loved to run rings around the un suspecting adult sunbathers. Which gave rise to a moment I feel pretty guilty about now. Two 9 year olds ran along the stretch by our heads over ten times which led me to say the fatal words, I know this is terrible but I’m kind of hoping one of them trips and skins his knee so they had to go and sit down. No sooner were the words out of my mouth that he went flying and had to be carried off by his camp leader for a plaster. Woops sorry little guy!
One of our first nights we decided to make a camp fire and apparently chopping logs with an axe is not easy. Turns out none of us know how to wield an ole axe so while the other 2 set to making dinner on the 3 rings gas cooker, Hannah and I went to collect wood and were delighted to find piles of log size fallen birch wood. So we worked up a sweat gathering armfuls of the stuff until we went to lit the actual fire and it’s all damp and smokey and useless and it’s now nearly dark so we start scrambling around looking for brown wood and not the white peeling crap we’d already amassed in large volumes.
Fighting with a fallen Christmas tree I managed to stab myself in the palm which left an impressive pool of blood in the cup of my hand. ‘Mom and Pop’ aka Anna and Bobby pulled out our medical kit- wet wipes, tequila and a fancy tri-way plaster. Back to the grind, and not to blow our own trumpets or anything but we built a pretty amazing fire, perhaps one of the best camp fires I’ve ever had the privilege to sit around. It was toasty warm, not too big, nice flames for light, not billowing smoke and looked picture perfect. Sitting around a cosy fire with friends, the iPod crooning and a sparkling starry sky is something people do not do enough. Encouraged by our successful first fire we went again the following night and raised the bar to include baked potatoes and corn on the cob with a knob of garlic butter and salt, wrapped up in tinfoil and chucked into the embers. So we sat and waited with abated breath for the parcels to be ready and the stars to come out, things were going so well until the iPod ran out of juice and we were left with the sounds of the potatoes hissing, nice. The fire crackling , nice and the sound of all kinds of monsters crashing around in the woods.
Ssssshhhh do you hear that? What?! Oh My god stop. No I’m serious….ssshhhh listen there it is again. Oh Fuck. Seriously stop you’re freaking yourself out….
And then bobby heard it too.
A larger than usual swoosh and crunch from woods and just like that the fire was put out in it’s prime and moving at the speed of light the party was relocated to the relative safety of the small tin caravan where at least we could close the door!
Living in the woods certainly sounds very picturesque but there are a number of small drawbacks such as no toilet, no shower, no space for your luggage in your bedroom, only 3 chairs, a fear of the dark, a fear of the woods, a fear of savage animals, a fear of lunatic murderers, a healthy thirst for beer and wine and the key issue - 4 miniature bladders!
Sunday we took a drive to Brebeuf to visit Brenda and Jacques , old friends of my mum’s. Brenda and mum go back to 1978 when they met in Afghanistan during the hippie trail days. Their house is almost an art piece, built with time and love over the last 30 years the house is open plan but cosy with massive wooden beams and sunlit conservatories circling the walls of the house. Despite the rain we joined B and J for their daily swim down at Lac A La Loutre where luck would have it not a child in sight! The water was warmer because it’s a smaller lake and because it’s always feels warmer when you swim in the rain. Without the crowd usually perched on Saint Don’t Public beach we had a chance to fully appreciate the view and beauty of swimming in a still lake surrounded by thick green forest and wide open skies above.
Back to theirs for a truly fantastic homemade pizza and home grown corn on the cob rolled on a slab of butter when piping hot and sprinkled with salt. Sunshine in a mouthful!
A bit of a nail biting drive home in the rain, mist, dark and thunder and lightning- white knuckles that almost glowed in the dark but with each person posted to look out from one of the corners of the enormous vehicle we navigated home to our sodden and cold abode. We sat listening to rain that got progressively heavier if that’s even possible as it was big fat jellybean sized drops hitting us when we first ran from car to caravan. The lightning was going like the clappers and the thunder sounded very close but all was well and the roof stayed with us and no leaks (bar one small one).
A scenario occurred which we hadn’t encountered in our first few days which involved heavy rain and no inside loo, so you sit and await for it to let up but it just keeps going until you get a pain in your kidneys and you throw the door open charge out into the pouring rain pee like you’ve never peed before and you’re back inside within 7.6 seconds.
The next morning word must have spread among the locals about the crazy Irish girls living in the woods. Within the space of 30 mins we had 3 visitors call round to our absolute pig sty of a campsite which was storm blown furniture, strewn beer bottles and some dishes that we left out in the rain ‘to wash’. Not to mention the 4 horrors still in pjs reading in their table/bed at one in the afternoon. So it transpired everyone was very worried about us after the bad weather the previous night and they came down that morning to check on us but we were still asleep and when they called back HOURS later we were still just getting up- mortifying.
My hands began to seize after an hour or so as I gripped it as if my life depended on it…wait it did but the drive wasn’t too long 130 km approx. Head North on the15 until Saint Agath des Monts then try to find the 323, fail, turn around and try again. Canadian drivers are very courteous, well of our experience to date maybe it’s just the Qubecers so even if you are trying to move across 3 lanes of motorway at the last minute it is possible. The speeds are lower at between 60-100 on the motorway so it’s not as scary to try and rectify a wrong turn.
One thing we have learnt about Canadians is that they love rules, making them and following them, so the speed limits are actually real speed limits and the recycling bins are there for a reason. As Hannah learnt to her detriment when she idly tossed a plastic bottle into a bin in downtown montreal……
“madammoiselle… madam…excuse me, hello MADAME!’ I see you just threw a bottle into the trash, you know that could be recycled don’t you. I mean I saw you do that and I just HAD to say something, I was like oh my god did she just do that!?’ So with as much dignity as possible in such a situation Hannah gingerly picked through the bin and guided the offending article to its rightful home.
But I digress, back to the woods! We headed north to stay in mum’s wee caravan near Saint Donat. When she described it there was a mild reference to a certain holiday home favoured by Ted crilly and his colleague Dougal. She was not joking, we arrived at THE Father Ted caravan in a little clearing in the woods. Well moving in didn’t take very long as our cases didn’t fit inside at the same time as us, so we had to use the car as a portable wardrobe and when we went ouT transfer them back into the caravan. But we could never be in the same place for the rest of the week. Our car betrayed our rugged back to nature image, with it’s lit-up cup holders and sparkling rims but we usually had it draped in a girly camouflage of wet towels and sarongs. The kitchen table moonlighted as a double bed and the end couch was already set for a cosy double up.
After a quick unpack, a good solid laugh at the facilities (or lack thereof) we drove into Saint Donat town for some dinner. We still haven’t learnt that the portions here are massive, 1 main dish is always more than enough for a small family of working ponies. With big hungry eyes anna ordered a medium size pizza- but was helpfully advised to downsize to a bambino size with which we all followed suit. It was still a waist thickening diameter that left us all bringing half home in a doggy bag. But we are learning to co-op order, one salad, one pizza, one fries between us.
Our next port of call in Saint Donat was to a place which we would return to again and again. It was a place of many things, but a place we grew to hate…. ‘Le metro’. The one and only supermarket and despite a hefty 200 dollar shop on our first visit we returned every single day of our week in Quebec. Something to do with sleeping in the middle of the woods with 3 girls of a collective 15 foot height leaves one a little nervous, hence I wouldn’t quite call it binge drinking. It was more courage drinking. If you have to head out to the dark forest for a wee in the black of the night you need some fire in your belly. So everyday we drove to le metro and trooped in with our empties to restock. One litre bottles of wine herald a greater degree of hardcore-ness to the cheese and wine club!
So according to my mum, there are absolutely no bears, no beasts no dangerous animals..quote on quote ‘perfectly safe’. I believed her and the girls believed me heading out alone to the car or the great open outdoor loo. Well we woke one morning to a series of animal prints around our ‘dunny’ area. One racoon paw, no worries there. But beside it, a larger one with 3 round pad imprints. “A bear” we squealed and took the mandatory photo for evidence. Later that night we showed the photo to Joseph a local man who works as a trapper. He studied it carefully and after some gentle calm conferring with his girlfriend announced ‘C’est un Loup, non?’ Excuse me, did he just say ‘wolf’? It’s ok, he’s more scared of you than you are of
him they reassured us. Until Isabele thinking aloud said, ‘but its strange a Wolf is never alone’. Fantastic, now we’re dealing with a pack of the bloody things so much for worrying about a little black bear going through the rubbish. Thankfully we had read up on the national park nature guide on what to do if you encounter a Wolf or a bear. Unfortunately the lengthy piece offered so many different scenarios of what to do, we were still a little unsure whether it’s the bear or the wolf that you calmly introduce yourself to or which one you start shouting at, or the distance that it’s ok to turn and legit or stay and fight back ‘aggressively’. You need to speak to the bear so it hears your voice and will realise you are a human and not for eating. Unless it’s a hungry bear with PMS in which case you may aswell accept your fate and sprinkle a little salt on yourself to season the meat!
Saint Donat lake is big and wide and very pretty unfortunately, it’s all privately owned land on the lakes edge so we were left with a scrub of imported sand on a 20 metre stretch of the public beach in town the only public access for swimming and sunbathing. Due to school holidays the local kids summer camps like to descend onto the stamp sized beach so we lay amongst the swarms of life jacketed children who loved to run rings around the un suspecting adult sunbathers. Which gave rise to a moment I feel pretty guilty about now. Two 9 year olds ran along the stretch by our heads over ten times which led me to say the fatal words, I know this is terrible but I’m kind of hoping one of them trips and skins his knee so they had to go and sit down. No sooner were the words out of my mouth that he went flying and had to be carried off by his camp leader for a plaster. Woops sorry little guy!
One of our first nights we decided to make a camp fire and apparently chopping logs with an axe is not easy. Turns out none of us know how to wield an ole axe so while the other 2 set to making dinner on the 3 rings gas cooker, Hannah and I went to collect wood and were delighted to find piles of log size fallen birch wood. So we worked up a sweat gathering armfuls of the stuff until we went to lit the actual fire and it’s all damp and smokey and useless and it’s now nearly dark so we start scrambling around looking for brown wood and not the white peeling crap we’d already amassed in large volumes.
Fighting with a fallen Christmas tree I managed to stab myself in the palm which left an impressive pool of blood in the cup of my hand. ‘Mom and Pop’ aka Anna and Bobby pulled out our medical kit- wet wipes, tequila and a fancy tri-way plaster. Back to the grind, and not to blow our own trumpets or anything but we built a pretty amazing fire, perhaps one of the best camp fires I’ve ever had the privilege to sit around. It was toasty warm, not too big, nice flames for light, not billowing smoke and looked picture perfect. Sitting around a cosy fire with friends, the iPod crooning and a sparkling starry sky is something people do not do enough. Encouraged by our successful first fire we went again the following night and raised the bar to include baked potatoes and corn on the cob with a knob of garlic butter and salt, wrapped up in tinfoil and chucked into the embers. So we sat and waited with abated breath for the parcels to be ready and the stars to come out, things were going so well until the iPod ran out of juice and we were left with the sounds of the potatoes hissing, nice. The fire crackling , nice and the sound of all kinds of monsters crashing around in the woods.
Ssssshhhh do you hear that? What?! Oh My god stop. No I’m serious….ssshhhh listen there it is again. Oh Fuck. Seriously stop you’re freaking yourself out….
And then bobby heard it too.
A larger than usual swoosh and crunch from woods and just like that the fire was put out in it’s prime and moving at the speed of light the party was relocated to the relative safety of the small tin caravan where at least we could close the door!
Living in the woods certainly sounds very picturesque but there are a number of small drawbacks such as no toilet, no shower, no space for your luggage in your bedroom, only 3 chairs, a fear of the dark, a fear of the woods, a fear of savage animals, a fear of lunatic murderers, a healthy thirst for beer and wine and the key issue - 4 miniature bladders!
Sunday we took a drive to Brebeuf to visit Brenda and Jacques , old friends of my mum’s. Brenda and mum go back to 1978 when they met in Afghanistan during the hippie trail days. Their house is almost an art piece, built with time and love over the last 30 years the house is open plan but cosy with massive wooden beams and sunlit conservatories circling the walls of the house. Despite the rain we joined B and J for their daily swim down at Lac A La Loutre where luck would have it not a child in sight! The water was warmer because it’s a smaller lake and because it’s always feels warmer when you swim in the rain. Without the crowd usually perched on Saint Don’t Public beach we had a chance to fully appreciate the view and beauty of swimming in a still lake surrounded by thick green forest and wide open skies above.
Back to theirs for a truly fantastic homemade pizza and home grown corn on the cob rolled on a slab of butter when piping hot and sprinkled with salt. Sunshine in a mouthful!
A bit of a nail biting drive home in the rain, mist, dark and thunder and lightning- white knuckles that almost glowed in the dark but with each person posted to look out from one of the corners of the enormous vehicle we navigated home to our sodden and cold abode. We sat listening to rain that got progressively heavier if that’s even possible as it was big fat jellybean sized drops hitting us when we first ran from car to caravan. The lightning was going like the clappers and the thunder sounded very close but all was well and the roof stayed with us and no leaks (bar one small one).
A scenario occurred which we hadn’t encountered in our first few days which involved heavy rain and no inside loo, so you sit and await for it to let up but it just keeps going until you get a pain in your kidneys and you throw the door open charge out into the pouring rain pee like you’ve never peed before and you’re back inside within 7.6 seconds.
The next morning word must have spread among the locals about the crazy Irish girls living in the woods. Within the space of 30 mins we had 3 visitors call round to our absolute pig sty of a campsite which was storm blown furniture, strewn beer bottles and some dishes that we left out in the rain ‘to wash’. Not to mention the 4 horrors still in pjs reading in their table/bed at one in the afternoon. So it transpired everyone was very worried about us after the bad weather the previous night and they came down that morning to check on us but we were still asleep and when they called back HOURS later we were still just getting up- mortifying.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
crazie crazies eveywhere
there is a substantial amount of crazies in montreal but they seem to be nice enough, they just roam around asking for change and looking a bit madzo but we have yet to see anyone getting hassled. So it's feel quite safe. we hit the latin quarter for dinner last night which is bustling and a young crowd. Well not to blow our own trumpets or anything but we were refused entry into an over-18s pub. Never been so happy to be refused....so here it is, it's official.We look like we are studying for our leaving cert....wwwaaaaahhhhhoooo!
Thanks for all the face creams jessie, they must be working!
Bobbi has started a new anti-tipping campaign where she goes and gets our drinks straight from the bar to avoid the service charge...doesn't work too well since she gets stung at the bar anyway!
So we are heading to the woods today, until the 18th. only 1 torch between us but sure we'll be grand won't we. It's not like I'm scared of the dark or anything.
We did an open top bus tour yesterday but unfortunately our guides knowledge of the city didn't extend further that on your right you will see a church (no names, no dates) and in a few mins we will see another church. There on your left we will soon approach the Apple store where the new iphone is on sale, never mind the Old town, the whole top deck craned to see the store snapping pics..hmmm not exactly a star attraction for me. So I can't give you any facts and figures about this city because I still don't know!
Thanks for all the face creams jessie, they must be working!
Bobbi has started a new anti-tipping campaign where she goes and gets our drinks straight from the bar to avoid the service charge...doesn't work too well since she gets stung at the bar anyway!
So we are heading to the woods today, until the 18th. only 1 torch between us but sure we'll be grand won't we. It's not like I'm scared of the dark or anything.
We did an open top bus tour yesterday but unfortunately our guides knowledge of the city didn't extend further that on your right you will see a church (no names, no dates) and in a few mins we will see another church. There on your left we will soon approach the Apple store where the new iphone is on sale, never mind the Old town, the whole top deck craned to see the store snapping pics..hmmm not exactly a star attraction for me. So I can't give you any facts and figures about this city because I still don't know!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
everyone hates us!
Not sure why the majority of people seem to just simply hate our guts. We tried to rent a car today and must have dogshit into the shop because it was like pulling teeth trying to get the man to help us, he couldn't get rid of us quicker. We were hoping to drive Montreal to Saint Donat and then straight on in the car to Toronto next week, saving having to drop the car back and then tackle the train with our harem of suitcases. 800 dollars for a different drop-off location, so that idea is out the window. but we managed to find a nice place and have a car sorted for trip out to the sticks tomorrow. Bears and no toilets....eek.
The tipping and tax thing is a pain in the h-on because we keep ordered or buying something becoming outraged that's suddenly gone up in price where the nice person serving you kindly explains it's normal everywhere and you just look ignorant and scabby!
The tipping and tax thing is a pain in the h-on because we keep ordered or buying something becoming outraged that's suddenly gone up in price where the nice person serving you kindly explains it's normal everywhere and you just look ignorant and scabby!
our first day in montreal!
Not to blow our own trumpets but jet lag, never heard of it!
we headed to the old quarter at 10am which is a little too early apparently, but after a lovely fruit salad and coffee where we felt ready to go and do something. National Geographic photo exhibit with some amazing animal portraits by Vincent Murnier. Incidentally I never knew bears were so animated looking, left me with some crazy bear dreams last night!
So the weather is spot on, not too hot, not too cold. Nobody's sunburnt yet anyway.
the underground shopping centre is enormous, we wandered for days trying to find a shop of any description but found ourselves trapped in a maze of terrifyingly empty and endless corriders. But I can see it's merits for the wintertime.
At some point yesterday Anna picked up a leaflet about a Pub on Rue-St Paul that has a happy hour 5-7 so all day we cajoled ourselves along with talk about this infamous happy hour and a well deserved drink, we walked and walked in circles (sorry bobs your map reading leaves a small margin for improvement) until finally, full of overhyped thirsty expectation we turned the corner on rue st paul to be greeted with a building site and a row of tumbledown houses. Sometimes the best thing to do in a situation like this is to laugh. We fell about in exhausted delirium until we trawled another 2 km to the OTHER end of Rue St Paul and slugged back a few pitchers of cold Molston beer!
we headed to the old quarter at 10am which is a little too early apparently, but after a lovely fruit salad and coffee where we felt ready to go and do something. National Geographic photo exhibit with some amazing animal portraits by Vincent Murnier. Incidentally I never knew bears were so animated looking, left me with some crazy bear dreams last night!
So the weather is spot on, not too hot, not too cold. Nobody's sunburnt yet anyway.
the underground shopping centre is enormous, we wandered for days trying to find a shop of any description but found ourselves trapped in a maze of terrifyingly empty and endless corriders. But I can see it's merits for the wintertime.
At some point yesterday Anna picked up a leaflet about a Pub on Rue-St Paul that has a happy hour 5-7 so all day we cajoled ourselves along with talk about this infamous happy hour and a well deserved drink, we walked and walked in circles (sorry bobs your map reading leaves a small margin for improvement) until finally, full of overhyped thirsty expectation we turned the corner on rue st paul to be greeted with a building site and a row of tumbledown houses. Sometimes the best thing to do in a situation like this is to laugh. We fell about in exhausted delirium until we trawled another 2 km to the OTHER end of Rue St Paul and slugged back a few pitchers of cold Molston beer!
we have landed!
Off to great start with my penneys suitcase bursting open in Dublin airport, you get what you pay for I suppose.
Tears aplenty and heartbreaking farewells paved the way to the bar in the departures lounge for a stiff nerve steeling drink. The only upside was we were let off the charges for over weight luggage due to the stream of tears facing the checkin staff... you just couldn't do it to us.
USIT played to form and screwed us over, so we were all placed in different seats on the flight to montreal, 3 randomly located middle row seats. now maybe this is a bit sneaky but when you've had an emotional day, the tears are never far from the surface...so when we got on board and met a lovely Irish airhostess---bobbi quick as a flash piped up 'but she's terrified of flying she can't sit alone' and my eyeballs in spontaneous cooperation suddenly started pouring water in a packed aircraft with a masive audience. They jigged people around and put us 2 together and 1 across the way, with endless gin and tonic and nearly a bottle of wine each...neddless to say I can't remember much of the movie but I eventually had a pretty fantastic sleep! So future note to self, say your scared of flying and it opens doors!
unfortunately there was a major gaggle of weirdos sitting within our radius. The woman squeezed on top of ...personal space please!...insisted on cleaning her nails with the safety card and flicking the under-nail dirt into my lap. On bobbi's right was an old man with a plastic bag wrapped around his head, at one point the airhostess tried to throw it out but he woke up and clung on....MY BAG! ref to Niamh's My Sambo quote!
So we arrived blearyeyed in Montreal 2am Irish time, took a long hard look at ourselves in the bathroom mirror and laughed hysterically at the incoming new 'workforce', we're here to work we proudly informed the immigration officer, she looked a little dubious and I don't blame her!!!
Chattiest Taxi Driver I ever met insisted on discussing irish politics all the way to the hotel, which he knew the location of straight away 'oh yes, many people stay there, it is very cheap, no?!' gulp- sounds chic?!
Place is a bit of a dive, no doubt on that but it is cheap so can't complain, 2 double beds in the room but no available space for our monsterous cases!
Tears aplenty and heartbreaking farewells paved the way to the bar in the departures lounge for a stiff nerve steeling drink. The only upside was we were let off the charges for over weight luggage due to the stream of tears facing the checkin staff... you just couldn't do it to us.
USIT played to form and screwed us over, so we were all placed in different seats on the flight to montreal, 3 randomly located middle row seats. now maybe this is a bit sneaky but when you've had an emotional day, the tears are never far from the surface...so when we got on board and met a lovely Irish airhostess---bobbi quick as a flash piped up 'but she's terrified of flying she can't sit alone' and my eyeballs in spontaneous cooperation suddenly started pouring water in a packed aircraft with a masive audience. They jigged people around and put us 2 together and 1 across the way, with endless gin and tonic and nearly a bottle of wine each...neddless to say I can't remember much of the movie but I eventually had a pretty fantastic sleep! So future note to self, say your scared of flying and it opens doors!
unfortunately there was a major gaggle of weirdos sitting within our radius. The woman squeezed on top of ...personal space please!...insisted on cleaning her nails with the safety card and flicking the under-nail dirt into my lap. On bobbi's right was an old man with a plastic bag wrapped around his head, at one point the airhostess tried to throw it out but he woke up and clung on....MY BAG! ref to Niamh's My Sambo quote!
So we arrived blearyeyed in Montreal 2am Irish time, took a long hard look at ourselves in the bathroom mirror and laughed hysterically at the incoming new 'workforce', we're here to work we proudly informed the immigration officer, she looked a little dubious and I don't blame her!!!
Chattiest Taxi Driver I ever met insisted on discussing irish politics all the way to the hotel, which he knew the location of straight away 'oh yes, many people stay there, it is very cheap, no?!' gulp- sounds chic?!
Place is a bit of a dive, no doubt on that but it is cheap so can't complain, 2 double beds in the room but no available space for our monsterous cases!
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