Bienvenue a Montreal
So after a killer 20 hour train ride across eastern Canada which commenced at 12.30 AST on sun – i finally arrived in Montreal at 8am on the monday morning – despite sitting in one place for too long, the Via Rail is a great way to travel, saw an amazing sunset, watched a movie and chatted with my new travel buddies Pattie, Helen and Jane. It certainly helped having people to chat to – otherwise think i would have started talking to myself.
Wow so Montreal – what a city – after Halifax its huge and french and well very french. My school french was not going to help me too much i dont think – but i seem to have a sign above my head which scream English person English person and consequently everyone speaks to me in English!
Managed to find the hostel with the least amount of effort which is always good but then had to wait around for couple of hours before i could check in – man i need sleep didnt at all travelling so plonked my arse down in reception and waited it out.
Found out that they still had tickets to hockey game tonight and decided that at $30 i really had no excuse. This was going to be my first ever hockey game and i was very excited. I chilled out in the afternoon and then headed down to the Bell Centre – home of the Montreal Canadiens – otherwise known as the Habs. Luckily the Bell is just around the corner from the hostel but it wasn’t difficult to find – the streets were amass with the red jerseys of the Habs. I could feel the atmosphere which i guess is very similar to a football match.
Headed down to my seat – well up really i was in the top section but still had a great view of the pitch or rink or well im not really sure what its called but you get my drift. The crowd were excited and on form booing the Boston Bruins at every opportunity – sensing they arent liked up here!??!
The game was totally awesome – The Habs were well in control and thrashed the Bruins 6 – 1. I get the idea that Christopher Huet is the fans favourite as his name was chanted a lot. Might need to check the spelling of his name but im pretty sure that was right. Man i love this game i think i could get totally addicted to it – gonna definately try to get to some more games. Am gutted in some ways as The Habs are playing the Atlanta Thrashers next week and i wont be here – boo.
Had a fairly chilled day on tuesday and Elizabeth my dorm buddy and I decided that we were gonna go on the Montreal pub crawl and go for a couple of beers – yeah well since when have i just gone out for a couple – we started out at 8.30 and went to two bars first there was a distinct divide between the english speaking and the french speaking so myself, Elizabeth, Rodger and Ashley (Canadians), Mick ( Aussie) were on the english side. Our guide was Julian – he was cool – i think its awesome here how they just switch flawlessly between English and French without seeming to blink.
We ended up in a student club which was packed and on a tues night too – the music 80’s – urgh but actually it was pretty cool we had a boogie and then staggered back to the hostel around 3am so a good night out – cant do that too often though as my budget went out the window with jack and coke at $5 bucks a piece plus tip!
Tags: Canada, Montreal
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