Leaving for NY

Today, Montréal cries for us. Jo, Jason, Claire, Dane and I leave for
New York tonight and on our last day here in Montréal it has rained
endlessly. I am sad to leave, but I'll be back next month, so the
heartbreak is on hold.

Montréal is a beautiful city full of cafés, bars, restaurants and
shops with character. The houses are painted bright colours and have
winding iron staircases up to the balconies on two stories. There's
always something to do and see, without it being overwhelming. It has
been very warm - sometimes as hot as our summer in Australia.

We stayed with my parents' friend Anik in Longueuil which is just over
the bridge from Montréal. Every day we got up late, bummed around, and
went out in the afternoon when it started to cool down. Then we drank
beer, ate poutine and came home on the last metro or crammed into a
cab. We hung out in the downtown area of the city - the Latin Quarter,
the Plateau, the Gay Village, and just on the edge of the very hip
Mile End. Our favourite pubs were Foufoun Electrique (electric arse)
and Casa del Popolo, which had bands and tasty nachos and samosas. We
tried poutine from three places: Patati Patata (blah blah), Burger
King and a 24 hr place the name of which I cannot remember, most
likely because it was last night after several pitchers of beer.

Yesterday I met my long-time internet buddy Daniel La France. We've
been friends online for around 8 years and yesterday we met in person
for the very first time. I thought it would be weird, but with the
miracle of Facebook he already seemed familiar. We ate some hommus and
drank beer at Casa, then walked to Mile End for fresh bagels from a
famous 24 hr bagel place. I had cinnamon and raisin, and it was chewy
and delicious. then we went down to Old Montreal to meet the rest of
the gang, buy some beer and watch the fireworks. I think the friend
date went very well. haha. he is also on this email list, so forgive
me Dan for writing about you as if you are not also reading this
email.

There are festivals on the street in Montréal every day. After their
brutal winters, Quebecois like to squeeze every drop of fun out of the
summer days (and nights). One festival, Jus pour rien (just for
laughs) brought Irish comedian David O'Doherty to a little theatre on
St Laurent. He was on spicks and specks a few times:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz4f_e02RFM
He is a very funny man and I love him. Afterwards we waited outside
like creepy stalkers and then when he came out, we jumped him! I mean,
we shook his hand. And then something very strange happened... I
started laughing, and I couldn't stop. For the 5 minutes we talked to
him I laughed hysterically. I asked for his autograph and he drew a
picture of all of us. And Claire took a photo. As we climbed higher
and higher into socially awkward territory, my hysteria grew. He
promised us free tickets to his show when he comes to Sydney next year
and I said, 'I promise next time I'll laugh LESS' (meaning if I ever
meet him again I will try hard not to be a massive dork) but that only
served to further confuse a very confusing moment of human
interaction. One of Dave's jokes during the show was about what ROFL
means, and as we walked down the hill I screamed 'I'm going to ROFL!'
because I could barely walk. and only 15 metres away from Dave I sank
to the ground, belongings scattered, and had to be pulled up to my
feet. Hilarity. Rather embarrassing hilarity.

And so...

Highlights of our week in Montréal:
-Climbing to the top of Mount Royal and seeing the giant cross lit up
by lightbulbs (even though we were eaten by mozzies)
-Walking up and down St Laurent, talking to young Quebecois shop assistants
-Getting a haircut at Coupe Bizarre from the bassist for Pony Up!
-meeting Daniel. yay!
-seeing Marmots in the park on the river. They are so fat and shy.
-picnic on Mount Royal with homemade pasta and longneck coronas.
Getting freaked out by squirrels.
-heaps of cute dogs. little ones and big ones. dogs are well manicured
in Montréal.
-apricot beer, marble cheese, chocolate croissant, almond croissant,
dill pickle chips
-staying with Anik, a very, very kind woman!
-flaunting my meager French. I managed to buy food, try a a little
smalltalk with taxi drivers and shop assistants, and politely reject
flirtatious old men. haha.

We're off to stay in the New York Loft hostel in Brooklyn, which may
be in or on the border of Williamsburg. Claire wants to go on a Regina
Spektor pilgrimage. I'm going to call my friend Claude, take my
friends to meet Maggie, see a band at the Mercury Loungue and hang out
on Houston Street. We'll check out Williamsburg and go see the
touristy things. hooray.

Hope everyone is doing well. See my photos on Facebook!

xo