The woods smelled of strawberries, but maybe that was just wishful thinking as the season was too late. Maybe it was the ones Daniella had brought with her, we ate some for breakfast, but not poor Mounia as she is allergic. Somehow we had managed to stay up until midnight and didn’t drag ourselves out of our tents until 11am. I had a cold night despite my down sleeping bag and crappy sleeping mat. Perhaps another couple of pairs of socks would have stopped my feet feeling like ice blocks.

» Continue reading “A walk in the woods.”

The 2 polish girls Andres and I had stayed awake until 4.30am didn’t turn up until the next morning, seems like they had a long night and they crashed right away. I spent an hour rearranging my backpack for the camping trip I had arranged through couchsurfing. We (well it wasn’t just me) were a bit dissorganised though and we didn’t leave montreal until gone noon and we still needed to go food shopping for the trip. The attendees were myself, Renae from Perth Australia, Mouina from Morrocco and Daniella from Mexico. The last two are studying in Montreal and saw it as a good chance to see some of the local flora and fauna near their new home cities. We stopped off on the Interstate and stocked up on Tortillas, fruit and Beer.

» Continue reading “Snoring Bears in the wood”

Friday night was the fourth irregular couchsurfing Montreal Food Discovery Tour meeting at La Caverne. I was downtown for most of the afternoon wandering around looking for interesting things, I made a 2 minute trip into Payless Shoes to replace my Converse all stars which were literally killing my feet. See shoes, try shoes, buy shoes… bliss. Good thing too as the restaurant was miles away. I found the street but soon discovered it was all the way over the hill which montreal is built around. I eventually gave up, got the bus and found I was 200m away…. bleh.

» Continue reading “Russian food and dancing”

Not in the erotic sense of course, I went rockclimbing last night for the first time. Ok I did it in Thailand up a mountain, but that felt more like the guy pulling me up. Was where the Tsunami hit, I wonder if he is ok…Im in Montreal, everything is in French, sexy girls keep walking past, it really could be in France except Im on the wrong continent. I came over on Sunday afternoon with a couple of guys from Venezuala who live here. I met them on Thursday night in the Cadillac lounge and then went dancing.

» Continue reading “Im all stiff!!”

I took a walk over to the camera store Mikhael had told me about which was a good few kms, was pretty good. I even had a play with the new Canon 40D which is very nice, but Im still happy with my 30D, I have to take a few more shots. Still can’t find the daypack I want though, but they had some nice ones in there. Prices are the same as the UK though so it would be best to wait until I get to the states.

In the evening I was invited to dinner at Yorvis and Loius’ new apartment and drove over with Mikhael and Andres. Andres’ girl was also there along with Ben, a canadian guy who speaks excellent Mexican spanish. Its really nice that I get to meet people other than other backpackers and see some kind of normal life. They put on a DVD they got with a board game and Im ashamed to say I kicked all their asses. How half of them can go through life and not see half of the best movies of all time I will never know, but then I do have several years on most of them

I woke up at around noon when Bonnie came downstairs, but was still tired. I made myself useful and filled the dishwasher, 4 guys living together and a working dishwasher that was empty :p Bonnie helped to tidy up too, it was the least we could do. Marks house is in Greek Town and actually just around the corner from where I had my first brunch in the Only Cafe, but we walked the wrong way and ended up at some organic supermarket vegetarian cafe which was nice. Bonnie is really great, she works as a graphic designer for a travel magazine and has been lots of cool places. My kind of traveller, someone who cares more about the trip and having random adventures than actually getting to the final destination. She ended up in Mozambique trying to get to Tanzania and had a blast not doing what she wanted to.

We wandered into town down the main street and got the subway further in to get out of the sun. It has been really nice this last week, not a drop of rain, clear skies, just warm enough… the perfect english summer we had missed. Its nice just to walk and talk, and Bonnie was an interesting girl too, so far better than exploring on my own. We had a look in the Ontario Musuem but at $15 was too much to go in, and had a look in at the library which was prety good too. Mark needed to borrow Bonnies car to take his empty kegs back so we headed home before we had a chance to get down to see Lake Ontario, I guess she’ll have to go see that herself on next week.

I had another night to kill and decided to spend it at the local salsa club instead of with Mark, his boys and Bonnie but got trapped into sitting around chatting and drinking beer. They have a sweet set up, Matt and Mark (a third mark!) have some decks and are really into their music and are always mixing stuff and working on tracks. Shame they can’t get it together properly but I wish they would, really cool guys.

I was late for salsa and bouced from pub to club twice before I saw Neil who I had met at the Brunch meeting on Sunday outside and he showed me where everyone was sitting. Jeanne, Andreas, Yorvis were also there, along with a couple of other girls who weren’t coming dancing. I was looking for Maria, who was not there yet, so didn’t see the. Its fun to seemingly hook up with mostly random people you meet through a website. Much better than talking to the drunk in the corner of the bar

Salsa wasn’t that great though I have to say. Too fast, and then they stopped playing salsa for ages, $10 to get in and expensive beer. I only had one. Andeas and yorvis were great dancers though, although they made Jeanne do all the work. Made it look so easy, but I think Im getting my head around it a bit more, I think the beer might have helped I better get more practise in before I hit Latin America.

If you add me to facebook you can see the photos Megan too when she turned up. Im in as travel trousers

Thursday was the the day I had to move out my hostel, so I woke up on time and sorted out my stuff a bit better. I also really needed to finish up the tourist things as I was still hoping to get a ride the next day to Montreal, although I hadn’t heard back from Dave. I sent him another message and then went for a good walk back into Kennsington Market and China town. I had bought a ticket for the CN tower for $20 which wasn’t cheap, but i figured I had to check it out.

I got my camera out too and took some photos, not saying they were any good, but I have been a bit lazy with the photography so far and needed to become more concientious about my new hobby. Lunch was at a vegetarian chinese place that gave me a massive portion, easily enough for 3 people so I had to get a carry out (which I then left in the hostel). I wandered down to the CN, swiped my ticket and headed up to the top. It was quite good fun, the glass floor was good, but not really that scary. Its so tall it doesn’t seem real. Would love to bungee from it.

Mark had finally agreed to let me stay and also had another surfer, Bonnie from LA, who was due in too. We all swapped messages and I was angling for a lift from the hostel which didn’t really work, but I was just too lazy to get the subway. I left it too late too, and by the time I staggered out with my stuff I realised my knees were kind of sore so just go a cab. Bonnie is great, and a true travel writer, as it she works for a travel magazine. They dont do editorial content anymore which is a shame, but Im sure she has plenty of good advice for that field.

Mark, Bonnie and I had to get to a big bookstore before closing at 9pm as the New York Times had an article about couchsurfing and Mark was quoted! Nice! So we got the subway in and the wandered through town in the evening before heading to the reverb club to watch a band that Megan knew. Where are all the melodies these days? I dont think its because Im old, I think its because I knew what a good band sounds like but I can’t really see them making it. The band after called ‘After Party’ were much better, had a hot singer too which is nice.

Maria also came so when that was over she drove us to the Cadallic Lounge to meet the other CRs. Dave was also there and apparently got told off for not getting back to me about the lift the next day. It was all good though as a couple of guys that live in Montreal were going there on Sunday and I was welcome to join them. Another couple of days in Toronto and a chance to dance salsa on friday night! Winner!

I got up late, which was half because I was so tired, and half because I spent all night with the terrrible snoring. I had a short wander around town, joined the Mountain Equipment Coop, which is an awsome store and tried to find a day safe backpack. No luck there.

The afternoon was spent trying to do my laundry, mostly unsuccessfully,the kiktchen area was closed and then the dryers broke so I hung around waiting for them to become free, which they didn’t as people kept refilling them. Waste of a day really. I eventually got my clothes clean and then just messed around on my laptop until the social evening event of meeting at Sneaky Dees, but that was quite late. Met up with some more CS guys and talked about skiing. I really wanted to go after that conversation!

We managed to get out the Bates Motel for just after 11am, which was good, I just hope I get my $300 deposit back on my card sooner rather than later, ie not getting it when Im in Montreal. We cruised up to the backpackers but I couldn’t get in until 1pm so we headed up to Kensington Market to get some coffee and chinese food. Might have to go back and buy some clothes, they have lots of pimping gear up there. The backpacker look is so last year, vintage 70s gear might be the way forward.

Tried a couple of ATMs with my card but they all wanted to charge me a couple of bucks per transation. That was ok for me at the airport but not in the city, I found the RBC didn’t charge me later on so I will be sticking to them. I was broke though so I couldn’t treat Britni to the lovely mangosten they had in the chinese fresh food stalls. Im sure I can find some in Chicago, although at nearly three pounds a pound they were very expensive. Thailand has spoiled me

I got dropped off and we said our sad goodbyes. Really great girl, I hope she gets back to doing what she loves, photography, as soon as she can, I could do with some lessons Was gonna be a long ass drive back to Chicago and she drives like a maniac so I hope she made it ok! She taught me a trick or two, and Im not talking about her singy-songy southern accent! More importantly I hope she doesn;t get sacked, first time she has had a sicky but it was Niagara Falls dammit with some great company, she had to come.

I moved into the Canadania backpackers which is downtown and then went for a walk around. I’m getting my bearings now after driving around the city for a couple of days looking for random things, I spotted the Toronto branch of the Mountain Equipment Company and made a mental note for the next day. Not that I can carry much more, I only really bought a sleeping mat and now it seems like I have no room and the damn thing fit on the outside! The beastie boys are playing this weekend too, but looks like I will miss it as hopefully I will be in Montreal by then.

Kaydi had invited me to the last drum circle event of the year so I got cleaned up and we rode the street car west to the park. Its nice she can take some time out of her last years study to show me a few things. The park has a big bowl in it and it was packed with hundreds of people playing the drums and maybe a thousand in total. Fire jugglers, people with glow sticks, people dancing… We met a couple of Kaydis friends from saturday and sat dinking wine and laughing at the girls in front of us grinding away at each other. Too dark for photos despite my camera, I really needed my flash but I wont make that mistake again.

They finished up at about 10.30 which Im sure the local residents appreciated as a hundred drummers tended to make a lot of noise. It was kind of strange to listen to it too as it was completely organic, Im not sure anyone was in charge and it slowly changed into different rythms as you sat there. You could hear melodies in the pattern too somehow. Very strange. Very cool. I walked west with the Kaydis friends back to their place which was over the Pizza Pizza as I was meeting some couchsurfer friends in a local bar although I was very late and I got my first sense of bad vibes on the way.

Some well built white guy with a mohican was walking towards us, minding his own buisness and it seemed like when he was 5 meters away he saw my camera on my shoulder so he looked at me, touched my arm as he passed and started saying ‘Hey buddy, can I get…’. I felt like I was about to be mugged, but I ignored him and just kept walking as he ran out of ideas of things to ask me for. I had no cigarettes and I wasn’t going to give him any money so why should I stop? So he could find an excuse to smack me?

We got to the bar a while later and I met up with Mark and Megan again, sadly I had missed most of the other people as it was a bit late but there was quite a good group still there and we even had a couchsurfing barmaid working the bar. A bit later she was very glad we were there. I also met Dave Smaller who said he was going to Montreal on friday so looks like I can get a cheap ride share there. The guy in my dorm room said it cost him $90 which seems a bit expensive.

Eventually there were just three of us left and we went out for a cigarette with Dani the CS barmaid and during the constant stream of panhandlers one of the other guys in the bar came out and started telling us his story which was kind of bizzarre. He said he had been back in Toronto 4 hours as he had been deported from the the UK for asking his clients in the defense industry where the WMDs were. His cousin had recently been killed by friendly fire and he had had enough. Seemed like a bizarre story, but the guy was very drunk and kind of emotional. I mostly believed him, but then he said he didn’t have any money for his bar tab, insulted Dani and lied to her about lending Mark $50 and lost any respect he might have just gained.

I guess if we see him on the news in a few days killed by the CIA there might be something in it. He was writing it in a blue binder about the general and the dutch protistutues it was his job to buy for them with his platinum mastercard. Very strange story.

These couchsurfers area lot mroe hardcore than the Birmingham lot as there are meetings planned for Wednesday and Thursday too. I can hardly keep up! Im not getting much sleep as it is, and despite being in a dorm in a comfy bed I had the usual dubious pleasure of beeing woken up by some noisy German who wouldn’t stop snoring. He would stop when I would kick the underneath of his bed but soon started again. At least I wasn’t up since 5am like the english guy in my room. I need to organise my pack and dig out my ear plugs….

At the hostel I had left a note seeing if anyone wanted to come to the falls on monday morning, but there were no takers! Stupid fools were paying $40 a pop to take the bus down and I only wanted a bit for gas. The fools. I managed to persuade Britni to come along though so I wasn’t going to be lonely. We hit the road with the usual confusion with Marta the tomtom girl sending us all over the place and had a good sing song on the way down, now I know what Styx sound like! Proper highway driving in the day is much more intense, but its only 1 1/2 hours away.

I was slightly confused about the whole thing, as you are when you have never been anywhere, but Im glad I saw it in Canada, they have a nicer view I reckon. We also had the wind coming to us so got all the spray as well which was fun Its a real tourist trap, unsuprisingly, but was nice to be there and check it out. We had another lovely day, sunny and clear, rainbows from the falls. Was a nice place to spend a couple of hoursShame I can’t post any cliched photos yet, but they will come!
We headed back and went for Pizza Pizza, no rats this time but was nice to be by the lake near the harbour as the sun set, I gave a pathetic salsa lesson on the stage, I really need to get drunk and go dancing. Seemed like a really short day somehow, but it took a lot of driving. We drove back up to the airport to drop off my car and wished the striking workers luck in their struggle against the man! I wonder what to do about the 2 parking tickets I got…? :p

Now we had a dilema as Britni should have been back at work the next day but couldn’t  get back in time and we didn’t want to impose on Judy again so we started looking for a place to stay. The guidebook gave us some clues but we were still out of luck after a dozen phone calls, we didn;t really want to pay $320 for the honeymoon suite at some posh hotel.so we headed back to the scary place we had done a u-turn earlier.

No needles under the bed, no blood, just a big spider on the ceiling and a reasonable price. The guy at the reception was kinda scary, but it was late, we were tired and I doubt we would find anything else better. For me it had to beat the car and Judy’d floor by a considerable margin!