Zach, Jess and I left for Montreal on the bus at around midnight hoping to get there in the early hours of the morning. We got to the bus terminal no dramas after a few quick goodbyes to those we hoped to see later in New York and boarded after a small saga with not having the reference numbers for our tickets. I was lucky enough to draw the short straw and sit next to a stranger (didn’t call shotgun fast enough) but it was fine. We got to the middle of nowhere and the bus started making beeping noises. The driver pulled over and no one really knew what was going on. The driver decided to keep going but pulled over a short while later, turned on the lights and informed everyone that at 2am our bus had overheated, we were 2 hours away from help and would have to wait on the bus (it was too dangerous to go outside – I’m assuming bears) until a new one came. Most passengers decided to do the sensible thing and sleep (as annoying as the situation was, it wasn’t anyone’s fault) but a few lovely Canadians decided to moan and complain for the entire time. Good times.
We got on the road again at about 4am and got to Ottawa with no dramas. There we had a quick stop (where we spent the entire time lining up for the next bus) and then we were on our way again this time to Montreal.
We touched down at about 10ish and were completely exhausted. None of us had gotten much sleep but after a few wrong turns, a meal and a subway ride we got to the hostel but were too early to check in so we explored the main street (Sainte-Catherine), came back later for a quick nap, headed out again for some quick dinner and to buy some snacks (after heading back to where we had dinner because Jess left her bag there – luckily it hadn’t been stolen) for an intense game of Monopoly later on.
The whole city is beautiful, freezing (average -10 degrees) and it’s surreal being somewhere that looks completely European but is in the middle of Canada. The first language is French, so everyone talks to you in French until you give them a funny look and then they speak stilted English.
Day 2:
Woke up early and headed out to explore Old Montreal. The weather was below freezing so we got excited by the frozen puddles and lakes. We walked through the Christmas markets, headed to the waterfront, to a few stores and then to the Notre Dame. It was much better than the one in Paris – not so commercialized. It was absolutely stunning. After a quick break and defrost at the hostel we headed to some of the (apparently) best poutine in Montreal. It actually was quite good but the concept is still filthy (cheese curds and gravy on French fries). The restaurant gave us paper placemats and crayons so we entertained ourselves until the food came. Later on we went on a bar crawl the hostel organized and there ended up being other aussies we were on exchange with in Toronto on it too, but because it was a Tuesday the bar was pretty dead and the drinks were expensive.
Day 3:
Our last morning brought the delightful news that the city was completely out of water, so showers and toilet use were a no. Grumpy and discouraged we plonked ourselves at Starbucks and cheered up a bit after some hot chocs and food. We then started the hike up to Mont Royal for a view of the city. Again we were excited by the amount of snow and ice so it took a bit to get up. The top was a great view of the whole city covered in a hazy layer of fog and ice. After playing around up there we hiked back down and headed to the main strip for a wander. After a late lunch we were all exhausted again so headed back to the hostel for another game of Monopoly and then got some dinner and went to the bus station. We got there super early so we could get good seats, waited for around an hour and a half, the bus arrived...and we were in the wrong line. Ended up all sitting separately after finding the right bus. Unlucky. After another stop in Ottawa though we got to sit next to each other on the next transfer.
Arrived back in TO at around 5am, caught a taxi and collapsed into bed. A great trip overall but absolutely exhausting.
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