It was the morning after the night before, my head weighing a lot more than it should have and the room being uncomfortably hot. We’d set the heater high to counter the Montreal chill that had taken over the room but had shut some of the doors separating the room where the heat was coming from and the place where the sensor was. It took us a good hour or so to make it out of bed and even after then it was slow going. Just how big a night we’d had before had sunk in with a vengeance, making every action take a lot longer than it should have. Still we made our way out for breakfast so we could get about visiting the cultural hub of this area, Old Montreal.
We went back to Laura’s favourite breakfast place and it was packed with the line snaking its way outside of the restaurant. We were told it would be about 15 minutes for a table and since we’d had such a good meal there previously we decided to stay. 30 minutes later we were finally seated and promptly ordered more breakfast than our tender stomachs were capable of handling. It was a good enough distraction as afterwards we were all feeling a lot better and ready for a walk around. Time was against us however, since daylight savings had just ended here and our late rise put us at almost 2pm once our late breakfast was done and dusted. Still we’d set aside this day for it so we went to it.
Old Montreal is down by the river side and it’s instantly recognisable from the rustic architecture that dominates most of the area. Many of the buildings have had their interiors renovated but the facades remain as they were hundreds of years ago. It was a dichotomy that is mirrored throughout the greater Montreal itself with exquisite new buildings usually being side by side with near ruins. It’s something that I can’t help but notice as in comparison to say Canberra where any opportunity to redevelop a building pops up it isn’t long before its actually done. The buildings were just a distraction for me while we were there as Laura wanted me to try another local delicacy: the beaver tail. It’s a pastry covered in Nutella and peanut butter and the best place to get them was down here. Unfortunately the shop wasn’t open (many places here close for the winter months) so we spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up the area before having all the heat drained out of us as the sun disappeared behind the skyline.
Not wanting to hit the town again, mostly because our gracious host had to return to work tomorrow, we decided that we’d wind the weekend down with a movie. The only one that anyone had strong feelings about (ok it was just me) was The Social Network. We bought tickets but the movie wasn’t on for another couple hours so we retired to the hotel room to rest up before heading back for it. The movie itself was great for an aspiring entrepreneur like myself but it seemed a bit slow paced for my Canadian counterparts. Still I’d highly recommend it for anyone who’s seeking a peek behind the creation of something like Facebook even if the story is glamorised.
Tomorrow we’re on our own so we’ll have to find our own fun in this town. Thankfully I’ve already got a couple things lined up that we’ll be pursuing over the last few days we have here in Montreal. Hopefully the weather will hold out as whilst there’s still a bitter bite in the wind it’s actually quite nice out in the sun. Sure it’s not the Florida beach weather that I was enjoying just a few days ago but it’s enough to make the meagre cold gear I brought with me viable. Especially considering one of those activities is hiking up Mount Royal, which would be a bit painful if the weather went south.
