850. Vieux Montreal

Where: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
When: Feburary 19-20, 2010
With: Doug, Jon, Carly and crew

I will admit straight off that this will be a weak representation of Montreal in general, let alone the old part of the city. While I was definitely there, the purpose of my time was celebrating my friend Doug's 27th birthday, and my photos were more focused on people taking shots than the city architecture. While we had a great time, this Book entry is not one I can confidently say I smashed.

But an experience is an experience. To get to Montreal, the second largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris, we rented this massive van and drove it from East Brunswick, New Jersey all nine hours into Quebec, and ultimately, Montreal. In the dead of winter.

This was actually my first time to Canada, and my first time crossing a border by car. Very exciting. Or is it? The border doesn't look very nice. 

When we got in, we went out to dinner and I can say I ordered a very Canadian meal: poutine! This meal originates in the province of Quebec and consists of French fries slathered in cheese curds and gravy. This one also had meat on top and was delicious and French! Sorry, French Canadian.

The next day, after drinking late into the night at bars where half the people spoke French, Carly and I were the only two that wanted to get up and do something. It was so cold that just wandering outside didn't feel feasible, so we decided to find some activity. 

Someone told us about a place called Mont-Royal, a mountain in the city covered in snow offering lots of winter activities, like sledding and skiing. After a hilarious public bus ride where we attempted to converse with the French speaking bus driver and determine our stop, we arrived at this ski resort in city. 

So did this girl, in stiletto heels. 

From up here, we got some beautiful views on the city below us. 

When presented with our list of options for snow-themed activities, we both pretty easily decided on going cross-country skiing. I had never done it before, so why not? 

The skis were much thinner and my heel was not locked into the ski to give better leverage, making it much easier than I thought it would be. We had free range of the park, which had some hills, but was otherwise pretty easy to get around.

We had an absolute blast. We loved it. We debated whether we should try out for the 2014 Olympic team. Look at Carly take this hill!

After our fun-filled day, we met up with everyone else to celebrate the birthday boy. Carly celebrated with some American beer after being out of the country for so long, and Doug got a flaming cake. But no one had a better day than Carly and I did.

And then the next morning, we hopped back in the van and headed back to New Jersey. That was it! So as I said, while this was not a great showing on Old Montreal, it was a great showing of my cross-country skiing skills. And hopefully, I'll return in warmer months for a Part Deux post on Old Montreal.