Our visit to the second country on our travels did not begin well. The first day started with a manic drive from Augusta, Maine to Burlington, Vermont which for some reason we had decided would take 3 hours. Unfortunately when we actually looked at the printed directions 10 minutes down the road we discovered it would take at least 4 and a half. Oops. Situation not helped by the fact that we had to drop off one hire car and pick up another halfway in to save having to pay ridiculous drop off charges. We made it to the Greyhound station with minutes to spare, and finally arrived in Montreal where we were supposed to meet the guy we'd agreed to rent an apartment from. Unfortunately he turned out to be either incredibly stupid or a fraudster - either way, we found ourselves in the middle of Montreal on a Friday night with nowhere to stay. Not ideal.
Refusing to be beaten, Rich got us a room at the HI hostel for the night and I tracked down a rather amazing apartment for the rest of the week, if I do say so myself. Owned and recently renovated by an interior designer, it was huge and had everything from a walk in closet and wet room shower to DVD projector, satellite TV, fitness machines and a hefty stash of food and alcohol left behind by the business folk who usually stayed there.
We made the most of our luxury surroundings by doing a lot of cooking and lazing around. In between, we sampled the culinary delights of poutine (chips, gravy and cheese curds - sounds grim, tastes great), made the pilgrimage to Rich's favourite smoked meat sandwich emporium Schwartzs, took in a Halloween lantern competition at the botanical gardens, took many photos at an amazing Chinese lantern festival, wandered around the now slightly forlorn Olympic stadium, listened to stories at an international storytelling festival, looked at creepy crawlies at the insectarium, watched a Montreal Canadiens ice hockey game, cried profusely at Where the Wild Things Are at the IMAX (me, not Rich) and visited the second pirate museum of the trip, proving that pirate museums are, in many ways, like buses.
And so it was we eventually spent a very happy week in Rich's former university city. Well, I was happy until we had to leave. I loved that apartment...
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