Anyhow, the reason for the blog hiatus is that I was in Montreal, with my friend Michelle. We had a blast. It was great fun and I really enjoyed having some company this time around, even if she did try to get drunk on our first night there (no worries, I attempted revenge 2 nights later).
We went to the Botanical Gardens and saw the "Butterflies Go Free" exhibit, visited the BioDome where we saw the sloth this time (I didn't see him last time) but the Bobcat was hiding, took a tour of the Notre Dame Basilica (stunning and neither of us got struck by lightening), toured Old Montreal and the Old Port (and managed to not get blown into the St. Lawrence), ate the best poutine I've ever had (while sober), got upgraded to VIP status at the hotel which scored us a free breakfast, managed to not get lost in the subway, learnt that taking 4 lefts in a row will actually take you to some place different and not back to where you started from, got to swim outside (in the rain, in April) without freezing our asses off and generally just had a great time with a great friend.
Our train ride from Ottawa to Montreal was good. The train left 1 minute late and arrived 1 minute last so that's pretty good time. The guy on the train with the food/drinks cart was pretty funny. I spoke French to him and he was impressed by my attempt, so he tried to get Michelle to do the same. That didn't work. LOL. He then told us a funny story about offering "Swedish Balls" to a couple the week before instead of saying "Swedish Berries". It was pretty damn funny. Once in Montreal, we checked into the hotel and headed off to the Botanical Gardens. We'd lucked out and the hotel sold us discounted tickets to the Gardens and BioDome so we save some money. When we got to the Gardens, they were having electrical issues and all the lights/power was out. Since the green houses just use nature light, we were still allowed in. They said that the power should be fixed within a half hour or so and they were right. We were in the tropical plants section when all of a sudden, we heard a funny noise and then what sounded like water gurgling. I looked over at the little waterfall they have and sure enough, the water came running down it again. The pump was back on. This meant that by the time we'd finished the tour and saw the butterflies, the gift shop had re-opened. That was very important. LOL.
Afterwards, we ventured back to our hotel and then out to a place called The Burger Bar for dinner. It was crazy trendy. I definitely felt under dressed. I needed to add a scarf or floppy hat (the girl beside us had one) or something. I did have a very yummy Orange Creamcicle martini though, which according to Michelle, I drank far too slowly (she had 2 double Sex on the Beach in the same time it took to drink my 1 drink). She made some comment about not getting out much. The food was amazing though. Very awesome, unique burgers. They had one that had won an award during "Burger" week. It was called "The Hangover". It had bacon, cheese, a fried egg, mini poutine and truffle oil on it. There might have been a few more things too. I skipped it and had the Wild Shroom burger instead. Very yummy. We walked around the area for a bit, hitting up Ben and Jerry's for ice cream on the way back and taking a detour to see the Bell Centre (since Montreal is Michelle's team) before finding our way back to the hotel for a much needed rest.
And the rest of this story is to be continued because I need to get my butt to bed since I have to go back to work tomorrow.
Good Night!
Sarah
