I haven't created any posts these past few days. Seth and I were just hanging in the city. We also went out with Glen on a couple days for some good food and another tour of the city. And we got to spend time with Seth's uncle Andrew and cousin Brooke, along with Gaby and Nevada. The lovely Alicia meet us at the station this morning to see us off.
Sorry to those who I didn't contact in Montreal. There just wasn't time for everything.
I brought Seth back today and am staying in Toronto for business with Melanie who's coming in from Calgary. I don't know if I'm going to get back to Montreal or not. Overall, this may not have been the adventure I imagined and it looks like the trip is getting cut short 10 days, but it's been a great time nevertheless. Montreal, je t'aime.
The last video is just a few snippets of our last few days. I can't believe I didn't get Seth and Brooke on video together. C'est dommage. Sorry guys.
Today was a pretty laid back day. We listened to the TamTams: a big group drumming event that happens every Sunday at the base of Mont Royal from noon to sunset. It has a circus like atmosphere. Besides the drummers and dancers you'll find a little hippy market, jugglers, acrobats, etc. A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Today was blistering hot however, so there were not as many people dancing as usual. So we took a bike ride to a community pool. It was a crazy place with hundreds of people. Everybody was laid out towel to towe.
We finished our evening with a organ concert at Notre Dame complete with choir and a tour of souvenir alley in Old Montreal.
To summarize: We just played around at the port and finished our day with some fantastic fireworks. I love Seth's interpretive dance of our day at the end of this video.
It was a relatively relaxed morning. Seth seems pretty content just to hang out with me at our "home". He's been a busy guy, so I don't blame him for just wanting to chill.
This morning they moved the piano out of here. Two guys carried it down the stairs. One guy must have been at least 250 lbs. He was harnassed to the piano and I could just feel the discs in his back bulging as he made his way down the stairs.
The destination for the piano was a third story room just down the street.
Now if you know Montreal, you know that there are a lot of crazy staircases on the outside of every building - usually spiral staircases. So Carolyn has a crane lift the piano to a tiny third story balcony a few doors down. Safety standards in Quebec are a little different than Ontario. In fact, I'd say they are pretty much non-exisitant. So it was with quite some excitement and a little adrenline that we saw the piano hoisted and swung with significant amount of momentum into the doorway of that third story room. A very dramatic morning. Sorry, but I forgot to bring my video camera with me.
In the afternoon, Seth and I went to the Montreal Science Centre. We had an awesome time. We are members of the Toronto Science Centre, so it was fun to play with some new exhibits. Although it's much smaller than the Toronto one, this science centre was very interactive (memories of the old T.O. Science Centre) and surprisingly quiet. Lots of cool projection and touch screen interactivity. I discovered that I have powerful Alpha and Theta brain waves. Beat Seth many times in a Star Wars-like "feel the force" game where we battle for control of a ball with the power of our minds. The Science Center has definitely been the best entertainment value for our money yet.
We saw Under the Sea - 3DImax. Awesome!! We'll have to go back and watch the U2 concert in Imax 3D as well.
Oh yes, they had an Aqua exhibit about water (some great video at that link that shows the wave effects). It was produced by Cirque de Soleil founder. It was very theatrical and utilized some great projection interactivity. For example, the presentation happens in a small 360 degree theatre and at one point you could stand next to the screen and create waves in the ocean by moving your arms in various directions. Cool.
We had some Mexican food for dinner and then headed home. Seth actually went to bed before 10:30 this evening.
I don't think I'll post any video for today. It's mostly silly Seth stuff that belongs in the "how to fold underwear" section of YouTube rather than the "man accidently sets underwear on fire" section. I'll try to produce better material in the future.
We got off to a late start this morning. Seth has had some late party nights and he's not used to that. I rented a bike of my own with more than three speeds this morning and we biked out to the Biodome.
I am completely blown away at the city bike paths and how many people actually use them. I find it pretty cools when I see a couple dozen people riding along a bike lane in Toronto, like College St. Here there are hundreds and hundreds of bikers using the city paths. I love it. If it werent' for these paths I wouldn't let Seth drive. Car drivers are too distracted.
Anyways, the Biodome was pretty cool: Four ecosystems set up in the former Velodrome. I actaully got to see the bike track in the Velodrome shortly after the '76 Olympics. It was very impressive. I had my first bad meal of the trip at the Biodome. Don't eat Biodome food. I repeat: Do not eat Biodome food.
Then we rode over to the Insectarium. At that point in the afternoon I crashed. I got very tired and even riding the bike seemed ultra-effortful, even with an additional 18 speeds. We also went through some of the botanical gardens, but I really just wanted to lie down.
Schwartz's Deli was our destination for dinner. Two smoked meat sandwiches, two pickles and a shared order of fries. I told myself I wouldn't go in there. It's not far from where I'm staying and I've passed in at least ten times so far. There are always lineups at every hour of the day. The place has been around for 80 years and I guess it's just become an entrenched tradition for everyone who visits the city to eat there when they come into town. It's probably a childhood memory for the locals. The food was okay. Not great.
The place is completely packed. There are tables of six and eight and the staff sits you wherever there's a free chair, so you never know who you are going to end up eating with. The bus boy was particularly impressive. We watched him clear a table of four in less than 60 seconds with military like precision. He removed every dirty dish in one trip then came back to toss the empty ketchup bottle into a small garbage can from an impressive distance.
And that was the day. I don't know why, but I feel whipped tonight. Hopefully I will have a very restful night's sleep.
Seth and I did A LOT of biking today. We headed off to a bike shop to rent Seth a bike just after 9am this morning and didn't come back until about 2:30pm.
We rode up the mountain (sorry Deb, but Seth is much faster than you) and then explored some of the city's bike trails. A trip (by bike) to the Jean Talon market to pick up some fresh veggies and meat for supper and then back home to chill.
It was a hot day, so by the time we got back we were pretty exhausted. I had a three-speed bixi bike and I had a hard time keeping up with Seth on his fancy 21 speed city bike. My legs were spinning those peddles like crazy, but I just wasn't covering the ground like he was.
We were both happy to relax a little this afternoon, but went out again to Indigo to pick up some reading books. (Thank you Charles and Stacey for the birthday gift card.)
I ate very well today. Not that I haven't been eating extremely well everyday, but I ate a lot of good food today. A hearty Nicoise salad at the marche and a great home cooked meal for dinner. Seth was my sous chef for the evening. We had a great steak. It looks horrible in the video, but it was a great meal.
I hadn't cooked beef for years until Glen came to live with us for awhile. He got me hooked again. I made a nice little wine sauce, reduced nicely. I'm amazed at how easy it is to make sauces. Put enough butter and wine in anything and it tastes good.
We finished off our night with the movie Blades of Glory. Quite inappropriate for a ten year old, but hilarious for both of us nevertheless.
Seth is here. We did the train trip back and arrived in Montreal around 5pm.
Seth is very excited about the trip. Although he's been through the States this is his first trip in Canada outside of Ontario. One of the first things we did after unpacking was to go in search of a bike rental for Seth. He want's to bike up the mountain tomorrow. Unfortunately, the bike store just closed before we got there.
So we took a walk down St Denis and went back to Prince Arthur. We ate at out on a terrasse. The food was decent, but unremarkable. The setting was great however and it was an absolutely beautiful night. As we were sitting there, it struck me that pretty much everybody on the street was white. There is just not the same level of diversity as there is in Toronto.
Then we went to St Louis Square at the end of Prince Arthur and had a gelato as we listened to some awesome street musicians.
We stayed up late and Seth just zonked out around 11pm. I'm excited that he's in town and ready to play.
