Hi there. . . . Well we are still in Montreal, not for the want of trying to escape!

Now Dave suggested that I shouldn’t paint too much of a bad picture of the place, however I am somewhat struggling to highlight any real positives. . . About the nightlife anyway. . Now in the day it is nice. . . And having the snow is great, a real Christmas feeling. . . However seeing the snow has now annoyed Dave, as we should have really sorted out skiing?! But hey, whatever!

Now in summary, it seems like a nice place and I am sure the locals are right and it does get busier, etc. But, I am here now and the place is pretty much closed. . . From a nightlife point of view!

So Boxing day, we finally dragged our selves out into the sludgy snow and took a walk around. . . . The point came for me to purchase some winter boot / walking boots, as my trainers are now looking slightly tired, not to mention wet?! So literally went into the first half decent shoe shop and found some cool boots. . hmmm, they are lovely and warm and dry (which is a bonus). . . .

So we continued walking and taking in some of the site. . . The main street was very busy with shoppers (Boxing day bargains). We headed towards what was supposedly the other busy area for bars and restaurants. Well you can probably tell from the tone of this update that it wasn’t that exciting and / or busy?!? We found a reasonable place to eat, which offered a bit of entertainment in the form of and Bokker wandering in off the street chatting to the customers, before being asked politely to leave and then thrown out, however this did not perturb him, as he return waving his can of lager around shouting in French. . . . The bit I got was something about how he loved France and Paris. . . ? Sorry dude, but you are a few miles away! 3433 miles to be exact. Better start walking. .

Talking of walking, we walked some miles today and after the food, in a vane attempt to find life we continued up this so called other busy street to no avail. A few more nice looking eatery’s, but that was about it!

So we headed homeward and took in China town. . . hmmm, more like China Hamlet. . . ? Think it was about 2 streets. . . Still, as nice change of scenery. . Be it short lived!

After leaving China Hamlet, we found a hotel which had been recommended by the nice couple we met in the Villeneuve bar the night before. Hotel W of Montreal. . . Very posh and up market with a few bars, of which we tried one for a Vodka tonic. . . Not impressed, very expensive and believe it or not, it wasn’t busy!

So, home we went and chilled for a bit in our very nice comfortable hotel. . .

We contemplated the forthcoming evenings events and began to laugh in the disillusioned manner of which you would expect now. . . But feeling positive, we headed off out in search of entertainment. . We went to a restaurant that was having an identity crisis. . . It was a chain of French restaurants, however had a strong American feel and was blasting out AC/DC music videos. . .

Now if that wasn’t entertaining enough, we had the best (worst) waitress in the world ‘Ever’. . . She was great, the clumsiest little thing. . . Very funny to watch. Now don’t get me wrong, she was cool, just a little dopey!

We then headed up the busy street. . hmmmm. . . to a bar / restaurant that had always looked busy, but we didn’t realize it had a bar and club. Maybe our luck was in? No! The barmaid pointed out they had been quite busy the last 2 nights, but were quiet again tonight? Doh! We tried some others bars to the same affect. . . Then went to Hurleys and found our friends we had met and had a laugh and a chat with them, before throwing caution to the wind and headed for Churchill’s (the place at which I said I would never go again). It was quite funny for a bit, people watching. . . But I am sorry to say the evening was done. . . But we had a plan. . .

Now the plan was to phone Amtrak and see if we could get the train a day early. . . We were told that they often have cancellations after 4am, so I stayed up and called. . . . No luck. . . ! I rang again at 7.30am and again no luck. . . So here we are. . looking forward to the days events, but not necessarily to the evening ahead. .

Oh yeah and the drinks are expensive!

So Dave, did that come across ok. . . ? We are quite chilled, sort of enjoying the city, but the nightlife is a bit s***E?

I think it is a fair reflection of this city. By the day there is much to entertain. By the evening, I think the French influence is all to apparent. Café and restaurant culture, with a small and light typically French nightlife. I think skiing would have been more fun but for your saw (HEHE) shoulder, which would have meant starting, the après ski before we skied! Anyway, the entertainment value and the experience here has been fun, if not what we were expecting.