Well, following my slightly miserable last journal entry earlier today, things surely had to pick up. . . Well am very pleased to announce that they did. . . . !

So Wednesday the 27th daytime we headed off in search of some cultural aspects of Montreal and some of the sites that had been recommended to us. . . The Port area, old town and the Mount ‘View point’. . . .

So, with no real sense of direction we headed towards the port area and ‘Old Town’. What a relief to see some nice old buildings and a bit of character. Today was freezing and snowing (now I am not complaining, merely explaining the situation), so baring in mind it was cold we needed to warm up, so popped into this very nice French Café / restaurant and had some gorgeous hot wine ‘Vin Chaud’ and some delightful French onion soup. . . .

Feeling very warm inside, we headed of out into the cold again and just found ourselves wandering around taking in the chilled out atmosphere of this very nice area of Montreal. We followed a lot people towards what happened to be a very overcrowded Ice Rink and a walkway that overlooked the World Fair 1967 manmade island, which had some very strange looking buildings on it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_'67

We then headed back inland around some more of the old town and saw a crazy street entertainer that actually got people to stop and watch his show! (remember, it’s freezing and snowing). We then found a great Creperie / Café. Needless to say we went in and enjoyed some coffees and Crepes! After seeing some more of the old town and noticing the sky was not so dull and cloudy we made a decision to jump into a taxi and head up to the viewing point on Mount somewhere. . (Mount Royal).

I think the taxi driver knew what we meant (well he did because we got there). So picture this, we do not really know where we are going and we are being driven 10 – 15 minutes out of Montreal. . ?! We then had a quiet word to each other saying, so when this guy drops us off, how we gonna get back. . . ?

Well live the dream I thought. . . We’ll be fine!

So we jumped out of this taxi in the middle of nowhere. . There were people around, so it wasn’t too bad. We took some photos of the far side of the city. . I then noticed a pathway heading into the so-called mountain. So without thinking too much about it and using our internal compass, we went off road, found some steps and ventured into the woods. . . Best decision we made all day, it was fantastic. . !

We basically walked along many pathways, etc and found ourselves heading towards home! We bumped into a few people to make sure we were going in the right direction and we were! It was so picturesque and the deep snow was great fun. . Yeah, it was cold but Coolio. . . !

We eventually ended up on the other side of the Mount and found the viewing point, where you had a panoramic view of the whole city! Quite spectacular. . . There were also some information plaques explaining that the Mountain had been climbed by some dude who was visiting the area. He was taken up the mountain by some Indian tribe and named it ‘Mount Royal’, hence the name of the city - Montreal.

Following this we headed down the side of the mount, down some treacherously icy steps, needless to say I slipped several times!

We eventually got back into civilization and stopped for a coffee, before heading back to our hotel for several games of pool and a pint of Guinness.

So, that’s today. . . In summary, I am very pleased! Feel very chilled out and relaxed, although a little tired from all the walking!

So, if we can get a nice meal tonight and meet a few cool people, then Montreal may have redeemed itself. . . !

Ciao for now people