Bonjour mes amies! I am left happy and beaming with shopping euphoria after my 3 day weekend in Montreal with Nina. It was a truely spectacular little side trip, and I am mighty happy we chose to go there together, as my dear cousin helped me greatly with my deteriorating french, and it was great practice (thats not the right word but whatever) for us going to NYC in a couple of weeks. It shall be epic.

So we arrived on the greyhoud bus which went very quickly, at about 1 in the afternoon on friday the 17th. It was a hot hot day and we caught the metro--which was so easy to navigate and get around on--straight to the hostel, called auberge maeva de la jeunesse. after a bit of a kerfufle with both the check in time (we were 2 hours early so had to kill time by eating berries outside a beautiful church and admiring the surrounding apartment buildings which we were just about compelled to steal right then and there) and the room (ours was changed to a private room at the other location of the hostel at the other end of rue st-hubert, the very nice reception guy drove us there straight away), we were good and settled in our lovely room, complete with mini kitchen and fridge and bathroom, which we were not expecting for a small hostel. and it was so cheap! plus free bfast and bikes. oh so good.

so after a quick cat nap to regain our strength, we went out for a walk around our neighbourhood, le plateau du mont-royal. i hadnt been here the last time, so was so happy to fall in love with yet another facet of the city. This area was like my world of heavenly things, aka op shops galore, cute little cafes, wonderfully antiquey holes in the wall, very cool bars, insanely attractive locals smoking seductively on street corners and riding really nice bikes to meet their equally attractive friends, book shops you could spend days in, and parks surrounding you from all sides. Some fave streets in the area duluth, st-laurent, mont-royal and ave du parc; were where we spent most of our hours, shopping and generally being awesome. We had din dins the first night at a nice thai/asian fusion place 'le gout de pacific" and afterwards we had a nice walk to the local park, parc de la fontaine. the next morning we discovered an amazing cafe 'cafe du soleil' which treated us to some delish crepes and fruit and coffee, soooo good my friend. This cafe/restaurant hopping which occured throughout our little stay was what got me finally talking some frenchyfrench, and after a few "etc-ce que je peux avoir un chocolat chaud s'il vous plait?" I was even speaking a few words outside of the hospitality industry's safe confines. A hobo asked for change and I understood him, declining him with a polite "non, desolee." It was a pretty small accomplishment I admit but it was a pretty proiud moment I wont lie to you.

In other more exciting news, we went to le musee d'art contemporain, which was downtown near rue st-catherine, and extremely worth the trip/money. After admiring the photography, portraits, music videos (yes, it was extremely cool) and various art instillations at this very impressive museum, we found ourselves in the midst of a crazycool street festival on rue st-catherine, which was closed off and filled with clothings stores all boasting 'plus de 2km de soldes' (sales), dj's, people galore. So we bought a few souvenirs, Nina bought a very cheap 'montreal canadiens' hockey tshirt which I am semi regretting not buying, and had a fine time people watching, taking pics and admiring the basilicas and churches and many shops. Then it was time to go to the parc du mont royal, to see the cross and just generally relax. We actually walked alot that day, it was good. Dinner was at Eduardo's a lovely Italian place which served some tasty pasta. On our last day we left our bags at the hostel in a safe room after checking out, and proceeded to do a mad shop, during which I bought perhaps the most beautiful dress I have ever laid eyes on, from a lovely little vintage shop on ave du mont-royal. We also checked out a really yumm vegan place called 'aux vivres' for a salada and cafe au lait (de soya of course). Gooood times, great classic hits. it went extremely quickly but we fit alot in, and I think we did very well in terms of getting around by ourselves and doing our own thing. I think New York city will be happy to have us there soon.

xxx