Out & About in Montreal & a spontaneous night with Rachel

I woke up the following day a little bit pumped up. The plan is to explore the city though I wasn't really excited about it. I think I've fully established the fact now that in my travels, I'd rather be amidst nature rather than a big city. BUt hey, I knew Montreal offered a lot of things, so I forced myself to go out.

 

Out and about i went, through the different Basiliques. I stayed for a while at the Basilique-cathedrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde and kind of sang my usual song "Lead Me Lord". It was really pretty and there were only a few people around.

 

The next one was St.Patrick which was more of a gothic style for me. I then found myself to the Old Port and Old part of Montreal. For a while there, I stayed at the port and ate my lunch. I crossed the road and walked the cobbled paths. It kind of reminded me of the cobbled steps of Cusco for some reason.

 

I walked back towards Rue Saint Catherine and hang out with a lady named Martika, who was selling jewelry trinkets handmade by suicide victims from one of the hospitals in Montreal. I stayed there for a while and chatted for i think almost an hour. The heat was intense and I felt so tired with the whole day of walking. I believe it was already 3 pm when I sat with her.

 

Now here's the funny part. I saw Patrick, the guy I walked with back in St.John's, Newfoundland..the one from Australia. I called his name and he didn't recognize me at first. But then when i said newfoundland, it came back to him. He thought I was going to Cuba, but I said I changed my mind and decided to stick to Canada for now. Apparently he was staying in the same hostel. Anyway, they were just checking out the views and I was already done with the old part of town so I didn't join them anymore.

 

Coming back to the hostel, I wanted to just lie down and nap. But I had another agenda that night. To catch a good sunset shot of Montreal. So I asked the girls to wake me up after a power nap, coz it was a long way going to the other side of town.

 

Rachel decided to join me so that was cool, I had company with my crazy idea. She's been in Canada for a long time now. I was impressed how much tagalog words she knew, even some colloquial ones. Apparently she worked with a bunch of Filipinos back in Whistler. That was when she was in a Deli and surrounded by Tagalog speaking staff. We were goofing off which was really funny.

 

We took 2 train rides until we got to the nearest train station to the Jacques Gentil bridge. While walking up we peeked over our station and realized that the sun was already setting, which made us wonder why we were going the opposite direction. From what I've researched they said it's best to go to the west side of the bridge... which was the right direction we were headed to.

 

It all worked out fine when we got to the end of the bridge and realized that yeah... definitely with clear skies, the sunset would have been lovely. But it was a little bit cloudy and yeah, it was a long walk. we then discovered the big theme park across the bridge which was really cool and massive. Rachel was thinking of applying for a job there. We lingered for a while and watched the sunset. I suggested to wait till it got a little bit dark so we can get cool photos of the skyline. It was really funny when we both started sitting down on the bridge and hanging our feet.. good thing no security guards passed by or else we would have been told off. hahaha 2 silly girls.... I was telling Rachel I wasnt acting like my age. But yeah, it was totally fun! and it was so easy hanging out with her too.

 

On our way back to the metro station, we decided to check out the Rue (Street) where we saw pink banderitas hanging. When we asked the girl from the metro what street or what was happening there, apparently it was the known Gay village of Montreal. It was so happening and the streets were so alive. So many people in the pubs and restos. awesome buskers were there to fill the air with cool funky music. There were so many things that Rachel and I discovered along the way. There was this cool memory lane artsy style of blocks on the side of the road where we found the name Rachel.

 

Around 10 pm we found ourselves at the Berri-Uqam Metro station, which was also where the

banderitas ended. Good timing. We went down the escalator and there was this music in the air from an accordion. Down the stairs was an old gentleman who was busking in the evening. It was so cute coz we just wanted a photo but he started teaching us how to play the instrument. He showed us the photos on the floor and he was so sweet trying to explain to us the stories behind the people who he had photos with.

We must have arrived at the hostel around 11 pm, feeling famished. Rachel and I had fruits for dinner and weren't really that sleepy. Some people were still around for the Music Eletronik event in the pub downstairs but we just decided to go out again for some ice cream. I was craving as usual. We ended up having frozen chocolate drink from Second Cup. Then found a cool spot on the grass just near the hostel. sat down there and just talked about life and stuff.

By 1:30 am I saw Patrick walking along the road, drunk.. and having feats with his mate while holding on to a Pizza. Him, Rachel and I finished the pizza for the night. By 2 am, I was burping.... eeek. I updated Patrick with what happened to the rest of my Newfoundland trip and he told us their next few stops along the road.

It was a random night for us...but definitely memorable and eventful! :) Cheers to awesome people you meet along the road.