New Year in Montreal

By the time we got from Jay to Montreal, Coops and I were desperate for a good coffee and an opportunity for a bit of French Taunting. Quebec is a funny place. There is no provincial requirement to post English anywhere other than Interstate signage, whereas most of Canada will post the French alongside English, even if the only difference in spelling is an accent on one of the letters, otherwise identical to the English, at the cost of goodness knows what. Quebec still want independence from Canada - perhaps they should ask to join the EU?

We found the apartment we had rented much closer to Downtown and the Latin Quarter than we had expected, so we headed out for some food and coffee immediately. A couple of double lattes later and the best grilled veggie sarnie I've ever had later and we were ready for anything.

Not surprisingly it had been snowing in Montreal also, and there were entertaining patches of ice all over the footpaths, causing impromptu dancing in the streets. But it was overcast and just a bit chilly when we arrived. The streets were as busy as you'd expect the week during the Boxing Day sales, so we wandered aimlessly though the throngs before heading back to the apartment to meet Coops' sister and her husband who were arriving that evening.

New Years eve day we woke up to a fresh new blanket of the white stuff which continued to thicken all day. We headed for the old town to wander the cobbled streets, but we kept finding ourselves being drawn to the cafes for hot chocolates and varying other warming beverages. It was very pretty, but we were driven underground, like the moles who apparently built the underground maze that Montreal is well know for. We didn't get very far before we were quite disorientated, so we surfaced once again and headed to the supermarkets for supplies before potential revellers sucked them dry. Interestingly, alcohol is cheaper in Quebec than Ontario. Which is a little annoying - who'd have thought the capital state would be so strict - I'm sure it would be the other way around in Canberra...

We headed out to our bar of choice, a small brewpub at about 4pm just to make sure we gt a seat. Unfortunately they were not staying open until the wee hours we'd hoped for, but were to close at 10pm, so we sampled their wares and wandered back to the apartment, stopping only for merriment and the more than occasional snow angel when a clean patch of snow was discovered - front fences or not...


Coops and I, Les 3 Brasseurs, New Years Eve.

The good cheer continued on until about 12.20pm, when I was the first to hit the hay. The fireworks down at the pier, partially visible from our 11th floor window were disappointing. It seems that Quebec's firework supply was predominantly usurped by Quebec City where they were celebrating their 400th anniversary. Oh well. Happy 2008!

There were few sore heads greeting us on the first day of 2008. Unfortunately this was still overshadowed by the imminent conclusion of the season's holidays. We were to drive back to Ottawa, but the snow was still falling heavily. As we headed out of town the snow increased and the wind picked up as our speed reduced. Visibility was bad. In some places it was a wild guess where the Interstate was, let alone any of the 3 lanes painted on it. The snow flew by in quite a horizontal manner as we inched our way along, hoping to catch a snowplough to follow and they way before us became clear. Despite the conditions there were relatively few cars that had lost control in the conditions.

We arrived back safely in Ottawa in about double the time it should have taken, but it was kind of exciting to have driven through such wild weather. I don't know that Coops would agree with me after having to drive it, but still... Even though the holiday has ended, the poor, poor French accents continue to amuse us as we reminisce about New Years in Montreal.