Busy day with skylab, Teresa and Owen

28.11.2008

This morning, I got up way too early for my breakfast date with Owen, Mike and Teresa, but that was OK. I packed up my stuff, and enjoyed a leisurely jaunt down St. Denis toward Cafeo. I got there even earlier than the coffee shop opened, so I wandered around some more until it did.

A few couples showed up and I thought they might've been Mike and Teresa. I had no idea what they looked like, so I waved and both times, they just looked at me, puzzled, ignored me and sat down. Must not have been them.

Owen showed up after that, but by now, I'm already pretty wired on the delicious coffee they serve here. We have some more coffee and wait for Teresa and Mike. They come pretty soon. I order the regular eggs/sausage/baguette/potatoes breakfast and drink some more coffee. We decide to head down to the Musee des Beaux Arts for the day.

This is probably my third time at the museum this year, so I decide it might be worth it to buy a membership. I'm pretty sure it'll pay off before next December. Even if it doesn't, it's nice to support a gallery so lover-ly. At the moment they are exhibiting a bunch of work by Andy Warhol, and some cool memorabilia from his Velvet Underground and Studio 54 days. Really cool stuff! I especially enjoyed a press release sent in the sixties about a art/music show they were putting on. "WOW --- AMAZING --- EXHILIRATING" etc. etc. etc. just the terminology they used for the crazy experimental performances was enough to make me giggle the rest of the day.

After we had our fill of that, we looked at some decorative furniture arranged in different decades starting at the turn of the century. That was pretty cool, I wanted to sit in all of them and try them out, but of course, that is a no go in an art gallery.

Then, we went for lunch at "Mister Steer" thinking it might be kitchy and cool. Turned out the waitress lady was a little crazy, making us put the ketchup and condiments back into the designated condiment holder if we forgot. There would be no mess on this table, not if Super Waitress could help it, no sirree.

So anyway, I ordered the veggie burger with a side of real Quebecois baked beans (feves aux lards). I assumed they would have bacon in them, but your typical veggie burger eater might not, so here's a word to the wise. If you are a strict vegetarian, don't order feves aux lards *whisper* there's bacon in there!

After this, we walked around Ste. Catherine St. Teresa needed a new dress for a wedding coming up, and I bought a few things at Lush for Valerie. (Candy cane bubble bath! and a coconut bath bomb)

We walked and walked and walked and walked, mostly aimlessly. At one point we had an imaginary goal, but it wasn't really a goal at all, because once we got there, we had no idea what the reason for being there was. So we just took the Metro back to Dieu du Ciel. It's my favourite pub in town, and I had arranged to meet Travellingjon there at 8 p.m.

We got there early, even though we got a little lost (again). We all ordered an absinthe beer, holy crap it was SO BITTER. Teresa: "It's like pennies in my mouth!" and then after that, I asked for the sweetest beer that they had, which was an Irish something or other. This one was delicious.

Jon never showed up! (Later I found out that his car broke down just before leaving home)

Mike and Teresa had to catch a bus home soon, so they took a cab back to their hostel in Old Montreal (it was beautiful by the way, it's a little cluster of cabins hidden away in behind the bistros and shops, amazing).

I went back to the subway with them, said goodbye and walked back to Valerie's house.

On my way back, I happened upon a small cluster of homeless people, staging a protest for more social services and that sort of thing. I don't think I was received very well. I was taking photographs and people with missing teeth and that oh-so-courante "unkempt" look would jump in front of me and dance, like they were mocking me. But that might just have been me reading into it too much, maybe they just wanted to have a little bit of fun. Nonetheless, I did feel like an outsider and voyeur at that point.

I had to call Valerie first and see where she was, she was about an hour away, so I took this time to call my mom and boyfriend to tell them I was OK. Then, I walked back and just waited at Valerie's doorstep until she showed up. She was there very soon, and I gave her the Lush stuff, she liked it a lot, and then went to bed. We planned on going out on the town tomorrow in Mont-Royal.

Me vs. coffee