Out with Veronica and Mike

24.05.2008

We woke up and Denis was already gone to the gym, so we headed out to the Jean-Talon market to perhaps snag some authentic Montreal bagels, and/or breakfast. As it turns out, there were none, so Veronica ordered a delicious crepe. She gave me some. And I ate it. Here is a picture of that.

We decided to walk down to Fairmount Bagels and buy some real bagels, since we couldn't find any at the market. They were indeed delicious. I bought a big sack of them and then had to carry them around the rest of the day. *sigh* I always end up leaving my bag at home, just when I need it. The trials and tribulations of being Louise.

No big deal I guess.

After eating plain bagels, (because at this place, they don't sell you the butter and cheese if you want some, you have to buy a tub separately), we headed off to climb Mount Royal.

On the way, we found a garage sale, where I found a 50 cent pair of sunglasses, and Veronica picked up some silly necklaces. The man and lady at the garage sale were half in the bag at the time, so they loved us, as we frolicked around looking at all the weird stuff. It seemed like everybody had something to sell that day, there were garage/yard sales anywhere you could fence off a piece of grass big enough to stand on.

Anyway, climbing Mount Royal took a while, because it was hot and there are a lot of stairs, as you probably already know.

So half way up we had a "cookie moment" as Veronica broke out the Belgian cookies she bought, then when we got to the top, we chilled out for a while, you know, taking in the whole view and stuff. Veronica was on the phone for a while to her peeps in Newark, checking in on her son, who had just come back from a trip to the Grand Canyon. We were informed that it snowed there, but he still had fun.

After that, I kind of forget what happened. I just remember walking down hill a lot, and then somehow ending up in Old Montreal. There was some sort of multicultural food festival going on, so we walked through there, and I bought some strange Jamaican pop to drink. It was gross. Mike commented sagely on the people hanging out at the port. "They all just look like they're...posing or something." That they did. But, I didn't take any pictures, so you'll just have to believe me.

After that we took the Metro back to Denis' house, Veronica got asked out on a date by a stranger. She turned him down and we think the stranger thought she was dating Mike because the whole subway ride back, he was giving Mike the staredown. "Wow, Oh my god..." hahaha

We bought some treats for the Couchsurfing barbecue at the grocery store near Denis' house, went back and had a little rest, before we were off again. Denis took his Vespa, and Veronica drove, while me and Mike sort of rambled along on foot, randomly turning corners until we found an IGA where we could buy some real Quebecois beer. We found Andreas' house easily and had a great time. Lots of people I already knew were there, let me just name drop for a sec. Of course I already knew Andreas from two weeks ago, but there was also Felix, a girl I recognized from the Boston invasion back in the day, Richard, Jan and one more whose name I forget.

The place was packed, and everybody headed out to a jazz club called Aquarium for some slightly cheesy jazz music. It seemed to me, like some of the people there were forcing their enjoyment of the act, but who am I to judge, right? Mike and I quickly got bored of this situation, so we rambled some more down the street and found some nice reggae-rock, which ended quickly as well. Then it was time for the long ride home. I don't remember taking some of these photos, but I do remember we talked at length about some heavy existentialism. We figured out that the problem with the world is that it doesn't really exist and that most things are "over". Also, I learned the correct way to pronounce "Masson" from the master of the French language.

Mike leaving Denis' house