Kim's friend from France, Gilles, was in town this week so we decided to rent a car for the long weekend and drive up to Montreal and see some of southern ontario along the way.
Renting is super easy, we live above a budget however they always give us massive cars, SUV's..boat cars, but this time the gave us a tank..a Chrysler LX300, a nice car to sit in but terrible to drive. There were tiny windows around the sides and back (hence the tank) and the car was huge...kind of like an suv but lower. I also found that it was made for large people...I couldn't find a comfortable place to rest my arms, the centre console was too far away and I felt like a kid in it. But I learnt that budget doesn't really carry small cars...only big ones so that they can give you free "upgrades".
We took thursday off and drove to Montreal, stopping in kingston for lunch and to look around Fort Henry, a british fort from the late 1800s. It a federal park where people, mostly poor university students, dress up in clothes of that era (very very hot), and play characters around the fort. It was fun to walk around the fort and look at the recreated rooms and imagine how life as a military man on the "frontier" must have been like.
They also had an interesting "race" in the parade square, two teams on cannoniers had to setup and fire there cannon/artillery three times. They were marked on how fast they did and how well the followed the regs. This goes on all summer and the winning team is announced in august. It was interesting to watch them go through the steps to fire it off...very british =)
We didn't do much in Montreal that night, I don't do any long drives so I was bushed, we were also staying in Anjou, outside of downtown so it would have been too much to go there.
Friday we did alot of Montreal touristing. First up, the Montreal Biodome, its 4 ecosystems built in the old Olympic cycling arena. Whats unique is the ability to see both plants and animals of the various ecosystems in the same place, Rainforest, Eastern Canadain Forest, St Lawrence Estuary, (Ant)Arctic....with penguins!
What was very cool about the St Lawrence Estuary, was the massive tank that had fish and lobster..and birds that dove down to go fishing. The first time I had every seen that from below the water before.
Second was the Montreal Old City, its been around for 300 years. It's different, walking through the streets and trying to imagine all the people from different ages that have walked them as well...looking at the same buildings but with vastly different views on canada and the world. I've always enjoyed using my imagination to picture how these different people would have viewed there world...maybe that why I like history so much.
We tripped through Chinatown, the jazz festival (with a horrid group playing what sounded like 5 years olds hitting a synthesizer), McGill and up to the Mt. Royale, I didn't know there was a large hill/mountain in the middle of montreal...but I guess that where it gets its name from. It was a hot and humid day, not great for walking, but perfect for a quick thunderstorm. Kim and I made it to the top, we sat around and relaxed for a bit, got some ice cream..and then the storm rolled in. Whats great about eastern canada is that it can be sunny 1 minute, cloud over very quickly, an absolute downpour with lighting and thunder, and then 10 minutes later its back to being sunny. We sat outside under the eves for a bit, watching the storm with a few other people, suddenly the skies just opened up and within the 10 seconds it took to get inside we were soaked. Its cool how people with no common ground or language can laugh and share the moment together when nature decides to have her fun.
We stopped for dinner in the Plateu area. a very cute little pedstrian street with many many restraunts lining it. Every one had a patio, which was interesting because they were so close together you couldn't help but start talking with your neighbor...but it seemed like we where the only ones not going to the jazz festival.
Saturday we drove to Upper Canada Village, a working pioneer village, circa 1850. All the employees there are dressed in vintage clothes (made by the seemstress in the village), wearing origional shoes (made by the shoemaker in the village)..you get the idea. It was an engineers dream to walk through the water powered weaving factory, the steam powered mill, the water powered sawmill...all working...very very cool.
It was a very calming day, walking through the village. I decided that the best job would be the Huck Finn of the village, sitting by the lake, with a straw hat...fishing line hooked to your big toe and a piece of staw hanging out your mouth. Walking through the village made you wish that modern times could be as calming...but then we're looking back at it, with out modern medicine and centralized food/groceries...I don't think it would be that relaxing actually living there during the time. But againk, I kept thinking about what these people would have thought about, living on the frontier, away from the "modern" cities, and with europe being the centre of the world.
We stayed the night in Cornwall...and very small city, where we ate in a restraunt that hadn't changed anything, including the interior walls and seats, since the 1970s. I couldn't help but think that I was in a tarantino flick of some sort.
Finally we stopped by a provinicial park on the way home on sunday, a nice break from the city life. We didn't see much animal life until two little kids pointed us to the frog on the lillypad. It's amazing how kids can see so much, and adults just don't take the time.
