Super Contact

Wednesday was a much deserved day of rest. We slept in late, had a huge breakfast, and then walked it off by checking out all the cool shops in the Glebe. The weather's been frigid here all week, and it actually dawned on me that I haven't seen the sun since I arrived in Canada on the 18th. True...it's only been around freezing, but the dampness here gets inside your bones, and singes your face. I remember days on the praries where it would go below -30, yet if there was no wind, it was completely tolerable. (...what a menno thing to talk about the weather)

Marc and Lori had us four over for supper later that night. Lori's an outstanding cook, and got us warmed up with a fiery bowl of mexican bean soup. For the main course, there was a sweet/savoury lentil dish prepared using balsamic vinaigrette and cream, pan-fried sweet potatoes in maple syrup, and a killer rocket salad. Dave and I were more than happy to feel like beached whales for the remainder of the evening.

Our plans for Thursday were to do Montreal in a day. The best way to experience Montreal is to dump the car in the suburbs, and then use the underground to get to the sites. We first hooked up with our good friends Kathryn and Meghan at Kathryn's apartment, with her graciously offering to show us the sights.

First stop was the Biodome, a bizarre grouping of 4 climate-controlled ecosystems under one roof. Apparently, the building is an adaptation of the unused velodrome constructed for the '76 olympics. Then back over towards downtown and old Montreal, where all of the Christmas lights gave the cobble-stoned European streets an added ambience. Being 20 min. late for the last tour of the Notre-Dame Basilica, we decide to walk up toward Sainte Catherine street for supper. Of course, it wouldn't be Montreal without strolling past Club Super-Contact, Le Chateau-du-Sexe, and Club Super-Sexe. My favorite part was standing across the street, watching the guys who get paid to stand out front and haggle people to come in (like you got nothing else going on that evening). All the while, Celine is pouring her heart out from the speaker of Simon's Dept. store behind me. The eccentricity of Montreallers definetely make this a city unlike any other in Canada...and good on them. It's post-Christmas, middle of the week and cold outside, yet the sidewalks downtown are so packed you ain't walkin' no where fast.

Exhausted, we head back to Kathryn's place to say our goodbyes, pick up the car, and make one last stop on top of Mont-Royal. It was snowing really heavilly by the time we got to the lookout, but the effect on the city lights was spectacular. Hard to believe it was almost a year ago that Sophie and I got engaged up here.