The May long weekend was not spent camping like yesteryear, but traveling to Montreal to see Philipp. I haven’t seen him in quite a few months (due to both of us being busy) so I knew it was time to make the trek as the stars aligned and we both had nothing of importance going on that weekend.
I tested out the new bike rack for the car once again in hopes to have a bike ride around Montreal, but alas, the weather was horrible and I brought it up for nothing. At least I got a taste of what it felt like to haul the bicycle up three flights of stairs to his apartment!
Summer was in the air so I put on my sandals for the first time that year and hit the road. By the time I hit Rigaud across the Quebec border, it had grown chilly and I realized that I was foolish and I believe one of my toes may have fallen off due to the frigid temperatures. I was smart enough to haul out some socks once I hit Montreal though.
The night was spent catching up with Philipp as we had not been able to catch up via email for the past few months. Unfortunately for me, Philipp will be leaving Canada around August as he is done his PhD here. He’s been here for…perhaps five years now in Canada? So it is due time for him to continue on with his world travels. We shared a few beer, I met Erica and saw Gregoire and Claudine and in true Montreal fashion, we headed out to a pub around 1:30AM. I had forgotten that Montreal closed it’s doors around 3AM so the body needed to grow accustomed to that. May I also point out that the entire weekend was spent speaking French as it was the only common language that all of us could speak. It was strange to interact with Philipp in French as we had never done so before.
We headed to Honey Martin’s on Sherbrooke West which is a tiny, tiny pub but had this amazing 1950s style rock band going on. I wish I had a picture of the evening as the band was playing on the floor in the back, I was directly in front of them dancing away (and bumping into the guitarist once or twice) and the bathrooms were right next to us. It was quite cramped but loads of fun and I even purchased an LP from the band on my way out the door.
The next day was calling for rain and Philipp and I scoffed at the idea that the clouds would dare go against our plans of a bike ride but sure enough, after Erica and I fetched some food at the grocery store, it started pouring and it didn’t let up all day. Philipp said there was something to do with three different jet streams of weather hitting Montreal so it’s hard to predict what will happen.
Philipp and I ended up watching Righteous Kill with Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. It was alright but nothing earth shattering. Catch it if you can for free. We then had some supper (some nachos caliente dish which was great) and headed out to Thorben’s place which was down where Philipp used to live in Montreal near Mont Royal (probably my favourite spot in the city) and we had a good kitchen party along with a FOG MACHINE that they purchased a few months back! Who owns a fog machine? This was amazing!
We then headed out to La Tulipe for 80s night and the bar is like a triple sized Barrymore’s and was quite fun. What do I love about Quebec? They have one of my favourite beers on hand at all times…Molson Dry. By far, the superior beer in comparison with Molson Canadian.
The night bid us good night and we headed home and had a bite to eat to ensure our survival the next morning. The next morning was quite cold and windy so that messed up our cycling plans again and we decided to watch Quantum of Solace (the new James Bond film) which I had not yet seen. It was decent…started out strange and hard to follow but then found it’s pacing near the end. Definitely wasn’t as good as Casino Royale, that’s for sure. My favourite part in the movie is when James Bond is drinking a beer and Philipp and I had a good laugh because 30 minutes beforehand, Philipp mentioned that the only reason he couldn’t fully love James Bond is the fact that he never drinks a beer!
I loaded up my gear after the film, said adieu to Erica and Philipp and hit the road. It was a nice relaxing weekend although I think my body still hasn’t got accustomed to going to bed at 10 instead of 4:30 in the morning!
When I got back to Ottawa, I headed out to Matt and Karilee’s where we watched Terminator 3 along with Holly, Alex, James and Ferda. It was a nice evening filled with great ice cream and dill pickle chips.
On Monday, the first nice day of the weekend hit us and I took advantage of it by washing the windows (which, somehow failed as I clearly didn’t use clean water as they are definitely worse off than before!) and cleaned the gutters. I have some mild hopes of selling the house sometime this year so I figure it’s a good time to start some work on the house!
Thanks to all those in Montreal who showed me a good time! I will definitely be back before August for another grand time.