First Moments in Montreal

We've been in Montreal just over 25 hours now. We landed safely on our Air Canada flight full of stunning young Quebecois, and grabbed a cab ride into the city for 46$ (including tip) with a warm-mannered Afro-Quebecois driver. It's more multicultural here than I anticipated, which I like, a lot. Overwhelmingly it is French, in so many ways.

What struck me from the moment we approached our departure lounge at LAX is how distinctive the Quebecois are in appearance. There are a range of different genetic possibilities in the mix, and it was fascinating to appraise them all before and after boarding the plane. I always think that's a good reason to fly in with the host carrier of the country you're about to visit: It gives you a 'heads-up' on what's to come, and some time to acclimatise your mind to the idea of it all.

We were horrendously jet-lagged following our 30 hour door-to-door experience, but once we'd done a general reconnoitre of our nook for the week, we managed to slip out to our corner store to purchase some vino rouge and breakfast burritos (always planning ahead!) This proved to be an opportunity to try out some of our Canadian notes. Foreign money seems like candy, so one feels a bit nervous pulling it out and handing it over.

Our place of abode is perfectly placed in the heart of Vieux du Port Montreal and the old Port's architecture all around is just sublime. Following 8 hours sleep (and just 6 hours for my hub) I awoke to find that he had already achieved a day time's worth of activities in under two hours (this is not unusual). We had a perculated coffee to start with, as this seems to be a thing in Montreal - Their equivalent of instant maybe.

We ventured out to have a peek at our immediate surrounds, mostly involving industrial old Griffintown, for under two hours, in our jet-lagged state, saw many interesting sights and took sixty or more snaps. After a few hours we retreated to our two level loft, ate lunch with the big windows open o er the cobblestone alley, researched stuff, then had a heavy nap. Woke up with eyeballs feeling like they'd been scraped by razorblades. Went out again this evening to appreciate the local architecture, albeit through sore and squinty eyes, and also to see projected history on big canvas brick walls, thanks to Cite Memoir.

And that does it for us. Far too tired to type anything more, even though, and partially because we've seen so much already. It's just magic and we love it. Looking forward to a fresher approach tomorrow, and a mammoth amount of walking and exploring. Nearly Midnight now, so to bed we must go. Too tired to post pics - Maybe next time...