I read this comment posted about a hostel in Whistler, BC:
“For $29/night, this was a great deal. Remember, however, that it is a hostel. Therefore, expect mildew and Australians, neither of which are harmful unless poked”
Im not exactly sure why Google Canada has a Kangaroo for its site at Christmas… If you do know why, please drop me a line or comment as I have no idea why!
Last night it snowed here…. it never snows in Vancouver (with the exception of two weeks ago and last night).
Well I’ve been in Vancouver for one whole week now, so I’ve got a few stories to write about and photos to post, but until then I just wanted to make one observation about Vancouver… Unlike the east coast, the bums here actually work for their money. For example, last night I had two offers:
1. A bum offered to do 50 one-handed push-ups for two quarters (AUD$0.553)
2. A bum offered to let me kick him in the balls for $10 (AUD$11.05)
Despite the impulse-buying temptation on these bargains, I passed.
Heres a photo:
British Columbia…. Beautiful, isn’t it?
I left work early and caught the train to Montréal.
I packed away my Please and Thankyou’s and pulled out my S’il vous plaît and Merci’s.
I navigated the metro from Bonaventure to Lucien-L’Allier to my hostel, the lovely Auberge de Jeunesse.
The snow was already waiting for me.
As was the cold.
I dropped off my bags and headed for a walk around town. Starting on Rue Ste-Catherine I headed west, then east, until I found myself at Rue Crescent, the heart of the entertainment district. Bars, pubs and nightclubs galore!
Crashed for the night before embarking on a walking tour 
of the city. Walked down Rue Ste-Antione past Square Victoria before reaching the first stop, Old Montréal (see Wikipedia article here). Walked around the streets which reminded me so much of France it wasn’t funny! 
Some of the original streets even had the trademark cobblestones which i’ve only ever seen in Europe.
In a rare moment, I actually visited a church - the grand Basilique Notre-Dame.
Headed north on the metro, stopped for lunch (unknowingly in a separatist area) before taking a hike up Mount Royal. Located just a couple of kilometres from the CBD, Mount Royal (where the city gets its name) hovers over the city and provides some of the best photo-ops available in Montréal… Unfortunately for me, the sun had just set, it was minus five degrees, it was snowing and my camera doesn’t do night so no dice on the photos from there.
Walked south through McGill University before stopping a couple of blocks short of the hostel at Centre Bell where the biggest Ice Hockey game on the east coast was about to begin - the Montréal Candadiens VS the Toronto Maple Leafs. Scalped a ticket off the street for $60 to see the game and cheer on my adopted home team, Toronto. Ice Hockey has a reputation for being violent and I can confirm that it lives up to it. Toronto dominated the entire game and was winning 3-1 until the final 10 minutes when Montréal scored 2 quick goals, pushing the game into overtime. After a couple of missed attempts by Toronto, Montréal took out the game on penalty shoot-out. We were robbed!
The next day, apart from a short stint in the Quartier Latin where cheap food and great coffee was found, the snow began to really come down hard and without the right foot ware, navigating the icy city streets went very quickly from funny (I’m sliding all over the place) to just plain dangerous (I’m sliding into that moving car). So I had to move inside and discover the part of Montréal that I had heard so much about… the part where its a massive party town.
So I went to one bar
…And another
…And another
until that’s all I did for the next 2 days before having to catch the train back to Toronto.
Montréal, I will miss you and endeavour to return in summer when I hear you really shine your brightest. Je t’aime ! Au revoir !
Check the photos out here.
With my trip to Montréal only one day away, I was doing my research into the city so I can check out all the recomended spots.
Lucky for me, the hostel im booked at to stay in has provided me with a map of the downtown area. I would like to share it with you all in case you wish to visit in the future.
Cheers,
Andrew
With one week to go before I depart Toronto, I decided to check out an area I’d read about in Lonely Planet known as The Beaches. After all, being Australian, how could I resist?
Catching the overpriced streetcar from downtown, my surroundings became littered with pawn shops, strip clubs and abandoned buildings. Enclosed in my red & white cage I powered on until all the other passengers had jumped ship, at which point I was thinking ‘Damn I better get off too’.
The stores and architecture down Queen St East reminded me of quintessential small-town Ontario; plenty of café’s, antiques and boutiques, however chains such as Swiss Chalet and Blockbuster Video quickly remind you this is 2006. Being a Saturday, the streets were packed with mostly families and old-couples. Few younger people roaming the streets made me realise this was probably representative of the local demographics.
Needing nourishment, as I had only woken about a hour before, I headed into the first greasy spoon I could find that served all-day breakfast (it was 3pm). Pancakes, sausages and bacon, washed down with a black coffee at the Beachside Grill totally hit the spot, though the service was somewhat lacking (is that not part of the charms of the greasy spoon?).
I headed down through Kew Gardens to see what the actual beaches looked like. At the park’s opening, real Christmas trees were on sale, children were playing in the park & a makeshift game of baseball was beginning. Of course, I would have joined in, except United Airlines kicked up a stink when I tried to bring my baseball bat on the plane with me (carry-on luggage my ass).
By the time I got down to the sand it was almost dusk. The water was more bay than beach, but I wasn’t going to correct decades of local history. A board walk & cycle path ran along the edge of the sand. I couldn’t help but notice a jet-ski passing by. You couldn’t pay me to get in that water as it was 6 degrees celsius outside. What I found most interesting was a raggedy old fence which sliced the beach in half as far as the eye could see. Few openings (supposably for human traffic) broke this chain, but it did leave we wondering why it was there in the first place?
So as the sun set I headed back up to Queen Street to hitch a ride on a streetcar back into town. I do wish I had come down here earlier…. but alas, Toronto had one last surprise for me just as I was packing to leave.
Check the photos out here.