This is the 6th of a series of posts dealing with
my fourth trip to Eastern Canada. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports.
Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of a year later or to
add further clarification. These are
indicated by “NOW”. After I booked the trip I unexpectedly had to move and was
staying at a friend’s place at the time of the trip, so I was already pretty
tired before the trip back.
Lots of activity in my room during the
night. Finally got up in the middle of
the night and turned off the lights, but still more comings and goings, even up
to 4 am.
[NOW: The hostel I was staying at was
The Only Backpackers Inn.]
Finally got up for the day at 4:30 and
after checking my e-mail waited for a night bus. A 300 bus from Danforth and
Donlands to Yonge and Bloor came pretty soon, but then the 320 bus from Yonge
and Bloor to Yonge and Dundas arrived 25 minutes later, along with another one.
Had I known I'd have walked it. Both of the above Toronto Transit.
I took a few photos of Yonge-Dundas
Square and then walked to the Toronto Coach Terminal, getting a hot dog from a
vendor outside the terminal. I zoned out briefly inside and nearly missed the
line-up starting to the Megabus, but managed to snag a top front seat of the
double decker anyway. Unfortunately even if empty, starting June 18 if you want
certain key seats you have to pay extra in advance. Got a pricey bagel and drink in Kingston. Due
to sleepiness zoned out here and there but that stopped as we approached
Quebec.
[NOW: It was at the coach terminal that I got the drink in Kingston.]
I got off the Megabus in Montreal at a
slightly different location from last year due to construction, and texted my
friend Teresa that I was in town. I crossed Square Dorchester en route to the
hostel.
I walked to the same hostel as last year. There had been some renovations.
Unfortunately I'm again stuck with an upper bunk and the computer from last
year is unavailable so I'm stuck yet again with my clunky mini-notebook. But
despite the same number of bunks as Toronto, it's a lot bigger.
[NOW: This hostel is Auberge Bishop, now closed.]
I ate lunch at a McDonald's on Ste
Catherine nearby and realized I'd left my map book behind. I was almost back to
that street when Teresa, sitting with a friend saw me and called me over. We
arranged to meet later. I visited two
comic shops, Librairie Astro and Capitaine Quebec, then bought a bunch of DVDs
from my favourite Montreal video store, MovieLand Dépôt. I visited Odyssey
Books and then met up with Theresa. She
also wanted to go to MovieLand Dépôt and I was game for another trip over, and
in fact found a few more DVDs including two more Mystery Science Theatre 3000
sets.
[NOW: Librairie Astro, MovieLand Dépôt, and Odyssey
Books have closed.]
We chatted a bit at Second Cup Coffee and
parted ways soon after. I wandered east along Rue Ste Catherine, passing a
music festival of some sort outside by Place Jeanne-Mance, where I relaxed a
while by the water jets. Continuing on I visited Boutique Volume, and bought a
French word search book from an Archambault that had a SuperClub Vidéotron attached.
[NOW: Place Jeanne-Mance is where you
find Place des festivals, which is where the water jets are. That SuperClub Vidéotron has closed.]
I passed through le Village gai, which
had an art fair. Actually saw a number of straight couples holding hands there.
Before leaving the village got a frosted drink at Couche-Tard (Mac's in
English); their frosted drinks though were closer to DQ's than Mac's.
I did a short stop at Place Émilie-Gamelin
and headed north along Rue Saint-Denis, visiting Librairie Planète BD (comics)
and Débédé (books) as well as Renaud Bray (variety). On Rue Mont-Royal I got a
few DVDs at Librairie L'Échange. Heading
south I visited Librairie Millenium (comics) and back on Saint-Denis made the
mistake of getting poutine from Double Pizza (English: Pizza Pizza); generous
but not tasty.
[NOW: Librairie Planète BD has moved north a little ways
I walked further south to Vieux (Old)
Montreal including the cobble streets and the main cultural area, Place Jacques
Cartier. I walked along rue Saint-Paul
and left Vieux Montreal via Rue McGill, passing Square Victoria.
Back on Rue Sainte-Catherine, I tried to
return to Jeanne-Mance, but it was closed due to the now pay music festival. I
walked north and then west along Rue Maisonneuuve, visiting the Illuminated Crowd
statue on route. I also got a Canada Dry from another Couche Tard before
returning to the hostel.
[NOW: I believe now I was wrong about
the pay aspects. I think they just wanted to do bag searches.]
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