Bonjour!!!

Well its been an odd few days! I got cut off on my last blog because I was in the common room of the hostel, and some Germans started talking to me and so I had to cut off because we decided to go out. I`ll get to that in a bit, try do this in order.

My hostel was in the old town of Montreal, and its so European its bizarre. This one street of cobblestones and little coffee shops and of course everyone is speaking French, you kind of forget that your still in North America. I wandered around the old town when I got there, watched some painters in the street and grabbed a quick crepe and coffee. I wandered into a maple syrup shop, and I got to do some maple syrup tasting as they told me how its all made. Who knew there were so many different types of syrup! When I went back to my hostel I met some Welsh guys and so we went out for a few drinks in the old town that night, but it was really expensive.

Next day me and one of the guys went to have a look around some of the churches. Especially St Josephs, which is massive Catholic church with amazing views of the city. For a catholic church its quite plain inside though. The one above is Notre Dame and thats a lot more intricate. We walked up Mount Royal to get a even higher view of the city. Its a lovely little park to walk through. We then headed down to the Underground city. Its the largest underground city, and is pretty much shops and restaurants all inter connected via tunnels and the metro.

That night we got chatting to four of the Germans in our hostel. Actualy first of all, I have to mention our hostel. It was a 23 bed dorm, basically just this masive attic room with all bunkbeds in, but they are separated by curtains that you can pull around your bed. Its really cosy actually. We were all sat downstairs that night, and I was googling cheap places to drink in Montreal. I found this sports bar on the other side of town that sold cheap pitchers of beer, so I mentioned it to everyone. A big group of us decided to go, and they all followed me... bad move. I have a tendency to get lost, and it was a lot of pressure with 10 other people walking behind me. I think I had them convinced for about 20minutes that I knew where I was walking to. When we eventualy found the place, it was a really good night.

That was my first last night in Montreal. Next day I was supposedly getting the bus to Quebec city, until I got to the bus station with my backpack and they told me that my greyhound bus pass doesn`t work going to Quebec city, and I didn`t want to spend another 50dollars on a single ticket there. After a conversation with Dad, I decided to stay an extra 2 days and then just head down to Boston. I got the metro back to the hostel, my friend let me into the hostel since I didn`t have the door code any more an I waited in the common room. Its a small family run hostel so the two managers aren`t always there. They had finished for the day when I got back, and so I tried to call them on the phone they provide, but it kept ringing out. I thought I would check and see if they have any room available on the website, but it was full. I thought better than siting around I may as well find another place to stay.

I had to get another metro to this new hostel and when I went to take the 20dollar bill out of my pocket I ripped it in half.. the second time Ive done that! The last note I ripped in half was a 50, and when I took it to the bank here they just sellotaped it back together. The guy in the metro station must have seen my face when I did this because he took the two halves of my twenty anyway. When I got to the hostel, I actually think I made a good decision by moving. Although its not as clean and homely as the other place, the staff are a lot friendlier. The girl behind the desk spent ages going over everything with me, giving me a map, telling me of places to go etc. Plus, by sheer coincidence, the Welsh guys I had met in the last hostel had moved hostels and it happened to be this hostel they moved to.

Last night was Sangria night in this hostel. The staff made us all some sangria then took us out. It was a great little group, but the place we went to was massive and we kept losing each other. This crazy American guy with us was so hyper, and kept trying to get us all to dance, it was a fun night!

Me and the other Welsh guys went to the Olympic stadium today and the biodome. Its so obvious the olympic stadium was built in the 70`s, its not that attractive, just cement. We went up the leaning tower, its the worlds largest leaning tower. They take you up in a funicular and you get a good view of the city as you go up. The biodome was amazing. Each room you walk into is a different climate zone - from rainforest to Canadian mountains to Polar climate. I got to stand close to the otters, aw!!! And they had the worlds largest rodent, and bats yay!

We got a little lost coming back, and we were all so tired, so we just grabbed food, lounged around in Starbucks and come back to the hostel. I may have to leave bright and early tomorrow for Boston.

This will be my last ever greyhound ride. Am I sad? We`ll see...

Bon nuit xXx