I have eaten at St.Hubert's twice now, a quebecer institution, but think of it as a poshed up and much bigger menu Swiss Chalet without that bloody gross sauce they have. Across the road from my very blah (if born after 1980 change that to meh) Hotwire special price hotel there is an 'express' Hubert, I found closer on St. Catherine's a full sit down one. The first try was the express one and it is more McDonald's style chairs and tables, but the food is good. So much so I placed my tray down and went to find some condiments all full of joie de vivre, came back toward my table and this rather large homeless guy had plonked himself down in my spot and was chomping down on my food. Of course my reaction, out loud, was along the lines of "What the F¥@€" and he got up, walked out saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He should have taken it with him, they binned it and gave me new food. It doesn't make you feel good.... But it's pretty cheeky theft. The second attempt at the full sit down one was far less dramatic.
I have noticed the locals also reel from my attempts at schoolboy Française and immediately revert to Anglaise, no doubt to reduce the assault on their ears. It's probably like sandpaper on raw flesh, but I try and well, some people I like to make suffer.
The tiny park area outside the hotel has had a lot of homeless getting fed from various charity vans and soup kitchens, seems bizarre as I was toodling back from the show in the lovely Old Port with my over priced tees in hand and I passed the never ending homeless line up again... It's quite sad. Most are black, and I am not sure if that's because of the area I am in, which is a big student area (UQÀM), lots of immigrants come here from old French colonies I know too, maybe that is why. Hardly a happy life to come to. The lines are very, very long.
I had some pictures of Old Town and the cathedral and now it looks like the iPad won't read of the SDXC card - will have to google that... And switch to a different card for the rest of the trip.
But there was one thing I came to see, with the comparitive riches from my employ as a stripper, scratch that, we'll put Cabaret Chanteuse. (This way I cannot get fired for talking about my job online). The wonderful Circus of the Sun: Cirque du Soleil.
But despite it being forbidden to take pictures of the inside of the grand chapiteau, I did of course take one from the wet outside... Cirque's 2012 production was named Amalūna a couple of months back, it has peacock feathers, 80's women rock bands and lizards as part of its advertising... It was opening night for the regular punters, press was last night, there was a few missteps, more than any other opening I have seen, but it proves they are human. One guy kept falling off the trapeze wire, so much so he may be a stripper or chanteuse pretty soon too if he's not careful.
The rain cannot dampen my enthusiasm for one of Canada's biggest exports, and Amalūna did not dissapoint. A kind of ninja-amazon girl-boy meets girl-people in a fish bowl-juggling lizards and a woman who has a truly amazing skill balancing bits of wood combo kind of show, it was quite awesome and worth the approximately 900 bucks spent getting here and all the paraphernalia that goes with it. I have 250 dollars in tee shirts, only one is for me. In the hotel room I notice there's a label stating that the shirt is made from an 'actual performer costume' - which, seeing as I just saw so many dripping sweat from their efforts, I just hope it was cleaned well before being re-cycled. The return airfare was near 500 (over 4 hours actual flying time), a small bag of tee shirts is half that - no wonder the world will end on Dec 21st, it makes no sense anymore...
So someone at home gets a lucky shirt, I have 4 tremendously over priced and no doubt over worked tees - if they all come from costumes, not sure they do.... Oh well. It was a great evening and I still think they're the greatest thing since instant miso soup.
I was going to try the new camera out of the Old Town at night, but the rain had turned to rain-snow mix and it was getting too cold, so I am guessing, for whatever reason fate won't have it. I took lots the last time, but still.... The weather forecast on the TV here says it it will be hot hot hot next weekend, on Monday it was over 30, so I get snow!
Instead I only have pics of Old Town during the day, and I cannot show them to you !
That was Merry Montréal, off now to the airport for a hike to Amsterdam via Philadelphia. Pray to your G*ds for dry weather in Amsterdam! If nothing else, it will make the cake soggy if it's not... C'est la vie!
:)
Extra update: so the real madness has begun, there was a massive demonstration right outside the hotel and down a main street, protesting the environment or something, so the bus that was supposed to be taking me to the airport could not stop - the police had blocked off the road. So I ran up the street to try and catch the bus, and as he drove past refusing to stop, he gave me and two other people the finger! Nice! Of course I'm standing in the middle of the road waving like an idiot - more of an idiot as it was to no avail. Didn't matter that I caught the next bus anyway, my flight was badly delayed. The huge rainstorm has moved to Philadelphia, so the delays mean my flight to Amsterdam cannot be met. Instead, they routed me with Air Canada through Frankfurt, then KLM on to Frankfurt. 8 hours later I will fly back through Frankfurt and on to Zürich. I told you it was madness - despite the run around, no window seat, no smiles, and just like on the last trip, no one knows where I will get a boarding card from Frankfurt-Amsterdam.... But they check the bag right through.... Strange world I tell you strange world... This is the norm with flying today, I know, I know take a chill pill. But right after one more stop at St.Hubert...
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- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on pictures for larger version and gallery. Copyright 2012 TinyFrontalLobeWerke AG., Zurich.
Location:Montréal, Berri-UQÀM stn.
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