My First Legal Drinking Experience: A Pub Crawl in Montreal

So it seems a long time has passed since I last wrote, however it probably hasn't... 3 cities have happened though, 3 completely new sets of experiences, so I guess that contributes to making time stretch out a bit. (To be 100% correct 4 cities as I am in NYC now, but that's getting its own post so sssh.)

Anyway I have been really enjoying my solo perusals of far and wide locales but when Alex, my good mate from camp, offered me a couch for a couple of nights I was so stoked. Tyler, a fellow gapper, is staying at her place at the moment, so the prospect of seeing the two of them was an incredibly attractive idea.
However, there was a slight aberration to what was sounding like an excellent plan. This aberration takes form of my good friend the Greyhound Bus. Many an hour I have ridden upon this chariot of the proletariat, and whilst on whole it has been a very enjoyable experience, the particular schedule I was now interested in was proving to be far from that. Kingston, Ontario is only about x!km from Toronto. Not far you say? A couple of hours at most, even on a slow bus. That is what I thought too, but a quick squiz on the website gave me an unpleasant surprise. The Greyhound destined for Kingston was to take 12 hours. Yep, you heard me right. Turns out the route gets you within 50km of KIngston, then takes a very long detour through Ottawa. So that makes it an 8 hour trip. Then a 5 hour layover in Ottawa bus station is the cherry on top of the rubbish sundae that is that trip. There was another bus leaving the next morning that was only 8.5hrs (the 12hr bus left at midnight) but didn't reach Kingston til the evening. So, why pay for an extra nights accomodation and miss out on time with my mates for a mere 4 hours less on the bus. So I decided to take the thing, but as it was only like 4pm, I had some time to kill. A quick wander of Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto (where I got off my bus from Niagara Falls) revealed the largest cinema I think I'd ever seen. 24 screens and an entire foodcourt level. Insanity. So that killed some time, as did watching a very talented Japanese busker play the didgeridoo.

My time at camp has given me a lot of valuable skills and taught me many life lessons that will remain relevant for years to come, one of which has been in full use since I stepped off site. That skill is thriftiness. Taught by one of the best (Crumbles is the ultimate in saving pennies. He ate nothing but cold poptarts and the occasional Subway sandwich whilst crossing 4 different Canadian provinces over a couple of weeks.) I perfected the art on our many gapper adventures, Seattle especially. Being thrifty is no walk in the park, you need to work hard to get your points up. One of my personal favourites is the use of the travel mug, 10c off your drink at many places, if you pay for a small they'll usually fill it up to the top (which is soooo more than a small). Also if you get drinks at a fast food joint where you fill your own cup, using a waterbottle can get you almost twice what you paid for. Anyway I could talk about thrift forever but the point I'm getting to is thriftiness requires diligence and sacrifice. This particular instance however was taking it pretty far, even for my liking. I hopped off the bus at Kingston at about 1.30pm, covered in travel grime and stiff from sleeping in Ottawa bus station. A quick trip into the neighbouring Timmy Hos... gosh I love that place, got my meal for under $3. Anyway I was fuelled up and feeling pretty good, so I decided to walk to Alex's house. Cabs are expensive things, and I have not caught one without sharing it this entire trip. So, armed with my directions, I set off. After going the wrong way for a couple of hundred metres I managed to get on the right track. Alex lives on Division street, which was only a few hundred metres from where I was. I was pretty chuffed, I mean how long can a street be right?
As I walked past 885 Division St, I realised the answer to that question. Alex lives at 95 Division St. Awesome.
Despite this minor 800 house setback I was determined to prevent my wallet from thinning itself any further. I tightened my pack straps, put on a Hamish and Andy podcast and continued resolutely down the road. I'm no stranger to lugging my lovely 50lb pack about. I basically ran (ok so it was more of a forward stagger) 1.5km down Bay St in Toronto trying to catch my bus to Niagara when I got off at the wrong subway stop. Turns out this was a bit longer than that.
I started counting down, like I used to on a rowing ergo. In our 2km ergs I would think about certain distances, like off the start think about getting to 1500m, then 1k, then 500, then 200, then for the last 100m I used to count down the tens. This method seemed to work, pretty soon I was in the 600s, then the 400s, then the 200s. Gotta say, don't think I could have done it if I was just going to some random hostel, but the though of seeing Tyler for the first time in nearly a month and Alex in over 3 definitely helped. 2 hours later I arrived at Alex's door, so naturally, I was pretty stoked, then as she came bursting down the stairs and basically collided into/hugged me it was the best. Seeing a friend after a long time has got be in the 'Top Ten' Best Feelings Ever for sure. Just imagine how good that's going to be after being away for 10 months and seeing everyone at home!
Hanging out with Alex and Tyler was so nice, it was really wicked of her to put me up considering she already had her hands full with Tyler and her less-than-wicked housemate (the other 3 are really cool). It was pretty funny actually, I heard such stories about this particular housemate Tyler and I almost refused to go up the stairs and meet her. According to her all Aussies are 'cheap couchsurfers' and we were only being friends with Alex so we could sleep on her couch... Anyway so it was pretty hilarious when Crumbles (who was in Montreal) bussed down to hang out too. Three excess Aussies in a house already pretty full with 5 tenants. This was the first time the gappers had been all together since camp ended, and the first time we had all been with Alex since the end of summer. We went out for dinner, strolled the streets of Kingston and had a pretty sweet time. Things like that really do make you realise that camp is totally the people, not the place.

However, Alex had uni work to get to and we didn't want to impinge on the house any longer, so Crumbles and I decided to head to Montreal. We managed to convince Tyler to join us as the drinking age in Quebec is 18, so we could finally have those gapper drinks we'd wanted to have in Alberta when we had considered taking a bus to the border to have a few beers after summer ended. (That scheme was shortly abandoned after we discovered the bus was $150+) So the three of us hopped on a Megabus and we were in Montreal in no time. Checking in to the hostel (of Auberge Jeunnsse ? as its called in Quebec) we discovered there was a pub crawl scheduled. With Crumbles trans-Canada partner Oli joining the ranks, we headed out with the rest of the hostel crew to score some $10 pitchers. So my first legal drinking experience was a pub crawl in Montreal. Not bad I reckon. The bar was called the Blue Dog, I bought the first pitcher, we met 4 cool kids from Alberta and from there it was a pretty sweet night.
We ended up hanging out with the Calgary Crew, as we named them, for most of our time in Montreal. Crumbles and my food expenditures went out the window now we were with Tyler. The man enjoys fine food, and alot of it! Though he has improved (slightly) from his mammoth salad bar servings at camp, but he isn't quite at Crumbles and my level yet. I already mentioned Crumbles' poptart diet, and I have eaten Halloween chocolate for dinner 2 nights in a row so I'm not much better.
Another night we decided to hit some different bars, so we set out on the main strip of Rue St Catherine's to find ourselves some cheap beer. Unfortunately all we managed to find was 3 different adult shops, a couple of gentlemen's clubs, a salsa parlour and a 24hr 'adult film' cinema. We were almost about to resign ourselves to a strip joint... I mean they do sell beer... when we discovered McLaren's, an Irish pub a little down a sidestreet. Not only was it a good find as it prevented us from having to see half naked women, but they sold this things called 'giraffes'. They're like a big plastic column filled with beer with their own draught tap at the base. $20 for 3L. Genius!
Montreal was a sweet old time, we also visited the Biodome, the largest incline tower in the world (whoop?) and a rooftop complete with a giant milk bottle.
Tyler headed back to Kingston to stay with Alex for a few more weeks, and Crumbles and Oli had to head south to NY before their Greyhound passes expired. I decided to hit up Quebec City, but first I wanted to go visit Mina, who kindly let me stay at her place for 2 nights.
Now the gapper reunion couldn't be complete without a few failures, so Tyler managed to miss his bus because we went shopping and then sat in a Starbucks in a Chapters Store for like ages because I was out buying souvenirs and he couldn't get the internet to work. Our fails quota sufficiently satisfied, Tyler headed off, as did Crumbles and Oli.

I packed my gear and decided to leg it to Mina's. Turns out it was a pretty easy trip, cheers to the subway! My google directions turned out to be wrong, but luckily I have evolved the keen sense of direction only a backpacker can have... and by that I mean I have learnt to trust street signs over the internet. Anyway, I arrived at Mina's in the midst of a curry night she was having for a couple of people from her work. Which was pretty cool, because they were pretty cool, so it was nice to meet people. Plus I got a free beer. And try this delicious Indian icecream Mina had made. Her apartment was choice, 3 stories! The shower had TWO showerheads. I couldn't quite figure that one out. Also, the only shower I have seen in North American where you can change the water pressure independently of the temperature. Not a very interesting fact I know, but once you've lived here for a while, that stuff becomes interesting. Or I'm a massive nerd. You know what, it's probably the latter.
After sleeping in a double bed alone for the first time in 7 months (AMAZING!), on Mina's recommendation I decided to hike Mont Royal and then check out the Mont Royal plateau. Parc Mont Royal was beautiful, chockers with trees. It was quite eerie when I was there, the bare winter branches like sharp dark fingers, whilst the cold low fog swirled menacingly about, threatening to engulf you in its grey tendrils as you climbed higher and higher. I walked around Beaver Lake, and climbed some grass slopes cross country skiiers use in the winter. It would be an absolutely phenomenal place to be in mid Fall, when the leaves are all changing. Still, fallen leaves are better in the sense that you can kick them. And jump in piles of them. And make tracks in them.
There is meant to be the best view of the Montreal cityscape from the top of Mont Royal, but due to the fog there really wasn't much to see. I didn't mind, I have seen and will see plenty of cool cities. Plus, fog is still a massive novelty!
The Plateau was really cool. That was where Mina lived when she first moved to Canada. It's a mainly francophone neighbourhood, with heaps of cool little shops and the best poutine in all the city. La Banquise, a little 24hr restaurant started by a local firefighter and now run by his daughter, has over 25 different types of poutine, the national comfort food. I went for the classic. You need to have the original before you can try any variations. Also, it was the cheapest.
Poutine is hot chips smothered in gravy and cheese curds. The chips need to be soft, not crunchy and the cheese curds need to be 'squeaky'. It's delicious!! I wolfed down my serving almost embarrassingly quickly. I should have bought a book or something. That is one thing I haven't really got used to since flying solo. Eating alone at dinner time is not fun. For some reason, the other meals are ok. Not dinner though. So I have kind of given up on that meal altogether. Or replaced it with 2 minute noodles. Or chocolate. Health fail.
That night Mina took me to a local brew pub and we had a few delicious beers, all locally brewed. It was a good time actually, we talked about stuff, mainly sport. She is a mad keen rugby player and a Canadiens (the Montreal hockey team) fan. She was rather amused by my pledge to the Maple Leafs. It is true, they never win. But they are cool and have insanely dedicated fans, so its all good.
Montreal was an awesome trip, gapper reunions, meeting new friends and using a shower with 2 showerheads made it a trip to remember. Next stop was Quebec City for a night before south to the Big Apple.

Katie recommended Quebec's capital, so I didn't mind paying the extra $100 bus fares there and back (for some reason Greyhound doesn't go east of Montreal) and the $20 for the hostel. Stepping out of the bus terminal was quite a sensational feeling. I have never been anywhere where I felt such an instant sense of affection for the place. I literally loved it the second I stepped outside. It's a beautiful place. Even the bus station looks like some sort of ancient castle. Luckily for me I got to experience plenty of the streets as my google directions were once again wrong. Why I keep trusting that website, I have no clue. It was right for like 2 streets, but then it told me to turn up a street I swear to god does not exist. After a good hours wandering back and forth, talking to a nice local man about a wheat silo light show and a tiny electric bus, I decided to call the hostel and get directions. Fitting into a phonebox is not easy with a large pack with a guitar and tripod strapped to either side on the back and a small backpack on the front. I fished the cardboard brochure out of my bag and discovered it bore a map. Excellent. I had been trudging the streets of Quebec cluelessly for who knows how long with all the direction I needed literally under my nose. I finally made it to the hostel, a really cool building right in the middle of Vieux Quebec (Old Quebec). I ditched my gear and decided to get a quick look around with the last little bit of sunlight... at 4pm. Man I will never get used to it getting dark that early. Anyway my instantaneous love for the place continued to thrive as I checked out the ancient walls that used to protect the old fortified city, discovered an ice rink literally in the middle of a city square and walked through cobblestone streets sided with townhouses that would have been just at home in Europe.
The following day I decided to explore the whole place, visiting Chateau Frontenac, which is basically a big old castle. La Promenade du Gouverneurs, a boardwalk that gives spectacular views of the waterfront and the Citadel, an ancient fort that housed the Governor General for 200 years. Parliament Hill was interesting too, I learnt about the past Quebecois premiers. Strolling through the streets of Vieux Quebec was probably the coolest. Tiny modern shops encased in ancient buildings, graffiti of the fleur-de-lis and slogans such as Quebec Libre! were also reasonably common.
Although it was expensive to go there, I was super stoked I made the effort. A beautiful, fascinating city that was just so likeable! The only thing I was not a fan of was the prices, but mowing down on the $5 all you can eat brekky at the hostel eliminated that little problem.
All too soon, I had to go back to the castle and catch another 12hr bus to New York City. I totally thought I was being a genius by taking an overnight bus, I'm not one of your 'pay for an extra nights accommodation' style suckers. No siree. Turns out so was everyone else. However, the bus had wireless, so I was stoked. First I paid my way back to Montreal, then I was to catch a 'Neon' Greyhound down to the US.

But those tales are for later. This post is already of ludicrous length and probably boring you all to tears. If so, just close the darn window, please!
Nut jobs.
Anyhoo I'm off to bed, seeing Alex and meeting the famous Ben tomorrow, should be pretty cool. Adios!