Olympic Pool, Casino, and Smoked Meat, oh my!

Yes we tried to jam pack our trip with everything in that book that we could do. In the morning, we went to a famous smoked meat restaurant, which was very similar to going to Carnegie Deli, line included. We got inside and there was nothing too special about it, INCLUDING the food. After eating it, we looked at each other and agreed that NYC has the BEST smoked meat, no bones about it. We enjoyed the meal, but if this is what Montreal considers its BEST smoked meats place, we might not be moving to Montreal anytime soon. (Yes, the picture's fuzzy! Damn it!)

I love seeing all the french and english throughout the city! Makes me want to get really good at french again! Le sigh, I wish I was more adamant about staying with it!

After lunch, we biked to the biodome, a domed shaped building that was used during the 1972 Olympics for the biking events. It now houses animals and is a sort of zoo. Unfortunately, when we got there, we learned that the workers were striking and the building was closed....so no penguins! Boo! I almost cried....ok, maybe not! Since we had biked all the way there, we noticed that the Olympic stadium had a tour. And we decided to do it, even though we were both expecting to be bored out of our minds. It was actually quite interesting. And I like that they use the stadium now for all kinds of things. The tour guide mentioned that outside in the courtyard area, there were flags waving from all the countries who had won a gold that year....and that Canada was not among them. There were also flags waving from countries that don't exist anymore, like the Soviet Union. Pretty cool!

In this picture, Aaron is in front of the Olympic Tower. It's such a weird shape/structure, but its purpose is to hold up the huge stadium's roof.

After the stadium, we biked to our hotel area, and then took a cab to the casino in Montreal. And we did well in roulette again! Who knew that we'd have good odds on a shitty game?!

Wait, what it is exactly that you DO in Montreal?! Nothing???

I got super confused as to what kind of city Montreal actually is. Here I am thinking that we're going on a great adventure with tons of monuments, beautiful sights, and lots of culture. We actually got in a fight because I was being fussy.

Stina- "So what exactly DO you do here?"

Aaron- "walk around. Bike. Eat."

Stina- "But you can do that ANYWHERE! Where's the equivalent to the statue of liberty?"

Aaron- "It's the Notre Dame."

Stina- "That's IT?!"

Aaron- "Next time, you're picking the tour book."

We visited the Notre Dame cathedral today and it was very pretty inside. This is the first trip where I've gotten to use my new

birthday

camera, my lumix! Check out the shot I took! No flash even! That's the sight you see the minute you walk in the place.

And what kind of traveler would I be if I didn't take shots of the catholic candles all lit up? Huh? Yeah, if you look at Paris' trip,

I have about a million and one shots of candles. I don't know why, I just like the flickering lights in the dark spaces. And I don't understand why churches are so dark when God and Jesus and the 3 kings and the camels are such HAPPY stories.

After the cathedral, we went to the Rue des Artistes, but we didn't buy anything. Nothing seemed too unique. We biked to the "best bakery in town" according to the tour book, and the chocolate croissants were delicious! Mm, also fresh bread was a plus. I love french food!

Oh, CANADA!!!!

For our anniversary this year, instead of going to somewhere exotic like Fiji or somewhere European and filled culture, we decided to go somewhere a lot closer to home; somewhere that didn't require an airplane ticket. Oh we also had to go a week early because SOMEONE got into a show and the rehearsal starts on our actual anniversary! (It's Dames at Sea!) Okay, back to the travel blog....

Yes, we DROVE to Canada. We decided on Montreal because it is french-esque. Yes, not really a word, but it fits, and you get the gist.

The absolute first thing we did when we arrived was get a "BIXI" ticket, or bicycle taxi. In short, it's another word for Velib! Woot, we love biking through foreign cities! We biked to dinner which was recommended from the tour book. It was the "best french bistro in town." "L'Bistro" was NOT the best bistro in town, let me tell you that. We were not overwhelmed, and not underwhelmed. Let's just say that we were 'whelmed.'