June 17, 2004 – Montreal/London
Well, it’s my first day back in London. Geez it’s been a long time. It’s nice to be back, especially since I already know my way around, more or less. It definitely makes things a lot easier. So, what have I been up to lately? I spent Monday touring Vieux Montreal (old Montreal), which is really cool. I was staying in the countryside, so I would catch a ride to town in the morning with the family I was staying with and was only in the city until 3:30pm when I would catch a ride back, so I had a small window in which to squeeze all my sightseeing. That, plus the fact that I arrived later than planned means I missed a lot because there is so much to do and see there, but oh well, I guess I’ll just have to go back one day! I did manage to visit the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montreal, which is incredible, and the Marché Bonsecours, the Faubourg Ste-Catherine, the Musée d’Art contemporain de Montréal, the Place des arts, the shops in the metro, the Centre Eaton and other things I can’t remember right now. One thing I didn’t like about Montreal is that everyone smokes. And they smoke everywhere! The other cities I’ve been to before Montreal (Winnipeg, Boston and New York) are all smoke free indoors, which is awesome. Unfortunately, Montreal is NOT!!! It’s weird to sit at a restaurant and have the person beside you light a cigarette. Thankfully, the people I stayed with did not smoke.
My plane for London departed on time for a change, and it was a nice flight. Didn’t sleep much, but I did watch the movie Welcome to Mooseport with Ray Romano and Gene Hackman, it was pretty funny actually. Arrived at 8am London time, and after getting the third degree (seriously, this lady made me tell her my entire itinerary until next summer, including all the cities I am visiting) from the customs lady, waited for my luggage, which I did NOT forget this time around! But by the time I finally got to the luggage carousel, there were only a few bags left. I found one of my bags right away, and then waited and waited and waited for the second one, but it didn’t come. Hoping that they had not lost my luggage (which would be just my luck), I went to the help desk to ask the guy. But as I waited, I glanced over and luckily they had just added a few more bags on the carousel (don’t ask me from where) and mine was there!!! I quickly grabbed it and left to go find my hostel. I arrived at the Notting Hill tube stop, thinking it would be easy. However it (of course) was not. I ended up having to take a bus, and then walking half an hour up a slight hill, before I finally found it. I found my room and made friends with a girl from China. There are 5 others girls in the room. I also made friends with Claire from Perth, Australia. Claire and I went around sightseeing for a bit, and now here I am. I did manage to see where my hostel for tomorrow night is, so now I won’t have to wander around trying to find it with all of my heavy luggage, which is nice. And now I’m off to Topshop, to do a bit of shopping (unfortunately it will be window-shopping)! Hope you’re all having fun!