Montreal is getting cold!

me dressed up country style
Originally uploaded by jaanus83.

It's been another week I think so I guess it's time again to let you all know how little Jaanie is getting along in frenchy town. Well, last week the unseasonal warm weather followed me to Montreal so I tried to make the most of it by getting around the city and trying to see all I could be bothered seeing. I went for a ride up the mountain (well, it's a hill, but apparantly you can't call it a hill around here) and it has a great view of the city. But it also lets you see just how smoggy it is here, so its not that pretty. But nevertheless, a good view.

So other than that, I have done various walking around with Ben and Claude, letting them show me just what's around here. I went to a 8mm screening night, which was alright, but nothing too special. Also went to a Kino screening, which was pretty cool, except the host was speaking French so I had to make up what was being said in my head. Was quite entertaining.

I've also been sampling some of the food here. If you didn't know, one of Montreal's attractions is it's food (well, for me anyway). I've had some poutine (chips, gravy and cheese curds) here, which is just to die for. There is also a little place where you get the BEST meat sandwhiches. You can chose your meat - fatty, not so fatty and hardly fatty. So good.

Friday night we went for a couple hour drive to Claudes parents' house in the country to spend the weekend there. Was soo nice. Except that on Friday the weather took a turn for the worse and it's true Autumn weather now. About 12 during the day and the nights are quite chilly. But it doesn't matter, we still went for a walk in the country and I kept imagining how cool it would look in winter when there's snow everywhere. Unfortunately I won't get to see that this time...

So now being back in Montreal I'm taking it easy today. Ben's computer cacked it on the weekend so I had to find a net cafe to write to you all, so you better feel privalleged! Another thing I wanted to tell you all is that I've managed to put up all the pics from the last few weeks. So make sure you go to the web page that they're on to check em all out. There's quite a few, and it's a bit jumbled up because I only realised about my other memory stick after I posted the recent ones on there. Anywho, so it jumps from Winnipeg, to Toronto, to Montreal and then back to Toronto. It's all good. Don't fret.

Health wise - well, the weekend wasn't the best regarding my physio. I was a bad boy and didn't really do too much. However, I did some walking around so a bit of exercise is better than nothing. But because of that I am a bit worse for wear today. A bit more short of breath, quite productive and don't really have too much energy to do anything. I did a good dose of physio last night and that seemed to have helped a bit, so I promise to make up for it this week with lots of good stuffs. Alright? Good!

So yeah, I think that's all to report. Tomorrow I'm going to the cf clinic here to meet up with a doctor and a nurse, so that should be pretty cool for some interviews. Then next week I'm meeting with a cf who has had a transplant, as well as a cf who is on the waiting list.

Rateing - 6.8

Merci Montreal

Ah, another day another city. I hate to disappoint you all who were waiting to hear about my midnight vigil in the death row part of the gaol. But nothing really happened. However, I didn't really stay up there long at all. I went out for a drink earlier in the night, and then got back to the hostel around 12:30 or so. I went up there with a couple people from my room and the guy working there was taking some people up and telling a couple of stories about the place. That was pretty cool. But it wasn't really scary with all these people there. Anyway, once they all went to bed I decided to go up with the camera and sit up there for a bit. For some reason, probably because I'm a wimp, I couldn't make myself go into the cell where the famous ghost once stayed in. It's meant to be the most haunted cell in the gaol. I was only up there for not even 10 minutes then decided to leave. I didn't hear or see anything, but I couldn't go into the room, and I was tired, so I just went to bed. But don't worry, when I go back there after Montreal I'll make sure to stay up there for a decent amount of time. I promise!

Anyway, so I got up this morning kinda early to catch the bus to Montreal. Arrived around 12:30 pm and was greeted by the one and only Benny T. Came back to his place and have been hanging around since. I did make it out to the park since the weather is so nice out, and caught some Dungeons and Dragons nerds dressing up and fighting each other in a mock battle. Pretty funny...

I'ts really weird with all the French stuff. I know it's to be expected here, but it's just something I haven't ever encountered. At least they can speak English if they have to, but I'm determined to learn at least something to get me by. So far my vocabulary includes 'bonjour' and 'merci'. Pretty spiffy eh?

Health is a tiny bit worse than last night. I didn't do any physio since then, so I obviously I'm a bit worse for wear. However, there is some lovely Ambrotose waiting for me here, so I'll start taking that tonight and hopefully we'll see some improvement. Yay!

Anywho, I'm off now. Take it easy all and keep those emails a comin'!

Rating - 6.3

Update on death row...

Hey all. Just a quick update. I was interviewing the guy who works here and he said that if I was interested on going up there tonight, he could go with me and tell me a couple stories. Yay! AND, I told him about the big bang I heard, and he said that is one of the most common noises heard up there. So it coulda been something...

Apparantly this building is the most haunted in Canada, and get this everyone, it (as a jail) was closed due to inhumane conditions. And they turned it into a hostel. Classic!

Anywho, I'm off. Oooh, tonight is going to be wick!

Oh Ottawa

Well, Toronto turned out to be a VERY cool place to be. Much better than I anticipated. Lots of time was spent trying to see all of downtown. But failed miserably... it's so friggen big. But the subway system is pretty cool and helps alot when trying to get around town. Went out to some fabulous places for food and bevvies. Tried quite alot of local (Canada) brew and have found some that I like. Can't remember for the life of me what they are, but nonetheless good stuff. I just let whomever I'm with choose for me.

So it was kinda sad to leave the place. But there was another instalment of Jaan's stupidness to come. You see, I had planned to catch the sub and be at the bus depot by around 11 so I could catch the 11:30am bus to Ottawa. But for some reason, and I really don't know why because I was given specific instructions by Heather, I caught the subway north and got off at totally the wrong stop. So I had to back track and by the time I got to the depot it was 12. Bummer. So I had to wait around for 2 hours for the next bus. Excitement plus! Although something cool was that there was a family of Amish people at the depot. I had never seen them before in real life. Very cool. But a huge thanks again to Heather and Paul for making my Toronto visit sooo cool and I can't wait to get back there in a few weeks!

Arriving in Ottawa, all I wanted to do was get to the hostel. The walk would have taken about an hour apparantly, but I could not be bothered with all my stuff since I walked around for AGES in Toronto. So instead of trying to be a smart person and figure out how to get there by bus, I just caught a cab. Only about $12, so not too bad. AND I got dropped off right at the front door.

Man, the hostel here is soooo cool! It's the old gaol. Very wick. Today I discovered the death row block, and I went in there at noon and it was kinda creepy then. I've decided to go back tonight around midnight and do a little vigil there with the camera. And the scary thing was today as I was leaving, I heard this huge bang coming from the death row hall. Now, it was most probably something very easily explainable, but it made me crap myself. So I'm getting quite excited about tonight. Wish me luck!

The weather gods have been smiling on me again as today is a friggen fantastic 20-something day with no clouds and basically no wind. Perfect! Today was spent walking down the main shopping street, the markets, and the parliament buildings. Everyone told me that the buildings here are amazing, but I thought "How good can buildings be?". Boy was I wrong. They are soo cool. Like old castles. It's given me a taste of what England must be like so I can't wait to get there.

Unfortunately the computer here isn't letting me connect my camera up, so I can't upload any picures just yet. But I'll make sure to do so when I get to Montreal tomorrow. I know you're all just DYING to see what I've been seeing.

Health wise I'm still feeling about the same, which is pretty amazing since I'm only doing physio once a day and doing my nebs and that's it. Tomorrow should be wicked as I get to start the Ambrotose again. Woot!

Anyway, that's about it. I can't be bothered typing any more so I'll leave it here.

Peace out eh!

Rating - 6.8