Bonjour!
I am sitting at my hostel in Montreal, which classes itself as an 'Alternative Backpackers', and it has an understated funk to it. The walls are all painted different 'gently bold' colours, if that makes sense. The staff are fantastic, cruisey music plays in the background, and people wander in and out. It seems to be an older crowd too. Unfortunately I'm in a dorm, but there are only 3 people in my room at the moment, so it's not too bad. The rooms are stunning though - they have that little window seat thing happening, so you sit there next to the window and bask in the sun, thinking what a great world we live in. All the rooms are painted different colours and named accordingly. I am in 'Chambre Rose'.
I arrived yesterday, but spent the entire day working, bar a small trip into the supermarket. Although, I did find a cord for my ipod which made me tremendously happy, as I haven't had my little poddy essentially since I got here.
Today I didn't do much apart from walk (I had a superb sleep-in though!). What a wonderful day. My hostel is located in what they call 'Old Montreal', which is not dissimilar to Quebec. The buildings are all beautifully old, in fact my hostel building is nearly 150 years old!
The rest of Montreal is like many cities around the world, in some places I could have almost been in Melbourne, bar the snow and the French. So far I have found that in general people are not as friendly (though not rude); living the city-life I guess.
This afternoon I headed up to Mont Royal, which gives you a panoramic view of the city. It was a reasonably long hike, as they choose to forsake distance for a gentle slope. Sigh. The view was worth it though, it was amazing looking down at the buildings that I had been walking next to only an hour or two before hand. I then walked around Old Montreal and just enjoyed the plethora of stone facades and columns. I hate my life, I really do!
I heard a great line yesterday - stop me if you've heard it before. Haha, you can't!
I'm gonna make like a Russian and Vukovsky.
