We spent our last day in Monteal walking the streets. Every now
and then, I'd tell Wade to hold his breath as we walked through a cloud
of hemp smoke. Yup... A Canuck will just fire up a fatty, right
there on the street. (Leo says that's the best way -- legalize it
and tax it.) We returned to the Picadello Internet Cafe
(from the day before), and worked on updating the website while
enjoying espressos. After a while, Wade continued to work on the
site and I stole away to a souvenir shop next door where I loaded up on
shot glasses, coffee mugs with moose inside, keychains, and a dozen
postcards, all at prices that were totally ludicrous. I was
having a blast. When we left the cafe, we returned the laptop to
the hotel room and then took off again for parts unknown. [see
pics, below]
Our last evening in Montreal consisted, first, of
dinner at an Italian restaurant, Enzo's, with exceptional meals and
wines -- and price tags that screamed, "We're SO proud of
ourselves!" I scanned the menu for 20 minutes and, not finding
quite the right item, I told the waiter exactly what I wanted.
Initially, it was obvious that I merely confused him. My
oh-so-shocking suggestions didn't register, so I ended up telling him
how to prepare the dish. He sighed and gave me a funny look, but
took my order to the kitchen. When my meal arrived, I kid you
not, a woman at a nearby table asked me what I'd ordered and said it
was "beautiful" and smelled wonderful. She added that she would
have ordered the same thing had she not just finished eating.
Veal with fettuccini Alfredo... at an Italian restaurant.
Whodathunkit? So THERE, Mr. Waiter! HAH! And even
NYEH! (For those of you who are curious: Veal, pounded thin,
egg-bathed and lightly battered then skillet-fried, laid atop a bed of
fetuccini, all drizzled with Alfredo sauce. Now, for whatever
reason, they didn't prepare the Alfredo sauce with the asiago or
parmesan cheese IN it... the cheese was offered to me later.
That's not Alfredo sauce -- that's a cream sauce. *sigh*)
From the restaurant, we walked for several blocks around the trendiest
parts of Montreal nightlife, just to see what we could see. As
the sun was setting, we found two glass buildings that absolutely begged us to take their
picture. [see below] (No, buildings don't often talk to me.
Aliens from the star Bet'n'Man
talk to me. "No such star," you say? HAH! It's up
there. I should know... I bought it. But I'm not selfish...
IF you wanna visit our star, you go right ahead. Just call The
International Star Registry and ask for directions.) It was a
beautiful and mild and clear Spring evening in Montreal for two people
who are (Dare I say it?) madly in love. We couldn't have asked
for more... unless we're talking about an additional two weeks there,
all expenses paid. *drool*
After our walk, we returned to Club Amal from the night before and
enjoyed every minute of our momentary notariety. Paul, the
guitarist from the night before, came to talk to us and then he
introduced us to the club owner. Erika, the waitress, (and my new
bestest friend) brought us more beverages and took a great deal of
pleasure in inventing drinks for me. In case anyone is wanting to
go to Montreal to visit with her, check out the photo below. Wade
and I were having a lovely time, all in all. Then the band
started. They weren't bad, but they weren't what we
expected. Retro music from kids who'd probably never heard the
original songs until they discovered they could land gigs with 'em and,
at their level of musical maturity, they committed the youthful
indiscretion of confusing volume with talent. Someday, when the
band memebers mature, they're going to be fantastic. They have
the seed and juice -- all they need is to ripen on the vine.
Since it was our last night in "A city in southern Québec
province on the Saint Lawrence River; the largest city in Québec
and 2nd largest in Canada; the 2nd largest French-speaking city in the
world," we decided to head on out the door and go back to The
Paris. We took our coffees and desert upstairs and took pictures
through the open window of crowds of strangers, street performers,
lights, and the rush of something different.
~~Bet~~
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