Let the adventure begin

Yesterday I flew from London Heathrow to Montreal Trudeau, for the start of my year of adventures. Luckily I was flying from Terminal 5 which is still shiny and new, so has the better shops and facilities. The shops were useful as I’d left my sunglasses case in the car and the facilities were good, so I could sup a glass or two of Champagne before the flight - well the luxury of the trip began and ended there!


The flight was comfortable, the seats being much roomier than I expected for economy, or World Traveller as they call it, one thing that did disturb me is the Journey Map on the screen thought it useful to point out the site of the Titanic sinking and how far or close we were to it at any one time, I wasn‘t reassured (and no I didn‘t expect us to hit an iceberg, but it seemed a weird landmark to point out). Fortunately Terminal 5 didn’t lose my bag, which was one of the first off the plane, so I was straight out to the shuttle bus, which left as soon as I was on board - my timing was perfect.

I’m staying in a youth hostel in downtown Montreal, the area didn’t look too great last night and wasn’t much better this morning, but it is fairly close to the sights, safe and very close to the metro, which will save my aching feet. After waking up far too early this morning, I decided I would walk to the main bus station to sort out my coach ticket for travelling around Canada. I’m glad that the pass I booked online didn’t come through, as I found out that it wouldn’t have been valid for half the journeys I want to make. But it’s sorted now, all I have to do is turn up and jump on the coach tomorrow to go to Toronto.

For the rest of the day I just mooched about Montreal, mainly the old town and port. Even though the temperature this morning was 4 degrees, the sun was shining which made it a warm day. I think if it was windier then it wouldn’t have been so good, but I was able to sit on a bench overlooking the St Lawrence river and try and work out the ins and outs of Montreal. I don’t think I have any of it sussed, but I think jaywalking is legal (Germany has taught me to wait for the green light), they speak a lot more French here than I thought they would though everyone seems to easily switch between French and English and the only people about seems to be tourists and school kids - but that’s probably down to the areas I visited.

I spent most of the morning and early afternoon walking along the Old Port of Montreal, which was very peaceful and gave me the opportunity to get my bearings and take lots of photos of the man-made islands in the river and the city facing the river. I also wandered around the very touristy old town, with its cobbled streets and interesting buildings. As I’m returning here in 14 days, I decided I wouldn’t visit any museums, churches or buildings and save it for my return - maybe my feet will be more practiced with this walking lark then. 

Cait realising the obvious:
Montreal is pronounced Mont Réal here - doh

Cait realising the not so obvious:
It’s going to be my year of:    

• Walking
• Benches
• Coffee shops / Cafes
• Bad hair