An evening in downtown Montréal

Although we didn't get to achieve everything planned for last evening, we had a pleasant time yesterday in the city. We caught the bus at around 4:00pm and the Metro into the city. Most of all this was a shopping trip to get hold of some essentials. First on the list was a pair of sandals: sounds simple, but not so much when one is searching for Merrell, which my wife confidently informs me are the Rollers of casual shoes. Indeed, I can substantiate this, as the pair of trainers I bought from the same manufacturer are excellent.

None of the sports shops around Ste Catherine stocked a style I wanted, only Gogones (flipflops) so we proceeded to Sylvie's favourite store to get her some essentials. We then took a trip to Simons, where my wardrobe was updated further with more shorts and a couple of muscle tops, something I haven't worn before in my life, and look rather strange in, having missed rowing for more than a year now. We also browsed in La Baie, not my favourite store, although it gives the parched North Americans a taste of European decadence!

After a partially successful shopping trip, we walked to St Denis, in the hopes of finding a drink and a meal. After a long hike up the hill, we discovered a sports shop in which we tracked down and bagged the elusive lesser spotted Merrell sandals and a water bottle carrier for when we go hiking. We grew tired of trying to find a suitable restaurant, so caught a taxi to the Old Port, being diverted on the way around a protest to do with the situation in Sri Lanka. One of my Montréal friends tells me that he loves coming into the city every day, as there is always something new to see or experience; that certainly has been my experience thus far.

Instead of going to the restaurant called Le Vieaux Port, as we did last April, we found a slightly busier but no less pleasant restaurant called the Keg, a traditional steak house. We dined here to absolute repletion, and caught a taxi all the way to Boucherville, surprisingly cheaply.

So ended a very pleasant day in town, and a happy experience; we did not manage to see our movie (Star Trek was showing in French subtitles near St Denis, but this appealed to neither of us) We also did not manage to get our DVD player or my organiser, but these are obtainable locally. Ah well, the joys of a more laid back way of life! I did not obtain any interesting photographs to insert here, so this will have to be a very perfunctory entry, for which I hope to compensate soon.