Bonjour and Merci Montreal!

Bixi Bike Ride around Montreal!

Once again i have not posted for a while! With the amount of work that has been going on, I seriously haven't even had time to eat, let alone sleep due to multiple essay deadlines and tests! Anyway, for Thanksgiving weekend, around 15 of us exchange peeps organised a trip to Montreal! Words can't describe how much fun we had! After a 6 hour coach trip from Toronto, we eventually arrived in the French speaking province of Quebec. It was so weird being in Canada and everyone talking in french, but it was a good to use the word "Merci" and for people to understand! Haha!! Of course, over 6 hours without a decent meal and only one apple to last you the whole journey, the first thing we did was to eat Montreal's speciality dish.  Can't really say it was exciting, as it was only melted cheese on top of chicken and chips, called 'Poutine', but it was niceeee!! Kind of like cheesy chips in England, but i'll pretty much hoover up any food that is in front of me. Anyway, you now know where cheesy chips originated from.

The next couple of days were filled with so much fun that I'm already reminiscing over good times. We were able to eat at a cool breakfast restaurant, where i had the nicest caramelised pear pancakes! There was practically a que of people outside waiting for tables to become free. After wondering around Montreal's various districts we ventured through parks as well as climbing up Mount Royal, where we was able to view over the entire city. Although the walk up killed, as we decided to take the more 'scenic route' which basically felt like a hike! And hiking in 25C+ weather was, lets just say 'an experience', but worth it! After spending the rest of the day wondering around Montreal's many attractions, the night ended with a meal and a Night out Montreal style!

Chinese Lantern Festival

The next day involved catching the metro (underground train system) to Montreal's Island where we rode bikes whilst appreciating the Montreal Skyline and good weather! The day then consisted of bike riding around the streets of montreal and visiting the Botanical Gardens, with close encounters with poisonous concussion causing plants and a bit of meditation in the Japanese gardens; well just sitting down and relaxing more like! The bike rides were really cool, as there are a number of stations around the city where you can rent a bike for $5 for 24 hours. All you have to do is make sure the bike is at a station every 30 minutes, which was fairly easy as the stations are everywhere. But one of the highlights of the day, was the visit to the Chinese lantern festival, which was wicked!! Overall the weekend was wicked and a definitely one of the many highlights of my  study abroad experience so far!

A common picturesque street in Montreal

Overall, good times all around!