Whole trip Montreal 28.12.16-05.01.17

30. December

As our hosts from AirBnb were so nice to invite us to their new years eve party directly after booking.We gladly excepted because we first wanted to go to a public party downtown but the weatherforecast predicted around minus 14 degrees and it would have been a really big party, so it would have taken long to get home with all the people on the streets.

We looked for a nice store where again the food is not that expensive, we found a store which was really nice with much of selections and a huge variety of fruits and vegetables. But we just looked around and then kept on going to the park (Notre-Dames-des-Neiges)and hill (Mont-Royal ca 233m hoch) in Montreal from where you could see the whole city. It was a nice but cold walk as we had very strong and cold wind which blew the top of the “fluffy” snow in our faces. It snowed the last 24 hrs so the snow was like 30-40 cm high. In the park there were multiple people doing cross country skiing, jogging, going down the hills with their sleighs and ice-skating on the frozen lakes.

On Mont-Royal there was the Chalet du Mont-Royal which was just a big room surrounded by glass windows with a few usual tables and chairs (including deck chairs), a small room with benches, tables and vending machines and even a microwave. A small souvenir store was located in one corner.

It was a cold day, but the snowy nature and the view over the city was impressive.

After our long walk we went to Dollarama and the nice grocery store to buy all the ingredients for the pizza rolls we wanted to prepare for the new years eve party.

Happy to be home we enjoyed our evening with more potato soup for Jannik and I made my protein-banana pancakes and of course the pizza dough needed to be made.

31. December 2016

After the day yesterday Anna decided that her 10 year old boots cannot keep up with this cold weather anymore, so we have to go shopping again for some boots and some ski pants, it's still boxing week so we might be able to find some good deals at La Cordée where we also bought Janniks stuff. So 2 hrs shopping again. Found some good deals so we can go home, rest a little in preparation for the big party, going downstairs at around 8 o'clock PM. It was a really fun party with a lot of nice, friendly people... last ones left at 5 AM :)

01. January 2017

We got up just shortly before noon, then helped to clean up and then had a long research for our next trip. First we thought flying to Winnipeg was not only fast but compared to the other options (rail, Greyhound bus) the cheapest one as well, but just before clicking on “confirm booking” we discovered a sentence in small writing that said “you'll be charged $1088”. Luckily we read this before clicking the button because that was around $300-400 more than what it showed us before, so we had to do some more research. Turns out that taking the bus was the cheapest option. We had a little fight and I was really upset because we ended up booking everything kinda last minute again and we still had to get some information because there was no bus departure on the 3rd of Jan, only on the 5th, which meant we had to book another room in Montreal for 2 more nights (3rd-05th Jan). It was the most beautiful weather outside: clear blue sky, bright sun, and shiny white snow. We ended up going for a walk to St. Laurent Blvd, not sure if anything was open but anyway going for a walk and trying to enjoy the last sunbeams was nice. So we went along and were happy to find a nice café to warm up because the sun was gone and it got a little colder. We sat down, talked, and treated ourselves with a hot chocolate and a coffee (ea 4 $). Due to the cold and dark weather, we changed the plan to go to the waterside and went home instead.

02. January 2017

Today we booked our trip to Winnipeg: 37 hrs bus ride on Greyhound bus. That'll be fun =) and also the two extra nights in Montreal. Now we finally managed to go to the waterside, and luckily the weather was blue, bright, and white again. A nice trip to the old port, passing through the vieux Montréal with all their beautiful buildings which we also haven't seen yet. At the old port, I laid down on a bench in the sun and fell asleep because the warm sunshine covered my face.

03. January 2017

Today we did something awesome: after breakfast, we grabbed our camera and went to the park to feed squirrels with peanuts and as you can see in the pictures. They were really trusting, and so many of them came to get some nuts. They even came on our lap, some stayed there to eat, and all of them were really gentle with taking the food out of our hands. Well, with me, they were friendly and gentle, but when it was Jannik's turn, one bit him a little.

Unfortunately, it started raining. At first, we didn't really care because we were busy with the squirrels and it was a cute diversion. But after a while, it got really cold, so we left to go to that charming café again (Coffee and HoCho) and stayed for around 2 hrs, then went home to get our things and go by subway to the other Airbnb apartment, which was a little out of town. The first time we spent money on subway tickets. The way took longer than expected because last night the snow was melting and then it got cold again, so the sidewalks were really slippery. We had to be careful not to fall down with our backpacks.

4th Jan

And once again, let's enjoy the snowy world outside and go for a walk and, of course, again - SHOPPING, because when there's a 36-hour bus ride coming up combined with Jannik's ability and need to eat, you can imagine that you need to be prepared, especially if you don't want to spend much money.

So we went to the botanical garden which was close to our apartment, it's a huge park with a Chinese and Japanese garden, which are supposed to be really pretty in winter as well. Unfortunately, they were closed due to constructions. But anyway, the huge park offered a lot of space to walk, for example, in the “Alps” and on the walkways or off the paths through deep snow in between large, snow-covered, beautiful fir-trees. The sky was a little cloudy and grey, but soon the sun came out and sunbeams made their way through the treetops.

Unfortunately, we had to leave the park after only 2 hours because some errands needed to be done:

printing the bus tickets, grocery shopping, and preparing all the food for the upcoming day.

We had a semi-nice walk through, of course, still deep snow to go to the stores. Which took us again longer than expected, as we not only had to watch out for slippery spots under the snow but also had to be aware not to walk so close to the streets.

Muddy dirty snow on the streets combined with fast cars is not that good for pedestrians.

We aimed for Canadian Tire to look for some travel mugs to take hot tea, coffee, or soup with us, hoping to find a nice store with a good selection of fruit and vegetables, and across the street, we found one - an Arabian. So all in all, it was pretty successful. Walking home would have been nice but would also take about an hour. Fate also wanted us to take the bus - while running the last errands, the snowfall and the wind were getting heavier, so we took the bus.

In the evening, we spent around 1 hour in the kitchen, cooking, eating, and of course packing the backpacks.

5th January:

Getting up at 5 AM to get ready and be on time for the bus. Better a little too early than too late :)