Parlez-vous anglais?

(Do you speak English?) My french got a rocky start in Montreal. We arrived by train from Quebec last night and as soon as I jumped on the taxi I told the driver we are going to o-tel deez-nerf si-e-klu (Hotel XIX Siecle - which means 19th century) and the driver gave me a blank look. I said again 'o-tel deez-nerf si-e-klu?' And he gave me an even blanker look. I was not sure if the hotel was simply not famous enough of it was my french. I think - definitely my french.

And then the driver tried in english 'English name?' Excited, I said 'Hotel 19th century!' He shot another confused look and said 'Ah ah, on BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH (french sounding street name must be)?' I was like 'Do I look like I have a clue?' Nelson kept saying 'you got it? you got it?' Anyway the driver started driving anyway and within 10 dollars we safely got to the hotel but that really dampered my adventure spirit a little.

The negative-ness stopped right there though and I now declare Montreal a GREAT city. The reason being? Well I went shopping today and everything that fits me are size small, small, and SMALL!!! How good is this city?!

We got up at 10.45am today, 15 min before the breakfast closes (so tired - the red eye flight to Quebec really killed both Nelson and I - not doing it again) and as soon as breakfast was done I came back to the room for another cat nap.

After the nap, I finally felt like I had the energy to venture out and we went out and explore Old Montreal on foot (Vieux-Montreal however you want to pronounce it) and it was lovely. Comparing to Quebec, Montreal is much more 'real' (no wonder it has the word 'real' in its name). I mean, Quebec city was just amazingly picturistique -everywhere looks like a postcard. There were maple trees, cherry trees (with blossoms all over), castle-like buildings, cobble-stoned streets, but it feels very much like a movie set. To me it is pretty much a town existed only for tourists. Whereas in Montreal you see a lot of locals hanging out and surprisingly seems like much fewer people speak fluent English (I expected the opposite).

I went to a few interesting looking boutiques and there are all these beautiful clothes (yes they do look very french - like skirt with pants underneath but with just one trunk so you still get to show one leg, glow in the dark ballet flats, plus lots of things with feathers on). The best thing is that they look like they are made for giantesses and the shoes look like little dingies. Everything I tried on had to be small and smaller! I did end up buying a dress (size small!) and a couple of skirts (smalls too!) - I mean, how could I not?! The bad news was that shoes are totally out of the question but the good news was that I have shopped up my shoe quota back in Las Vegas.

Being surrounded by the chic clothes and all the beautiful looking french speaking shop girls and all the weird sizing gave me this delusion that I am chic and french too and I almost bought this mini-smock dress that was not only bright-green but also so short that you can almost see my bum. The shop girl suggested the leggings-underneath the look, 'veeth silverr ballet flaats, you vill look sooo faboooolus!' I was like whole-heartly going for it and this is the good thing about bring your husband along to shopping, behind the mirror I saw Nelson reading his book on the couch and I suddenly realised that I am asian and not really that cool and if I bought that smock dress it would forever be hanging in my closet laughing at my total delusion 'you really sink you veire flench? sink again!'.

Anyway I was really happy with my seemly normal but all size small purchases anyway and we came back to the hotel to freshen up (also so I could change into my newbies) and went to this Belgium restaurant called 'Petit Moulinsprat'. Few people know about this but I am a huge Tin Tin fan and Moulinsprat is the mansion where Tin Tin, Captin Haddock, Professor Calculus, and dog Snowy live. I was expecting waiters dressing up as Nestor (Captin Haddock's butler) walking about but that was another delusion of mine. Neverthless, the food was GREAT and lovely atmosphere too.

After dinner we went to the Notre Dame Basilica for the sound and light show. The show introduced the history of Montreal and the different design stages of the church. It was lovely. A bit annoying though that people kept using their flash lights to take photos during the show. It was a light show for crying out loud!

Anyway Nelson and I can still speak no french apart from 'bon-zyur' and 'mair-see' but guess what - we could totally order food from a 100% french menu now. Its so easy: boerf is beef, oerf is egg, fromage is cheese, creme brulee is creme brulee and mousse is mousse and if you go with boerf you can do no wrong! Come to think of it, even when we are back in Sydney, I often dont understand 100% of the menu anyway - sad.

ps. I had to wash clothes in the bathtub again - that is ONE part of travelling I definitely dont like!

High Life in Sin City

Due to foresee-able but uncontrollable reason (major conventions in Las Vegas during our stay), I ended up booking a really expensive (to my standard anyway) hotel for our stay ($470 per night) - The Signature at MGM Grand, everything cheaper was sold out.

This is one of those hotels where the staffs see you they stop and bow (no kidding!) and they treat you like celebrities (with the price I am paying they better anyway). When our taxi pulled into the front gate a security guy came to check on our ID's and let us in - I have never stayed at anywhere with a locked front door, seriously. And then all the stopping and bowing started. To be honest, I am kind of used to it now!

Our room has a balcony and nice view to the famous Las Vegas strip. There is two plasma TVs, one in the lounge and the other in the bathroom! The other night I was washing our clothes in the jacuzzi (yes we have our own jacuzzi too and obviously I couldnt afford the celebrity priced laundry service provided by the hotel) I had the TV on and by the end of my laundry session my neck was so sore but I do love having the TV in the bathroom!

This morning we went to chill out by the pool. There are 5 swimming pools and a man made pool-river with a slight current. Nelson did the Hollywood thing and sunbathed by the pool and I went in to the river and swam along. It was actually quite confusing as the river was more than 1 mile long with waterfalls, tropical plants, and different themes here and there and I was never quite sure where I needed to get off to go back to Nelson. And every time I realised I overshot I had to go around the circle again as the current was too strong for me to swim against it. There were quite a few really hot chicks and I also saw some mafia looking men talking seriously in their sun loungers - they really dont look like the pool type but all their blings but they all have really hot girls with them.

We did the famous buffet at Paris (another casino) for lunch and had a walk along the strip before catching a magic show for the evening. In true celebrity style we even sat on the first row! Although Lance Burton didnt choose me to go up to the stage for the 'sawing you into halves' trick. I tried to think that I am too tall cos he picked this tiny tiny Japanese girl but maybe I am just too fat! Oh who wants to go up stage anyway?! Well I do!!!

Well life is actually pretty cool in the sin city. I guess the only sin we committed was that we havent been getting enough sleep! Every day finishes at like 2am but there seems to be so much to do and so much to see!

It is outlet shopping day tomorrow before we start a long drive to LA and fly the red eye to Quebec (man - I bought a French phase book back in Sydney and havent read A word!). I hope I shop up a storm - I havent been doing anywhere near well in that perspective!

Some people go cycling for fun?

Honestly, I wish I could stay in San Francisco for a bit longer to enjoy more the great city has to offer. But I want a refund from Lonely Planet - it recommend this bike tour that goes to Golden Gate Bridge from Fisherman's Wharf - no no I havent finished yet, and then over the bridge, to Sausalito (all downhills from here), and take the ferry back - 8 miles (13km) of easy biking and beautiful scenery and million dollar photo opportunites. Piece of Cake! Right? Wrong.

This is one of those 'conditions apply' great tours. To be fair, the scenery is more than a million dollars, not to mention you can stop any time you want for photos, unlike when you drive (and I stopped for more than 'any time I want'). It is probably more my own problem as I am so unfit but I am saying that I am not going on a bike for at least one year.

First couple of miles doesnt come with any clear instructions. So we kept on going into weird little marinas and coming out and 'share the road' with huge american cars. I will probably be more sensitive to cyclists next time back in Sydney cos if they are like me -they have no idea where they are going.

Next one mile is truly rewarding - there were a bit of going uphill but nothing I couldnt manage (although struggling) and you could see both the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and San Francisco downtown in the background. It was great.

Then came the really interesting part. There was this at least 2 miles of next-to-the beach bike tracks. It is all flat, FLAT. However what they dont tell you in Lonely Planet is that when it is westerly wind the wind can be so strong that it actually pushes your bike backwards. Honestly if I didnt move I would have been back in Fishermans Wharf in 15 minutes. I paddled against the wind, cursing under my breathe, tried to take in the million dollar ocean view and did my best not to 'lose' Nelson (he was paddling like a mile in front of me probably whistling at the same time).

Just when I was sighing with relief finding out that the beach part was over - bam the track started going uphill, steep uphill, to, I dont know, you can imagine how high up Golden Gate Bridge would have been. Part of it I actually had to get off the bike and walk and dragged my damn bike with me. I told myself that I was working out some different muscle groups but I really wished I just walked this 8 mile not trying to be cool and ride a bike.

Okay - now we were on the mighty Golden Gate Bridge. Nelson and I even high-fived each other but the wind was so strong I soon found myself struggling against the wind again. There were also these showy 'real' cyclists kept by-passing me and giving me a heart attack at the same time (I couldnt hear them as I was wearing a beanie with ear flaps - I would rather stay warm than alive you know!). Again the scenery from the bridge is breath-taking - not that I had much to be taken away though.

Finally, we got off the bridge and according to the book - now it is all 'downhill' to Sausalito. True or False? True. However again what the book doesnt tell you is that it is so downhill that you go down in like 80km per hour speed not being able to control your bike while sharing the road with huge american cars and if you wear a beanie with ear flaps you cant even hear the huge american cars. At this time my bums hurt so much they are killing me and I was clutching both my brakes real tight and screaming inside and I almost 'jumped' for joy when I saw the ferry but oh on - it looks like it is about to leave! So Nelson at the front (to his credit he always stopped to wait for me after a while otherwise I would probably still be riding the damn bike trying to come back to Fisherman's Wharf right now) and me at the back we raced to the ferry and just made it.

That's it, right? Wrong again! What Lonely Planet also doesnt tell you, is that the ferry does not always go to Pier 41 (we are suppose to return the bike somewhere near Pier 43). It dropped us off at, okay, guess, no really, guess - Pier Number 1!!!!! So with the concern that my bums are actually falling off my hips we marched on our little bikes (oh - I forget to note that the chain fell off after the 1st mile and I had to put it back in) and we had 15 minutes to make it to the shop before it closed at 7pm.

At the end of the day - we made it and my bums are still intact (probably got a bit flatter though) and I would actually recommend the tour to my friends. But hey if you want to do it give yourself a WHOLE day okay!

So last night we went to the famous 'Crab House' for dinner as a reward. We had mussels for entree and crabs for main. Wow -it was really really yummy, not your usual tourist food, I even had some beer. But my legs were so sore I almost didnt make it to the restaurant.

Today we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium - it is two hours drive from San Francisco but really worth the trip. The sea otters are sooooo cute. I wish I could give them a pat and give them some love but they are just pretty faces - if I really reach my hand out they wouldnt hesitate biting my fingers off! I also saw sunfish for the first time in my life. Man they are the ugliest fish I have ever seen. And they are really huge - like those American cars but I just couldnt take my eyes off them! They are just amazingly ugly but extremely graceful in a way - definitely not self-conscious these fish you know?

For a late dinner we went to Chinatown and had congee. I was a little bit concerned cos we were driving a very flashy car. Avis has run out of their 'normal' cars so they gave us this unbelievably big navy blue Lincoln Town Car. It is really long and has a booth that makes you feel like it used to carry dead bodies. And I felt like a first lady sitting in there! Okay - the truth is - we look really weird in that car but oh it is so comfy! My friend Han and Paul are going to be shocked when we pick them up at Fresno Airport tomorrow! Well everyone deserves to feel a million dollars from time to time isnt it.

ps. I am all chowdered out - no more chowder for me.

My Chowder Dream

I have been wanting to have clam chowder at Fisherman's Wharf since 1993. I went there for the first time summer 94 and because I was with a tour - we had very limited time to go eat everything that looks delicious. My friends and I ended up having steamed crabs instead. Although that was really pretty good, I told myself that I was going to come back to Fisherman's Wharf again and have one big clam chowder in a sourdough 'bowl'.

I went to San Francisco the second time in summer 99. Again we went to Fisherman's Wharf for some touristy stuff. Unforunately none of my travel companions were the gourmet type and we ended up having MacDonald's. That was not even remotely good - I told myself that next time when I come back to Fisherman's Wharf I am determined to come with a like-minded company and we will go have clam chowder.

Between that and now I got married and my husband Nelson is similarily a seafood fan. We flied into San Francisco this afternoon (after a flight delay of 2 hours) and after checking into our hotel we straight away went out to Pier 39 hoping to fultill my decade long dream. We ended up having dinner at this place called Bubba Gump Shrimps. We ordered this 'shrimper's heaven' which has sauted shrimps, tempura shrimps, chilly shrimps and coconut shrimps. They were really yummy but now I am all shrimped out! I did order a bowl of chowder but it comes in a ceremic bowl. So - have to have more chowder tomorrow. Well we are in San Francisco for 3 nights - I am pretty sure my dream will come true.

I lost my shopaholic genes

Obviously I havent blogged for too long - took me a while to recall my user name. Anyway - it is day 2 in San Diego. Han and her fiance Paul took us to Palm Spring for some very healthy outlet shopping today. Geez the mall was big - I almost started to hyperventilate seeing all the shops and people and I was kicking myself for not getting up earlier (got up at 12pm - blame it on jet lag or that Han's bed was too comfortable - I guess we have made up all the loss of sleep on the plane).

I did really well (or badly) considering that we didnt leave the outlet until 9pm. I only bought a pair of miu miu pumps and a pair of shorts. It was Nelson who shopped up a storm. Two pairs of jeans, two t-shirts, 6 pairs of socks and a pair of Nike Plus. I think I might have passed on my shopaholic genes to my husband...

Anyway - it's only day two so I have got plenty of time to impulse purchase. My calves were actually really sore - what a work out!

We went to the infamous In-N-Out for dinner. The only reason that I know of this place was that Kristie Alley was snapped by some papparazi having a big cheese burger (and looking slobby and fat and miserable). Well it is quite amazing cos they only have 3 different types of burgers but they really are quite yummy. (Nelson went for 2nd serve)

Well that's it for the day. Hopefully I will get up a bit earlier tomorrow morning...