(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!
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!
3 comments:
Wow, I think you just met your soul mate, Paul has 1/2 the collection of Tin Tin as a kid, and we just stopped by a tin tin store in SF this afternoon. The really spooky part is both of you like Harry Potter. Now that I don't get.
Paul will be jealous of this - I have the whole collection of Tin Tin and half of the collection I have them in both Chinese and English versions!!!!
Tin Tin was my first hero - I think I was only 10 at the time and how I wish I had Snowy as my dog!!!!
Harry Potter - now now, what's not to like!? ^_^
uhhh, okay... anyvei, I know, don't girls in Quebec look different too? They look totally French and not at all similar to their overfed & over tanned neighbors. But I actually bumped into a lot of beggers in Quebec. All these teenagers would see you and pull out their hats/baseball caps and start begging. It was actually a bit disturbing really.
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