out and about

So much to see

Chinatown was small, but very chinatown-ish. I got some cool rip off vercace sunglasses, and saw a pikachu. Can you pick it out?



After that I bummed around vieux Montreal. It was to touristy. To many Montreal T-shits, and expensive jewelery. Not really my style. What was my style, was the Cathedral Notre-Dame. It was not anything i expected. It's massive. Inside there are 2 Halls. the first one was Baroque looking. There were candles that you light to pray for some one... or something, not to sure how the Catholics do it. There were historic art pieces hanging in front of alters used to prey for different souls that have been punished in different ways... i think. My favorite was Purgatory
There was a lot of Jesus. and This guy

Really high and intricate ceilings
Then i got a bite to eat and read "le Journal de Montreal"
There was a fire. It was massive. It destroyed the street and cars.
They also complain about the Photo Radar, just like we do in Winnipeg

What a tourist

Chantal and I took the Metro to Mont Royal. We had fun

Have you ever seen Role Models? This is what was happening at the park... People were play fighting! They had Valiant armor, and big fake swords, and... well they looked like nerds. the lot of them young and old (I'm talking 30's 40's). It was a riot.

We continued up the mountain. A nice slow stroll, people watching.

Saw something magically floating

This leaf was hanging by a thread. a spiders thread

And we made it. top of the mountain

Where I had to use the bathroom

Dog days

I cant handle my stupid absent minded-ness
it has cost me much to much money
I left my blackberry sitting beside me at a pub
they played punk rock
I-left-it-there

Shit.


As for work, work was actually: fun, interesting, fast, French, English, and spidery. The two people I worked with were really good people, and quite nice. Justin: English speaking, also works at a restaurant down the street from where I am staying, thought that ginger ale was gingin in french (it is actually gin gembre (sp?)). Serge: French speaking, grows veggies at a community garden (also close to where I stay), and makes a great tuna spread with those home grown veggies, was mistakenly heard saying fuckass by Justin(he actually said forecast). Many spiders attacked me from many angles.

It is so humid here. I both love it and hate it. So we went swimming

Night out.... Sorta

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Jobs

Allllll right
I got a job
I will be painting stair cases
it should be fun
and hot
so very humid and hot

heres to living in montreal like a poor man
Cheers

Some leads

I have a few job leads:
Landscaping
Table bussing a few nights (i'm really hoping they call about this one)
House keeping
Selling wristbands, hats, etc at pride.

Yes. Fierté is the 18th in Montreal
Je suis très chanceux pour êtes ici pour quelques raison
Quite lucky

My days have been quite slow tho, what with this cold.
Just walking and biking around

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Writing home

You know... There is not to much to write home about. I've been semi-actively looking for a job for the few weeks i am here. I seem to be low on cash. It would be a novelty to work tho... I need some direction. And what will i do when i move here? I certainly cannot stay rent free at Chantals forever.

*Chantal scoffs at the idea*

No one can.
I see that bigger cities are harder to get by in. The bottom here is a lot more below sea level than it is in Winnipeg.

This International pancake house serves add water pancake mix
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Its a very pretty city
With lots of strange little things
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Factory of strange beautiful

There are lots of these
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Home for a few weeks

This is the view from Chantal and Ed's (Chantals BF) balcony. Its a super nice place. I even get my own room.

I have to figure some things out. My bike has not yet arrived, hopefully it comes in today. I might want to cycle east.

Happy to be in Montreal
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Cold

Did I mention that I have one?
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I'd hate to let you all down

Unfortunately I will not be cycling anymore. I'm at my wits end, I'm running out of insulin, and I hurt my ankle.



Sunday morning was okay. I got up and slowly packed up as it started to spit on me. I knew it was going to rain but was unsure of how much, which really bothered me. As I was leaving I thought it would be nice to talk to my mum, so I attempted a call only to find that my service was "temporarily disconnected"; I was redirected and found out that my long distance charges were running me somewhere around $300. Bummer. Had to pay. Running out of money.



By the time I got to talking to my mum I was pretty upset... And it was raining.



I peddled and I peddled to the next town, Mattawa.

Mattawa is beautiful. I suggest you go there. It is small in a sort of valley, with beautiful green hills/mountains(?) 360 degrees around. Where I arranged a bus ticket to Montreal. There was a lot of trouble with that considering I needed a bike box.



After figuring everything out, I needed to find somewhere to eat, and somewhere to leave my things. I rolled up to the Moon Cafe, where I had an awesome greek salad and told the owner about my day. She instantly told me to stay there pack up my bike, and that she would bring me to the station when they closed up. Awesome, right? No... It got better! Her son, Loren, was coming back in from north bay with his friends, and she wanted them to meet me. After meeting I was invited to their cast party. They had just finished up a musical they had put together in North Bay. 42nd street. It was great. Sing-a longs by the fire will never be the same, there is nothing better than broadway show tunes by the fire.



A guy from the party, luke, was also catching the 230 bus to Ottawa. So we got a ride to the station. There was only 1 seat left on the bus so I let Luke have it because he had to work the next day. Went back to Loren's Folks. Slept. Got the next bus in the afternoon today. Where I write this entry.



!!MONTREAL!!

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Meals in folding dinner ware

Can of soup
Can of tuna with garlic and salt
Cup of coffee (water not yet boiled)

This place is so beautiful. I went for a swim, and a bike ride (why?). Now I will eat this meal by the stream.

Le sigh
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Nice site

Wow. This camp is beautiful. When I paid for the night I thought I might choke and die, but then I decided it was worth it when I got here.

These photos are of the site. Right by the water. Totally enclosed. Saaweeeeet
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No justice

The bb cam doesn't do this image justice
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Ahhh, so fresh

Clean clothes are awesome
Now I don't smell like a dirty vagrant

I'm off to Samuel De Champlain Provincial Park where I will camp. It took me just about forever to find the number (google has its limits) to reserve a site.

I'm eager to get there. Should be beautiful.
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New tires!!!

North Bay is not sooo bad.
The tires are great. They just might even be better than what I had.
After all was said and done it was almost dark so I had to get a hotel. I'm staying at the Northgate Inn. Its right on the lake and not too pricey. Its friday and I'm not sure if I want to be traveling on the weekend. There is however a campsite in the city, or like 40k away? I'm not sure. In any case, I'm quite excited to hit the road.

Please oh please. Let me have some good luck
No more stupidity on my side.
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Tires

I
Have
No
Tires
(The whole tire)
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What are these?

Sudbury is ugly
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Bikes and busses

I'm still not sure about the tires.
The driver told me to forget about it

There is this mammoth of a girl who just got on this bus
Obnoxious, annoying, and she keeps looking at me

I'm tired and cranky. I want off this bus.
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Busses

There are a lot of good people on the bus.
Many tree planters, lowly travelers, and young people like myself.
Many interesting stories,
And it seems everyone wants to hear mine, too.

I foresee only one problem when I arrive in North Bay:
I don't remember the guy from Canadian Tire packing my tires. This may cause me a lot of grief.

So 9 AM central time, I need to call Canadian Tire in Kenora and ask them to Ship my tires to North bay via grey hound... If they can't, I will be coming back.

I'm sure you can imagine me; taking this like water under the bridge. I'm having a lot of trouble keeping it in.
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Something you don't see in Winnipeg

Rocks

Lots of rocks

Placed strategically; like Martha Stewart walked in and softly said how nice it would be to have a great big red boulder sitting on the shore with a few scattered smaller ones.

Somehow they got there, long ago, and it just works so damn well.

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Blueberry pancakes

We picked blueberries for... Pancakes!
Yup pancakes for breakfast tomorrow

After that I'll be off to Kenora. Check it out and see what its all about. I'll need to find somewhere to sleep the night though, I'm a little worried about that. Hopefully Shane will let me crash on his couch.

Wish me luck folks
I hope I won't need it
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What it should be

Not an ideal summer. But what a holiday should be like

When I woke up this morning it was raining sheets. There was a grey haze across the lake, and a thundering sound on the roof. Willie, cool guy, lost his boat. It drifted off some time in the night, so him and julie went to find it in the thick weather.

They found it

We relaxed
Canoed
And.... Well we drank. A lot

Tomorrow I'm off to Kenora and my endeavor truly begins.

Wish me luck folks.
Wish me luck to the beginning of the rest of my life.
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Mohito

This place is beautiful
I don't really have to much to say
.

There are no flapjacks on the open road

Needless to say... I slept in
I ended up getting on the road around 10ish. Within 2 minutes I had sprung a leak in my front tire. It wasn't such a big deal, I just had to much stuff. So the Wonderful Josh came to my rescue and lightened the load. It was great for a while after that. Not to much traffic and a few fellow cyclist asked what I was up to. To I told. Once I reached the long and winding number 1, I was hassled by many flats. Many. Once I reached my last patch I phoned up the Amazing Josh. Josh left work. Got new great tires, tubes and once again he came to my rescue.

Needless to say, I love my new tires

Unfortunately, the whole ordeal cost me about 4 hours (this doesn't include waking up super late). I am nowhere near my destination. So I thought I would camp. No big deal, right? Wrong. I passed the last one. The next one Is pretty close to destination Val's cabin. Crap. So I just keep going. And hope for the best.

Then

I spot a wolf

A Hungry, mean, fast, ferocious, king of the highway; wolf.

A car stops. A nice car. I think it was benz... But all sporty. the man and the woman tell me that they came back around to see if I was okay. They were worried, "that wolf was coming right at you, it looks like it's hunting". So some stupid city folk freak me out and I let it get to me (by the way, the wolf was not hungry, not for me anyway).

Val is now picking me up.

I feel lame

I lost already

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