Another late blog, but only because I was super pooped from my little vacation to Montreal and back. My punctuality for posting things on time is already terrible. Imagine how this reflects off my school stuff. Yikes.
Anyways, the ride to Montreal and back was stressful, but not as long as my usual trips there (I only went about two other times; and the first time I went by car, I don’t remember). It took about five hours and forty-five minutes. Both Tuna and I were bus-sick (perhaps him more than me). We were nearly late, so seats were hard to find. We ended up sitting at the very back, with no windows, and we couldn’t sit next to each other. Eventually, we arrived at Kingston, where some passengers arrived to their destination. Tuan and I decided to move to a two-seater and found a set not too far from where were sitting. We were just about settling down when this woman came up and told us we’re sitting in her seat. Honestly, what the fuck? No one’s psychic to know that her laptop bag is below the chair in front of where she was sitting, and there was nothing on the seat to indicate that two people were still sitting there. Luckily, there was another seat a little further up with nothing on it, so we sat there for the rest of the ride.
As we headed closer to Montreal, we noticed that the sky was becoming more grey, as if the clouds were ready to have diarrhea.
Take cover!
We arrived at about 2:45 pm, and were on a mission to find the subway and after journeying around Berri-UQAM, we found the sign reading “METRO.” We finally reached our hotel, after more struggle trying to figure out directions (it’s good to know that I’m dating someone who’s direction-literate than I am). We entered the hotel and relaxed for a while and tried searching up a few things. I was supposed to print out two restaurant/fast-food coupons so we can eat with a good price, but I had no access to a printer! After a long time of searching for libraries and finding ways to save the coupon, I used the Internet to redeem it through my phone because the coupon said it’s possible to do so either through mobile device or print.
Since we hardly ate (Tuna didn’t eat at all) on our way here, we went to Quickies, which was a fast-food place not too far from the hotel on rue Crescent (I called it Montreal’s Yorkville). I showed my coupon first to make sure we were able to redeem it on my phone, and out of the two employees there, one said we could. The coupon was $10 for $20 worth of food, so we ordered a medium pizza and really oily coleslaw. The man who said we can redeem the coupon left the store, and the man there had no idea how to redeem it, so Tuna ended up paying full price. I was quite upset, but I didn’t want to let it bother me because I was on vacation. The pizza was pretty good though, so no complaints. It definitely made up for the oily coleslaw. Gross.
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
We then headed to Pharmaprix (Shoppers’ Drug Mart) to look for graham crackers to build a gingerbread house... and other stuff. Sadly, we couldn’t find the graham crackers, so we couldn’t build the gingerbread house that night. However, just chilling at the hotel was cool too with cable and awesome wireless speed. Before we returned to the hotel, we stopped at Les 3 Brasseurs (The 3 Brewers) because Tuna was still hungry. Sadly, we didn't try their holiday promotion - a beer of which I forgot the name. However, we had our own booze back at the hotel.
The next morning, I woke up early to take a short walk along rue Crescent to look at this Indian restaurant Tuna wanted to eat at for Christmas Eve dinner. As I stepped out of the hotel, a blast of ice-cold air pinched my face and it felt like my nose was going to fall off. Thankfully, the new jacket that I sadly bought from TNA saved most of my body. As I reached the restaurant, I saw that the hours and menu were not posted at the store. I slowly walked back and realized that it felt colder, and the wind was stronger. I turned a bit too early when heading back to the hotel and passed another Indian restaurant called Le Taj. After Tuna woke up, we went to the (in my book, anyway) most awesome breakfast place ever that closed down in Toronto, Tutti Frutti Déjeuner. There was so much joy dancing around in my body when we entered. It was while we were at Tutti Frutti that I realized I couldn’t speak a word of French anymore since I hadn’t practiced it for nearly four years. The waitresses who served us were so adorable! I wanted to pinch their cheeks! The atmosphere was amazing as expected. I wish they kept the one on King street open.
Rating: 5/5 stars!
After we ate, we headed to downtown and walked around Eaton’s and Saint-Catherines. We couldn’t do much since it was -16 degrees and freezing. However, we noticed we saw three restaurant locations for Amir, and Tuna was able to find a Vietnamese restaurant. I stated that I wanted to take pictures of all the Amirs we saw: the one near rue Crescent, the one near Berri-UQAM, and the one in Eaton’s. On our way back to the hotel, I told him about the second Indian restaurant. We did our research to see what the menus were like and compared them. In the end, we chose Le Taj (well, I made Tuna choose since he wanted Indian food). The restaurant looked quite classy as we entered. It looked partially traditional, but with forks and knives. Fine-dining Indian food? Please, bud. We were born to eat with our hands. Although the service there wasn’t too disappointing, apparently one of the waiters had given Tuna “a look.” I tried to figure out who it was, and became very confused. The food was quite average too... a bit too average for its price. For instance, the butter chicken there was $20.00. We can get it for $10.00, and better-tasting. The vegetable naan was delicious, and of course, the samosas are always so, so good! The tandoori chicken was pretty dry, so I took the rest as take-out. I wanted to take it home and butter it up, and make it moist.
“Have a good evening,” one of the younger waiters said. I thanked him. When he left, Tuna told me he was the one who gave him “the look” and pointed out that he only spoke to me. And this is why I hate many South Asian people. Absolutely rude and judgemental! Thanks to the waiter, and the dry tandoori chicken;
Rating: 3.5/5 stars!
We headed straight back to the hotel because it was getting even colder. I had the heating on full blast and didn’t feel a thing, but Tuna said it was too hot. And then he lowered the temperature. After watching TV, dancing around, a couple of drinks, and more dancing around, we called it a night (at 4:00 am) and hit the hay.
Our check out time on Christmas day was 12:00 pm, so I had to force someone to wake up as it neared 11:30 am. My stuff was already packed, and I was ready to go, and we finally left the hotel. As we stepped out, white flakes were dropping from the sky. It was good to know that the clouds weren’t constipated in Montreal, allowing a white Christmas. This just topped one of the most relaxing weekends in a long time. We travelled back to Berri-UQAM, visiting Tutti Frutti for the last time this year. I ordered “les crêpes du Père Noël,” which were four chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes topped with fruits! We did take-out, and the server remembered us from the lunch before.
She. Was. So. CUTE! Gah...