Montreal Post Day 2.

So after the first day, we decided to go to many different places. Actually, we wanted to know what Dennis' group was doing. We found out where his group was staying and went to their apartment building. It was not that far, but it still took 5-10 minutes of driving to get there. It may seem far, but we were driving along inner streets, so that limited our speed quite a bit. When we got there, I felt that their hotel was nice, a lot of things were 'inclusive' but ours was still better in terms of location in my opinion. They were upstairs in the gym, to which I wonder why theywere in Montreal at all. They told us that they were going to stay and not have lunch with us. They were still 'full' from the complementary continental breakfast and didn't want to shell out too much for lunch. Jeff still promise to come, if just to see people.

So we went to lunch, and the other group came. We talked for a bit and ate our lunches. I ordered a double hamburger. It was good, but could I really justify the 14 dollars it cost? Not really. So while it was a decent place, it was too expensive to be considered good. Afterwards, we decided to go to the Bio-dome. It was around 2:30 at this point.

When we got to the Bio-dome, it was 3:30. It closes at 5 so we had very little time. The ticket seller assured us that it wouldn't take that long for us to see everything. So we
decided to go around and check each of the sections out as fast as possible. We saw the tropical rainforest. The Canadian wetlands and surroundings. We then saw the aquariums which were awesome. And then there were the penguins. During this time, we were supposed to rendevous with the other group, but they were quite slow. Anyways, here's some pictures:















A small flamingo like bird.



















Val playing on slide, like a kid!















Look. Penguins DO lay eggs.














"Sir, please let us have some breeding females." "No."

After this, we were supposed to have a dinner reservation for around 7:00. SInce it was only 5:00, we decided to do something else. As we really didn't know what to do, we decided to go Bowling. So we took out the handy GPS of Val's and decided to look for a bowling alley. The problem was that there were only two locations. The one we knew existed for sure was on the other side of the island. So we drove to the one stated by the GPS. When we passed it, we had no luck.

We found another one that the GPS did not list immediately and set out for that. After keeping our eyes peeled around us for any sign of a bowling alley, I remembered how Newtonbrook's Bowlerama was located underground and I found it just as we passed it. We went downstairs only to find out it was a 5 pin place, which we did not want to go to. It was after finding this alley that we realized that Salon de Quilles means bowling alley in French. So we sought to find another bowling alley, only this time, we use the term Salle de Quilles as the term to search. We found another one in the GPS, and set out for it. We went up and down PieIX quite a few times.

After driving for a while, we decided to ask for directions. We had to stop at a Shell and ask for directions. As we were in the no english territory of the city, we had to ask Sameer to ask for directions. When he went in, we drove a bit off and parked somewhere else so that it seemed like we ditched him. We did see Sameer run out and look in bewilderment, but only for a moment, because he spotted usright away, even though it was dark and we were sandwiched in between two cars.

The station keeper did know of another place, but it was a bit ways off, and he didn't know if it was still there. We drove to the intersection he said it was on, but we couldn't find it. We parked, and we went inside a McDonalds to ask, but they had no clue what we were talking about. Even with Sameer's French, we had to beg for a retreat.
So we decided to go to one last one that the GPS system stated. After driving around there, I was the one that spotted it again. This time, in the basement of an apartment building. So Eric takes the professional bowling ball and gloves that he has in the back of the trunk and we head down. Lo and behold, we find a ten pin bowling alley. However, it is still with the small balls. We decided to either bowl there or try to ask the owner whether he knows where we can find one with normal sized balls. This was because it was already 7 and we planned to eat dinner by 8. We opted for the latter option. We asked in broken french, and he gave us directions. We left and searched again.

One thing we noticed was that there was always a SQA when we were looking for a salle de quilles. The SQA was the local alcohol committee, similar to our LCBO. Anyways, after another 20 minutes of driving, we finally saw our 'Holy Grail'. It was a Laurentian bowling alley. Eric took out his professional bowling ball and gloves and we each had two games. I averaged above 100, so it was pretty good.




















Eric teaching Val how to grip the ball properly.

Afterwards, we decided to head back to the Hotel first and get something to eat. We were already pretty late and the others had opted to eat without us. We decided to let Sameer lead us to something to eat. However, he did not eat with us because he needed to go have Shisha with the other group since they didn't arrive till today. We got to a Thai place called Thai express. However, they did not take visa, so Val did not want to eat there. We went next door to an Italian place called Boucarries or something like that. Nothing on the menu really appealed to us. Sameer saw some of his old roommates, which were all pretty good looking girls. Dang, I wish I lived in a townhouse with these girls. Anyways, so we decided to bail on this Italian place. As we walked down the street, I vetoed all the souvlaki places because cheese usually doesn't agree with me very well. So we walked back for the CIBC. I needed some cash since I was completely out. Val did the same thing. Sameer parted ways with us at this point, to meet up with the other people. We decided to go down his path to see if we could find any better restaurants. After walking for another 20 minutes and using the GPS, we had no luck. It was 10 oclock, and most restaurants were closed. We passed by some weird Italian place and a club like thing. We passed by a bar or two with nice menus and then we saw the Shisha group with Sameer leading the way. They looked surprised to see us. We explained our situation and we just decided to go in to that bar. We sat down. It was pretty deserted and there was hardly anyone there. When he asked what we want, we decided to order food. It was only then that he told us that the kitchen has closed since 9. The only thing we could get were drinks. We decided against that and set out in the cruel cold world once more.

We met the other group again, and they were laughing at us at this point. Oh well. WE decided to walk back to the Thai place. Took us another 20 minutes, but we made it. I ordered the pad thai while the rest order General Thai's chicken (a variant of General Tso's) and fried rice. It wasn't bad, but the cooks were distinctively Cantonese. I heard them speak it. Their system of cooking was interesting. Everything was organized in small bowls and it was an assembly line process. One mans the cashier. The other picks out the ingrediants while 2 cooks were always cooking out dishes. It was fresh, quick and delicious.

So after eating, we decided to buy alcohol from the supermarket. It was before 11 so it was okay. I got Unibrowe's collection beer. 12 assorted beers while Eric got Labatt Blue. We drank some from mine, which was weird. There was one that had 9% alcohol called "The End of the World". That was interesting. By this time, it was already around 1. The others were at Foufon Electronique and we decided to go as well. We flagged a cab and it took us around 15 minutes to get there. After getting there, we find out that most of them went home, but Sameer and two others were still there. So we went back to Foufon and sat for a while. Val and I decided to head back as it was late and so we hoofed it home. Took us another 30 minutes, and then we went to bed for an ending to a good day in Montreal.

Day 3 will be posted later.

I guess its time for me to sleep. Good night and sweet dreams, my Valkyrie.