Day 28 was showery day in Toronto and with all our local compadres heading back to work we didn't have much planned for the daytime. We decided to have a pretty lazy day in readiness for our trip to Montreal. Around mid morning we headed out for a coffee and some lunch, being both fond of Japanese ramen noodles we did a little research and found the most popular Ramen restaurant in Toronto. After a 15min wait we were ushered inside to enjoy some very ambrosial noodles.
 |
| Mitch slurping up his noodles |
Lunch was in the heart of chinatown (one of the largest of North America). It is always an interesting experience walking through a chinatown, from the bbq pigs hanging in the window to the unusual dried unknowns and the constant offerings of "You want massage?"
 |
| Bbq ducks and pig |
Eddie got us tickets to a Baseball game, prior to which we headed 'Wayne Gretzky's' bar. Gretzky is by far the most famous ice hockey player in Canada!! We had some beer and nachos, quintessential pre baseball food. The local baseball team the Toronto Blue Jays were taking on the very famous New York Yankees. Our seats were in the 'nosebleed section' but we thought they were really good. We had a great time, we learnt a few rules and a few of the finer details of baseball skullduggery. We collective booed 'A-Rod' (who is currently appealing a lengthy suspension for steroids use - previously was considered one of the best players.) , we cheered and spilt our beers with every Blue Jays hit. We were very fortunate because Toronto managed to snare a rare victory 5-2 over the hotly backed Yankees. Being in the city we thought our wildlife spotting adventure had come to a end, but our walk home from the baseball sprung to life when we spotted a skunk, squirrels and a racoon!!
 |
| Let's go Blue Jays |
 |
| Eric and Eddie pre game warm up |
 |
| Roger's Centre panorama |
 |
| CN Tower from inside the Roger's Centre |
Day 29, we had a quiet morning walk, breakfast and coffee before we jumped on a train bound for the second largest french speaking city in the world - Montreal. The train was comfortable and relaxing, and in just under 5 hours we had arrived. It is always very daunting arriving in new city after dark, it makes your feel extremely disorientated especially when every sign is in a different language, but not to be too disturbed by how we felt, we trusted our mobile handheld telecommunications devices to lead us to our accommodation. We ended up getting accommodation in a hostel/B&B style place. It's nice and centrally located to everything. After dumping our bags in our room we headed out for a couple of night caps before retiring to bed.
 |
| Our favourite breakfast so far. Oatmeal and date pancakes with caramelised bananas and maple syrup. |
 |
| Jo fist pumping a lion |
Day 30 was our first full day in Montreal, we elected to spend a the day orientating ourselves with our surrounds. Out and about we grabbed a coffee and a almond croissant (which Jo proclaimed as being the best one she has ever had) before heading off to La Fontaine Parc and then onto McCord Museum for a little more background on this very unique city and some interesting information on the First Nation People.
 |
| Americano and Almond croissant |
 |
| La Fontaine Parc |
 |
| Jo bought a pair of classic 'Toms' |
 |
| One of the many bits of art on the streets |
 |
| Preview of the old buildings around Montreal. University of Music. |
For lunch we headed to Schwartz Deli, the oldest deli in Cananda. They have been serving smoked meats from the same location since 1928. Even the most famous Quebecois, Celine Dion has been spotted inhaling a smoked meat sandwich dripping in mustard. We lined outside for around 20 minutes for our chance to sample some of Schwartz' meat. To me the famous smoke meat is a corned meat style brisket that has been rubbed with spices and marinated for 10 days. You have 3 options when ordering Lean, Medium and Fatty and our waiter suggested that, "you are wasting your time if you want lean!" Jo had the smoked meat sandwich and I had a 'Schwartz Combo Special' which was Steak with smoked meat, sausage, chips, coleslaw and a dill pickle.
 |
| Waiting in line |
 |
| Smoked meat sandwich |
 |
| Schwartz Combo Special |
P.S. Congrats to Jess and James for becoming new parents to two very cute puppies
 |
| Dad with the puppies |
P.P.S. Happy Birthday Keisha!!! Have a great day.
P.P.P.S We miss this little man. Thanks Mum and Dad for looking after him. Miss and love you guys.
P.P.P.P.S How cute is Harper!!!!!!!
Cordialement
Mitch & Jo
xoxoxox
Another great couple of blogs. You guys are doing it good. Sooo lucky to have local contacts. Man some of that local food looks good and some looks disgusting (wish I could eat it all) keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteFrank is good and tells me that he misses you a lot (yes I can communicate with him no we have had a couple of chats) He is a great border patroller he barks at John for watering his plants and the other day he returned with “the dreaded RAT”. I think he misses chasing the squeaking bandicoot so dug up the rat and harassed it till he squeezed the squeak out of it. He is no longer spoilt. He does not sleep in our bed, comes when he is called (unless he is chasing a lamb or Bandicoot) does his fair share of housework and is at the moment doing a duet Karaoke in the kitchen with your mother “aft veedersein mein fraulien” (yeah look that one up and try not to cry)
You tube “the king of wishful thinking “by Go West and see if you can see your mate James.
Anyway miss u guys heaps and cant wait til you are back.
Cheers
Dad and Mum
So Harps loved the shout out. Although she cried the first two times i told her about it the last time she smiled.
ReplyDeleteThose pancakes have the best toppings. Please put this on the 'we must re-create for Carly when we get home' list.
miss you trip heads
x