Yesterday evening we ate out at a Catalonian/French restaurant. The service and food was excellent and we finished of a half litre of vin rouge by ourselves. We had a starter, main and a dessert. Pigs - but we figured we didn't do it very often. The only downside was that I ordered a salad for a starter which was huge and then my main came with a salad, by which time I was all-saladed out. I had profiteroles for dessert and we called the waiter over to check why the cream was frozen. IT IS ICE-CREAM MADAM.
When we came back to our hotel we asked about the temperature control and the girl who brought our pot of tea up to us tried it and said "I'll get Dan, Dan will know, he will sort it, Dan will come, he will come". Dan did come and look but told us the heating could only go down to 21.5*C and no more and if we wanted it cooler we should open the door. He was very sorry and said he could change our room but no other room could go lower in temperature either. We opened our door and let the freezingness enter in the hope that by the time we went to sleep, our room would be cool.
We slept better but it was still warm, Huffle snored and the outside noise was loud. Huffle's phone buzzed and woke me at some point too.
This morning the sun was shining, the ploughs had ploughed and we didn't wake up properly until past 9am. Huffle got up, purchased us some pastries and coffee/tea which we ate in bed whilst watching Mad Men. Wish we could do this at home on a Monday morning. We had a leisurely get ready and then wandered around Old Montreal.
It was very very cold -18* with a windchill of -28*. brrrrr. We were well wrapped up against the elements. Walking along the Port was the coldest part as it was so exposed. We also saw Pl Jacques Cartier which we had been to before but it looked better in the sunshine. It was hard to stay in one place because of the cold and occassionally the wind whipped up the snow around us.
As it started to get closer to midday we made our way to the Financial District in order to meet up with one of Huffle's colleagues who he has had many phone conversations with but mever met.
The table was ordered by Frenchie but we got there first so sat with our drinks waiting for him. He was an older man, Montreal born, very very nice. We got along splendidly. There wasn't too much work talk. I had a Portabello mushroom with goats cheese for starters and I had Dory fish (yes the one from Finding Nemo - I felt guilty but not for long as it was delicious. We had a couple of glasses of red wine and a lovely coffee to end. Very good company and a fabulous lunch which lasted two and a half hours. We said our goodbyes, wrapped ourselves up again and walked off towards the subway where we travelled to Snowden where we caught a bus that took us to St Joseph L'oratoire. A huge big church that sat very up over the city.
After climbing many steps we arrived at the top and went in. There were escalators up to the top (escalators to the church?) where we found ourselves in a very ornate church. It was beautiful but when you have been in the most important churches in Rome, all other churches fade in comparison.
All we really wanted to see was the view of the city but snow stopped us getting too high and even when we found a car park that could have had an amazing view, the snow plough had piled the snow so high that our view was obscured. Plus it was so cold up there we couldn't stay out there too long.
We found a stained glass lift and tried to go up higher but you couldn't get up there without a key so we gave in, wandered around the church and then came down all the escalators again.
Once outside we found a shuttle bus and got on. It only took us down the hill but it was better than trying not to slide on our bums all the way down. We then got on the bus. Unfortunately for us it was school finishing time and the bus was full when we got on and then it stopped three more times and got more fuller. No-one could move and to be fair the pedestrians were walking quicker than we were travelling but at least we were spared the cold again. We got back to the subway and travelled quite close to our hotel. Once we got off we realised we were very close to the Basilique De Notre Dame which was all lit up. It looked lovely.
A quick stop for photographs and we walked back to our hotel. Another soak in the luxurious bath, half a bottle of water tipped over our newly changed bed (my fault), a telephone call with Moo and a brief chat with Smallest (nothing much to report - Moo had given them fried sausages like Grandad gives them and they were waiting to go to Beavers and Cubs) and then we relaxed for a while until we decided to brave the cold again for some tea.
Dan popped by (She said he would) to give us some more bottles of water. He asked how our temperature was and I told him it was better once we opened the door but it had to be open all night. He said he was very sorry again and said he would see what he could do. Huffle thinks he means in a monetry way, I thought he meant he would try and fix it again!!
Please don't use my photos without asking first. Posted with Blogsy
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