Saturday 14 December 2013

Train to Montreal

The boys were told not to get up before 7:30am this morning and not to wake Moo until 8am. In actual fact they got up at 7:15 because they thought that's what I said and they woke Moo at 7:45, they didnt know why!

After a croissant breakfast we got ourselves ready and out of the house for 10:30 (only half an hour later than anticipated because I got something in my eye). We drove to a Christmas Tree farm. It was -17 with a windchill of -26. We were very wrapped up but still cold, our faces hurt.

Huffle picked up a saw and pounced on the first tree he saw - YES WE'LL HAVE AT ONE he said. Oh no, we havent come all this way to pick the first one, I wanted to see them all. We wandered around. Too small, too bare, not green enough, wrong shape, too tall, lopsided. Eventually we all agreed (possibly because we were too cold) on THE ONE! We are still not sure what type it is but it is very tall (but not too tall that we can't get Smallest's star on from last year made of milkwood seedpods). It is very very wide, in fact it is the biggest tree we have ever had. It completely blocks the light from one of the windows, oh well.

Moo, the kids and I went and got the tractor so we could pick up the tree and get it tied up. We had a nice ride, picked up Huffle and the tree and then the man hauled it to the tractor. It took an awful lot of effort.

Then three men tied it up, apparantly they struggled and had to use a winch. It was fun tying the tree to the top of the car too but we managed.

We sat by the outside fire and drank cold hot chocolate and apple cider and a biscuit. We gave ourselves two hours to get all of the tree finding, chopping, hauling, tying etc done and we did it in about an hour and a half.

Smallest had problems with his feet and was in tears in the car on the way home but we took his boots off and wrapped his little feet in hats and made him wiggle them till they came back to life.

The tree was put in place and the decorating was left until Huffle and I were well and truly on our way. We had dinner and then Small went to play at Cogs house. His Mum picked him up and said they would give him Dinner (a second one) and drop him back at 8pm (another late night for Small).

Huffle and I finished packing and got ourselves ready for the taxi that was due at 2:45. 2:45 came and went and no taxi. Huffle rang them and they said they were delayed due to the snow and our taxi was 10-15 minutes away. Luckily, Huffle had been cautious when booking and given us ample time. However, 15 minutes went by and still no sign so Huffle rang again. Just as he got through to someone, the taxi arrived. We climbed in and told the driver we were due in oshawa (usually a 33 minite drive in normal conditions) in 45 minutes. He said he would do his best but couldn't guarantee it. Apparantly our original taxi didn't turn up so when Huffle rang they sent another firm out. So this driver wasn't taking responsibility. If we missed the train the whole trip would be ruined!

The taxi drive was a typical taxi ride but he managed to get us there with five minutes to spare though seemed a bit doubtful about which way to go! Huffle went to the train counter but the attendant was with the train. There was nothing to tell us which train we needed or which platform so we guessed (well Huffle did!). The train arrived within seconds of us getting to the platform. We couldn't get on at first because the steps were too full of snow and wouldn't come down. We got on, our seats were occupied but quickly vacated and we logged on to the wifi and relaxed. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Our seats were roomy (ish) with a tiny table but at least they were facing the right way. I blogged for the first hour and Huffle played on the IPad. We had a bar of English (thank you Moo) chocolate each and a cup of coffee.

The next two hours we played Carcassonne, Yahtzee, Scrabble. Huffle checked the weather forecast for Montreal. Heavy Snow with 8-12" tonight and tomorrow. Glad we put our snow boots in! Shame we couldn't fit our snow boards in though.

Once the train arrived in Montreal, we hailed a taxi and came to the Hotel. It is beautiful. Our room is fabulous - we think we may have been upgraded, it is THAT nice.

We were welcomed into our room with classical music, bath robes and slippers. We were too hungry to unpack so went straight out and happened upon a Fish and Chip shop. British style with a Montreal twist. Very very nice.

We walked around Old Montreal, found a shop open and bought some wine and took it back to the Hotel where we had a pot of tea brought up to our room.

Once we had logged all the devices onto the wifi, drank our tea, paraded around in our robes and slippers, we watched Celebrity Juice.

Meanwhile back in blighty............
Aunty A had a trip to our home town and sent us some photos.

Top two are in Leicester and the bottom two are London. I want one of the Fortnum and Mason hampers please Santa.

Yesterday, Yahoo also sent me a photo of the same tree.

 

We are having trouble with wifi so posting will be if and when. Night night xx

3 comments:

Wonder Woman said...

Enjoy your trip xxx

Unknown said...

Good start, have a good sight seeing dat, lots of photos please. x

AA said...

That explains why you weren't surprised to see the hamper tree!

xxx