First Two Real Days in Montreal

Gonna make this short, since I feel like this blog will have little appeal until I finally get on that boat in a few days - that's when the excitement starts! Nine days of continuous, unbridled excitement!

Anyway, first day in Montreal, my host shows me around Old Montreal, which is a very, very European part of town - very nice. We check out the Port from where my boat will depart. It's good to know where you've gotta be, you know?
I've still got some last-minute travel items to purchase - will do that soon.

Second day, I buy a 3-day metro pass and meet up with some couch surfers with whom I was put in contact by... another couch surfer. Checked out Jean-Talon market - a huge market place with cheap and delicious produce. Man, I wish there was something like this in Toronto. Was gonna take pictures, but my camera was being finicky. No pictures.
Then I went with a second couch surfer to an open-doors event at the Cirque du Soleil campus. He was kinda late in arriving at the meeting point, so I hung out with other people who were also there to meet up, though there was a bit of a language barrier, we still got along just fine. Surfer showed up and took us to the campus. Oh, and he drives like a madman. Kind of fun, kind of scary.

The best part of the open-doors event was getting to watch them practice in their training facility. These people are insane. Cirque du soleil is everything. No question. There was a dude on a trapeze, 20 feet in the air - no mats! None. And he's just all flipping around like it's nothing. Me, I get nervous walking out onto high tree branches. Insane. I knew I should take a picture, so I pushed past my finicky camera's insecurities, and snapped some bad ones. I need to learn to use this thing.
Cirque du Soleil was great, but now I'm late for my 5 pm meeting with my last surfer of the day, since we were a little later in leaving than we thought we'd be. The Madman (and I use that term affectionately) recognizes the situation, and drives me to the meeting point - only now he's in a rush. Ever seen a madman in a rush? Pretty scary ride. But I could hardly complain, since I was happy to get to my destination just in time to catch the surfer, who was in the process of writing me a note that she had left. Hooray! Finished off a good night with a sandwich and a great conversation, and came back.

Ah, all caught up.

Tomorrow is shopping and poutine in Montreal.