Montreal Hotels
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Canada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hello all...well we arrived safe and tired into Canada,after an 8 hour bus journey from Boston to Montreal. Amazing,considering its just a few inches on the map! Believe us,its one big country! The border crossing to Canada was fun! Was like the Spanish Inquesition, except they were French! We got through ok, with one more stamp in the passport and got to Montreal late in the evening on weds 20th. Our first Canadian hostel wasn't a great start. We were in a room with a mute Columbian couple,the hostel smelt and it was generally a bit of a hole,even for a hostel. Lou then frantically searched the net for alternative digs for the coming two nights. This paid off,as we got a half decent hotel for the same price as a room in a hostel.(Including a TV and shower!!!) Montreal was a lot more french than we'd imagined,but it was a fascinating and nice place,with lots of museums and art galleries etc to see. Best of all was the weather. It was sunny and hot,much to Dans disgust,having carried heavy, cold weather gear all this way to use!!.....suppose we better be careIful what we wish for though. We strolled around the place for the few days we were there. A good place we went to,was Park Mont Royal, which you have to walk up quite a steep hill to get to,but was great at the top. We got great views of the city and got a bit of sunbathing in on the park! A fun bit,was when we got the crisps out and all the squirrels around came running,in hope to share our delicious snack. As you can see by our pics,one particular squirrel was a lot braver than most and was literally getting in the bag! We had a quick look around the Olympic Stadium. This is worth a visit. It seems fairly pricey in Canada,so we are trying our best to keep to our budget...
On the 22nd we took another Greyhound bus to the capital - Ottawa. A bit of a flying visit,but a good one. The Parliment and Government buildings were very impressive. Also the market area is worth a visit. Ottawa is fairly small and you can get around easily on foot. A quite cosy little city. The Quirky bit on this part of the trip, was our hostel. We booked into 'HI Ottawa Jail'. Its basically a jail from the mid 1800's, that was turned into a hostel. It still has its original bars, cells and features of a jail. If you stay in a dorm, then you are in what used to be the actual cells. We had a private room, which was a little less dramatic. We did the Jail tour in the evening,which is definetly worth doing. A guide took us around the whole jail,explaining the history and showing us parts of the jail that is off limits unless you do the tour. It got creepy when we were shown death row and the Gallows,where 3 in-mates were executed by hanging. The rope and trap door were still in place. Eventually it had to happen!!....... the stories of the hostel being haunted began.....and it was comforting to know that the ghost haunted around the eight floor...yes you guessed it right below our room! However we are pleased to say we had a great nights sleep and met no strangers in the dark!! Ok well it's been a hectic few days and next stop is Toronto..........So bye bye for now.
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Latest Comments (1)
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the border (reply)
May 3, 2006 21:26 EST by peacefrog
Hey, so funny: I am French, and when I crossed over on my way from Montreal to New-York, I though that the US customs officers were like the last guards/warriors/cowboys before the wild wild north and its herds of bacterias/fresh food/terrorists/indians. That was 2 months before sept11, can't imagine how it is now!
I though Canadian officers were more relaxed: from what can be heard in Eu... show all
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66 votes 
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