Montreal, Canada (Feb. 2009)

Monday February 9th - Friday the 13th
Feb. 9, 2009 10:57am
Chicago, IL
"fresh coffee before landing....fresh coffee before landing." I woke up from my hazy dream, and recognized I'd slept through most of the 3.5 hour trip from SF to Chicago, en route to Montreal. With 2 hours of sleep the night before and a 70 minute trip to the airport already under my belt before 5:45am I'd had a fun-filled morning. 10am. The flight is preparing for landing in Chicago O'Hare Airport. Next stop Burlington, Vermont. [side note: a super large Marmite jar I supposed to deliver to my brother (to go with his super large Marmite tattoo) was confiscated at security.]

Feb. 9, 2009 3:08pm
Burlington, VT
Just finished a bit of work, consolidated ad for Boardkill magazine... and we are descending as my ears are popping. Frozen snow covered rivers below, the sun is shinning, mountain peaks rise above their dormant frozen juices below.... there's a ski run from a peak. Tree runs abound. "Seat backs and tray tables upright to their original positions..." on the ground in 10 minutes.

Feb 9, 2009, 7pm
Burlington, VT
The Nuclear Energy sub factory boss / pilot from Montana I chanced to be sitting next to on the plane offered me a ride downtown Burlington, Vermont instead of taking the bus or the taxi. I walked around for an hour, had a view of Lake Champlain at Sunset, walked downtown, took a few pics and then walked 1/2 mile to the Greyhound station and bought my ticket to Montreal for $28 (supposed to be $30 round trip??). Went to the local hippy/overpriced market and bought some local cheese and a 6 pack of Vermont IPA. Sampled the local produce while walking back to the Greyhound and stepped in an ice puddle to totally soak my right foot. It's now thawing out as I'm lurking in the station, waiting for the bus. Hey, the bus just rolled up. I'm off to Canada.

Feb 11, 2009, 8:35pm
Day 2 and a half of staying with my Simon and Alannah and other Simon (see-mon). A night out at the bar, a morning (mid-day breakfast), a tour of the surrounding streets, a peep at the smoke stacks of the Molson factory, and then back to the loft for some beers and dinner. Today Simon and I walked around to old-town Montreal, had an espresso, found a box of National Geographics from '48-84, and he carried them back and we've been entertained ever since. Walked through the park La Fontaine, had a Pilsner Urquell, looked at his two old apartments and slogged on through the melting snow back to the loft. Warmest day in three months, so my fears of -20 fahrenheit were for naught. Came back and Alannah had some sausage, portobello pesto sandwiches and some fresh chocchip cookies. Trés bien. They speak a weird french hear in Montreal, supposedly TRUE french because it hasn't changed in 400 years. So they say...