Montreal

We left Ottawa by train on Saturday at 10:00 and arrived in Montreal just before 1:00. Our hotel, the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, was conveniently located right next to the Gare Centrale. Unfortunately, we were unable to get an early check-in, so we left our bags with the bell staff, and we ventured off into the city.

Our first stop was Reuben's. I had the Reuben's Chop-Shop Poutine (french fries topped with cheese curds, chop-shop smoked meat brisket, and gravy) with a root beer, and Karen had the Charboiled Chicken Sandwich (grilled chicken breast, with melted swiss cheese, bacon, lettuce & tomatoes, served on a Kaiser roll with Dijon mayo) with water.

After that, we went to H&M where I picked up a black dress shirt and Karen tried on a couple of skirts, then to the three-levelled Simons, where Karen picked up a swimsuit, then to Starbucks, Bikini Village, Winners, and Bentley where I picked up a card wallet.

We came back to the hotel at 3:00 to find out that our room still wasn't ready. We spent the next hour waiting on the couches in the lobby, asking the concierge for the best bus route to the Vieux Port, and getting change for the bus.

At 4:00, our room was finally ready, so we got the key cards and quickly went up, only to come back down moments later to catch our bus. We went got to the bus stop, we saw a sign that indicated that the bus was re-routed to another stop, so we took a cab instead.

We arrived at the Vieux Port, the location of the Cirque du Soleil show OvO, at 4:30. We went inside the grand chapiteau and found our way to our seats. The show lasted for two and a half hours, including a half hour intermission.

We took the bus back to the hotel, which proved to be a very interesting experience. Our bus driver was clearly having a bad day because after making a left turn onto a very narrow street, he and the driver of a car that the bus almost clipped exchanged a few words wherein our bus driver invited the man in the car to step outside the settle everything. Luckily, this did not happen.

Once we had safetly arrived at our hotel, we went up to our room and Karen called downstairs to make a reservation at Le Montrealais for dinner at 9:00. The Fairmont's other restaurant is the hilariously named The Beaver Club. Given that it was only a quarter past eight, we had some time to spare before dinner so we went to the pool.

Karen premiered her new swimsuit and I looked quite smashing in my blue board shorts. The pool was super occupied with a half dozen kids and a few parents, while the hot tub was occupied with three older guys in Speedos.

I commented to Karen about the latter situation, to which she replied that "maybe they're from Europe or something." We ended up staying in the pool the whole time with the kids and their parents because I refused to be a part of the European Speedo convention that was taking place in the hot tub. After we had gotten out of the pool, I noticed that somebody had taken my flip flops, so I had to go back to our room barefoot.

We got changed and went downstairs for supper. We ordered half a bottle of white wine, I had the Walleye, Karen had the Filet Mignon, and we helped ourselves to the dessert bar. By the time we came back up to the room, it was past 10:00.

We woke up today at 9:00, we checked out at 11:00, we left our bags with the bell staff, and we went for breakfast at a place in the Gare Centrale. Our train wasn't leaving until 1:00, so we went to Place Ville Marie (or as Karen calls it - PVM) to check out RW & Co. Karen tried on a couple things but I didn't find anything that I liked. We boarded the train at a quarter to one and arrived in Ottawa at a quarter past three.