Back to the safety of Canada

Okay, we arrived in Montreal last night after an extra long train ride (try 11 hours!) and so far we are loving every minute of it. I'm sure the fact that we're staying in the heart of Vieux Montreal in the cutest hostel in the world (!) helps. The hostel is called "la maison du patriote" and it really is set up like a home away from home. The private rooms are gorgeous if plain (although upstairs in the dorm area there is a "room" that's actually a tent). The people who run the place put your name in chalk on the door to the room you are staying in. We arrived to "Brian & Fillance" with little hearts. Took a quick boo around town, absolutely stunning, and ate a late dinner in a neat little eatery (they litter the street like garbage here). A little pricey, but on par for the neighborhood and a high quality of food.

Now for a quick summary of our stateside adventures:

July 4: Woke up late, Xian treated us to pancakes. Went to Scarecrow which was pretty much the only place open. Boy only bought a couple of DVDs and was very disciplined (I'm so proud). Later we ate garden burgers and insano garlic fries at Kid Valley. This was at Xian's prompting as he really wanted to sabotage the rest of the passengers on our flight. Spent the next day tasting and smelling of garlic, but it was worth it if only for the knowledge that we'd inconvenienced a bunch of strangers with our stench. Got on plane. First time I ever had to put my shoes through the X-Ray machine. Tried to sleep. Arrived in Pheonix earlier than scheduled and ate BBQ at the airport while waiting for our connecting flight to New York. Tried to sleep on plane to New York. I succeeding for about 4-5 hours, the boy did not.

July 5: Arrived in New York around 6 am to a hot sweltering blanket of "air". Boy commented on how if we got hungry we should just open our mouths and chew. Got to "hotel sketchyville" around 7:30 am, were not allowed to check in and were generally unimpressed with strange bug-eyed man at the front desk. Managed to ditch our stuff in the basement and proceeded to kill time in Midtown. Being that nothing was open yet (things would be pretty quiet) I decided to take the boy to Times Square so he could at least say he saw it. Ate a breakfast wrap and generally dreamed about 3 pm when we would be allowed to check in and shower. Ahhh, sweet sweet shower. Dragged delirious boy through H&M so I could buy new trendy clothes. Lucked out as they were having a sale and also picked up multiple sparkly accessories for The Big Day. Took turns sleeping in Bryant park. Boy was muchly impressed with quality of the bathroom there. Wandered through Rockerfeller Square (once we found it, we were both quite out of it by this time). Got caught in a flash storm then remembered we're from Vancouver and sucked it up. Laughed at panicked tourists and got back to hostel just in time to find out that they don't take payment by credit card and needed to pay cash up front. Even less impressed. Room was fine, but the "fridge" didn't work and the mattresses seemed to have been found in an alley out back or something as the springs poked into our backs something awful. No dead hookers stuffed in them though so I guess it could have been worse. Managed to cool off thanks to the fan (no air conditioning for us) in our room and jaunted off to meet Louie. Louie took us to Grey's Papaya for hotdogs and juice then down to the UCB theatre to see a live interview with Adam McKay (director of "Anchorman" and former head writer for SNL). NY is so cool, despite the boy's lockerroom smell. Ate baked fries at Better Burger in Chelsea with Louie, his new roommate Tiffany Morningstar and assorted improv people then retreated to the hostel for precious sleep.

July 6: Deliberately woke up quite late. Wandered through Central Park then met up with Louie who guided us through Greenwich and the East Village. Got to see Toy Tokyo (I bought a clock nazi from the "Hell Boy" vending machine), St. Mark's street and Love Saves the World. Wandered through "Trash and Vaudeville" and laughed and laughed at a $90 white t-shirt with small holes in it. Ate at a nice trendy bistro called "Yaffa" and then had some drinks at the "remote lounge" where we spied on te other patrons (all three of them) and took silly pictures. Wandered back up to hotel sketchyville and crashed hard.

July 7: Ran to train station and made it there just as they were boarding. Train ended up leaving late and was too cold for me to sleep. Managed to kill time talking to amusing man beside me who kept telling the story about being told by his barber that he couldn't get the haircut he wanted because the barber liked his way better. Still don't really get it, but to each his own. Walk to hostel was much shorter than expected and hostel itself much (much) nicer.

July 8: Getting a slow start to the day. Will head down to Concordia in a little while to pick up press passes and experience start of FantAsia. Should be hooking up with Jeremy Knox who was not able to meet us at train station (no harm no foul anyway since the train was about an hour late).

that's it for now. More adventures as they happen.