Our First Week in Montreal

Sorry I haven't been updating this as regularly as I would like. The last week has been very crazy and I haven't had a block of time to dedicate to blogging about it all... until now.

Day 1: Monday, October 1
After spending a relatively relaxing weekend with my parents in was time to load K.C. into his carrier yet again and make the trek out to the airport. Luckily we had time to enjoy a nice lunch with my mom when we got there and I only cried a little when my dad called to apologize for not being able to see us off is person.

Our flight on Monday was surprisingly uneventful, the cat having made it through security faster than we did (actually, we carried him through the metal detector in our arms while the carrier went through the x-ray machine). It turns out K.C. had actually been one of three cats on that particular flight and managed not to make a peep the entire way over.

Upon arriving at Frank's house in Blainville K.C. was quickly sequestered in the basement so that he wouldn't be eaten by Frank's chocolate lab, Jigger. After a sleepless night for L. listening to Jigger pushing against the bedroom door we decided that the best option after all was to leave him with our friends Marc & Andrea downtown.

Day 2: Tuesday, October 2
Being that we'd both had fitful sleeps we opted to lounge in bed as long as possible and spend the day doing as little as possible. It is unseasonably warm in Montreal, 25C+. L. and Frank spent much of the day constructing Frank's new wall-unit/desk-thing and I tried not get crushed by Jigger, who really seems to enjoy having a girl in the house. Frank was still off work so he took us to do a mini grocery and I marveled at how much lower food prices are out here. Even at the corner store we managed to find our brand of soy milk for $1.00 less. I also got lots of ideas for a series on Quebequois foods (cretons, tortiere, cheese curds) that I'll get started on once we have regular net access. The evening was spent shuttling K.C. to Marc's place, but we still got back to Blainville in time for me to catch the last half of the Tudors (yeah!).

Day 3: Wednesday, October 3
Our plan had been to get up super early, cruise the net for apartment listings and spend the afternoon looking at places. Being that I was still only sleeping in 2 hour increments with 3 hour awake periods we didn't really get started until about noon. However, after only 10 calls we had six (!) appointments for the next two days. A very sharp contrast from trying to place in Vancouver.

We jumped onto the commuter train and got to enjoy "les couleurs" on our way into town. The first place we looked at turned out to be way too small for a couple, but rent was only $550. The next place we looked at, a block and a half away was perfect. It's a little north of the Plateau in the Little Italy neighborhood, but within walking distance of everything we need, including a SAQ and Home Depot. We have a choice of three Metro stations, all less than a ten minute walk and we have mini balconies in the front and back. It's the ground floor of Montreal style triplex with French doors in the bedroom and my mind is already racing with thoughts of barbecues and herb gardens.

The only catch is that the last tenant left most of his stuff and it doesn't really look like he'd bothered to clean anything in about 5 years. Also, he was a smoker, which means we'll have to wash and paint all the walls. Our landlord is a pretty chill dude who seemed most interested in having cool down to earth tenants. The neighborhood is very safe and peaceful and we are right across the street from a park. Pictures are pending.

The day ended with rotisserie chicken (review also pending) and the season opener for the Habs. I quickly realized I am going to have to make peace with being a hockey widow because there is really no escaping it here.

Day 4: Thursday, October 4
A pretty uneventful day. Frank had to work in the afternoon so we just puttered around the house and I cruised for furniture online. Accidentally placed an order online with Ikea, but opted to cancel it and go in person to see if that would yield a better delivery time. We realized that if we were able to get even just a sofa bed we would be able to start staying in the apartment right away, instead of waiting until our stuff (read: bed) arrived on the 29th. Decided to spend the weekend downtown since we'd be able to stay with L's cousin Annie who lives within a 10 minute walk of the apartment.

Day 5: Friday, October 5
Arrived downtown and went straight to Annie's place. She told us where the Home Depot was and she and her girl friend immediately offered to help us with groceries, trips to Ikea, painting etc. I am still getting used to the hospitality here, but I have to say it is growing on me and I'm very anxious to get the apartment set-up so I can start returning the favour. It turned out that Annie and Mel were going camping for the weekend so we had the run of the loft. We went for breakfast and then straight to the apartment. It was still full of crap and we started to get depressed. Opted to go to Home Depot while waiting for the landlord to come by to settle the remaining rent and to do something about all the stuff. Started cleaning the kitchen while the landlord and his friend hauled stuff onto the street.

Eventually left to go see K.C. at Marc's house and perhaps accompany Marc to some Pop Montreal shows. It turned out that Marc had a bunch of tickets to see Patti Smith play in a church so we went for dinner on St. Denis and then got lost on our way to the church, but it was okay because the show was half an hour late starting. Outside the venue I ran into an ex-coworker from Videomatica. Turned out he had also opted to moved back because of the cost of living issue. Waited at least 20 minutes in a never ending bathroom line-up that eventually rebelled and started using the guy's bathroom as well. I laughed as the women ahead of me quizzed all the indie rock dudes on whether they were using the urinal or the stall and then informed them that we'd taken their stalls. The show was very good, if a little "crunchy-granola" at times and we returned to Annie's loft for some much needed sleep.

Day 6: Saturday, October 6
The weather had suddenly changed and it was grey and drizzly and cold. Annie & Mel were still determined to go camping, but bullied L. into calling his friend Isabelle to see if she could give us a lift to Ikea since apparently the bus takes hours. Isabelle was predictably excited about an Ikea trip and we met her for breakfast nearby to catch up.

After fighting some typical Montreal weekend traffic we finally made it to Ikea around 1:00PM. Let's just say that Ikea on a Saturday afternoon when it's rainy is the same in Montreal as it is in any other city around the world: not unlike the seventh level of hell. We had to line up for everything: line up to check availability, line up to order, line up to pay, line up to pick up our order... and on, and on. Worst of all we couldn't even get our sofa bed because they didn't have any mattresses. Not one. In the entire store. We would have to wait until the following Thursday, call to make sure they had what we wanted in stock, then go to the store to buy it, then arrange to have it delivered.

Luckily we did manage to find a little table with flaps that we could raise and lower to make it bigger of smaller, some chairs and a few cheap knick-knacks. But I think I'm going to have to heavily sedate L. if we ever go back.

Next, Isabelle was kind enough to take us to Home Depot so we could get some more cleaning supplies. I also picked up some paint for the kitchen and the office and some bulbs for out front.

We said goodbye to Isabelle, did a bit more cleaning, grabbed some dinner and then crawled back to Annie's so that L. could watch the hockey game and I could pass out.

Day 7: Sunday, October 7
Got a call from Annie & Mel. They were freezing and decided to cut their camping trip short so we made plans to join them for dinner at St. Hubert's. Finally got a hold of L.'s dad since he was supposed to be in town at his girlfriend's daughter's place just outside of Montreal. We made plans to have lunch there in the afternoon on Monday so we could still spend the evening eating roast chicken with Frank back in Blainville.

Cleaned the apartment a bit more (we're almost done the kitchen!) and called Isabelle to invite her to join us all for dinner as she had expressed interest on Saturday. After gorging on roast chicken we all decided we were too tired to party any more and called it a night. We chilled at the loft with Annie and Mel and watched Occupation Double, probably the dumbest reality show I have ever seen. Imagine a cross between Big Brother & Blind Date and you're half-way there. Only it's French, so there's cameras in all the bedrooms and they don't censor as much.

Day 8: Monday, October 8
At Annie and Mel's suggestion we went out to Brault & Martineau to try to find a sofa bed. Managed to find one very similar to what we'd been looking for at Ikea, only nicer, for the same price plus free shipping. Met up with Caroline and L.'s father James and went back to Caroline's house for lunch. Caroline and Nicole were very excited about our apartment and we all got to swap decorating tips.

In the car back to Montreal I started to feel very tired all of a sudden and it wasn't until we met Frank at the Metro station that I realized I had a mild case of the flu. Missed my roast chicken dinner because I was sleeping and then called my parents as they were sitting down to dinner to wish them a happy Thanksgiving.