Wednesday, January 21, 2009

.it’s snowing outside.

At the moment, I am warm and toasty in my hotel room. The only thing missing is a hot cup of coffee. Since I’m in the mood to blog about my whereabouts (diary style), here goes...

I am in a place I’ve never been before and it’s extremely cold outside. For the sake of trying to clarify for you really how cold it is—the current temperature outside is a whopping -10 degrees Fahrenheit. YES people, I said NEGATIVE 10! The moment I step outside of my hotel, it feels like I’ve opened my freezer and literally walked right into it. After only a couple of minutes (bundled up mind you), I start to feel like I'm becoming an icicle with my nose, ears, and toes turning numb. And did I mention that it is snowing too? Being that I live in sunny Southern California, this is definitely a unique experience. It’s pretty unreal that I’m in a city where it is actually snowing with piles of snow on every corner and sidewalk. Also, because everyone here speaks French, it’s a constant reminder that I’m far away from home.

Can you guess where I am yet?

Montreal, Quebec is a very pretty place. It has only been a day so I’m still learning about the downtown area. One of the most interesting things about Montreal is the underground malls. You can walk down various staircases all around the city (similar to a subway entrance in NYC) which leads you into a whole new world underground. Lucky for me, there is an entry right from my hotel. There are shops, bakeries, restaurants, and malls—including a train station. It’s much cooler seeing it in person than me trying to explain it.

So far the food had been ok. I had a good sandwich at a place on Rue St. Catherine (a main street in downtown) when I flew in last night. I think I want to visit this street again when all of the shops are open. I imagine that the shopping here might be good. :)

On a side note, the coffee has been much better than I had expected. I grabbed a Vanilla Latte from a place called Second Cup which was good. I have only seen one Starbucks since I’ve been here. The locals go to Tim Hortons (serving coffee and doughnuts) which is equivalent to our Starbucks. I’ll probably try that place tomorrow.

Until then—au revoir! :)
-c

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