Oh, Canada! (Part II)

What is worse than not loving baseball in Saint Louis? Not being a hockey fan in Montreal...

I can't tell you how many times I was asked "Do you like hockey?" while I was up in the Great White North. By the people I worked with...waiters...cab drivers...strangers on the street... okay, maybe not strangers...
Hockey is okay - it's not really my thing...but the Canadians, (or the Habs as they are referred to by locals - short for Les Habitants - referring to the original French settlers of Quebec) are the life blood of not only Montreal, but the whole Province of Quebec. (No other sports teams in the whole province...and the province is roughly twice the size of Texas). I was on the 24th floor of my hotel and the Bell Center, where they play, is about 3 blocks from the hotel. I could hear the fans pour out of the place on the Thursday after a Montreal win for about 30 minutes hooping and hollering.

They do love their hockey.

Outside of hockey, (And I didn't go to a game - no way I could have gotten tickets) I did end up doing a few tourist-y things out and about in Montreal while I was there. One thing I wanted to make sure I did was go and tour Olympic Stadium - where the Montreal Expos used to play. They've moved on to greener pastures now (Washington DC), but the stadium still stands, home to conventions and motocross and monster truck extravaganzas now ("featuring Big Daddy Don Bodine's truck - The Behemoth") It's very large and very empty. The guy giving the tour said that this was where Pope John Paul came when he visited Montreal. A young, unknown Canadian singer named Celene Dion sang for him (kind of like a warm up act?) at the stadium. As a result, the Pope has never visited Canada since. (Really - that's what he said!)

One thing I thought was interesting was when I was out to dinner, I was looking for someplace Italian (I had a craving for veal parm) and just walking down Rue Peel when someone came out of a pizzeria. The pie smelled so yummy, I had to go in. I sat down and looking over the menu, I came across in the appetizer section something I hadn't seen in an American restaurant: Escargot Provencal - Snails in a white whine, butter, garlic and shallot sauce. My first thought was: "Even in an Italian place, can't get rid of the French roots," and I dismissed it. But I kept coming back to it on the appetizer page. Finally, I thought "You know, if I don't order it - I'll regret it later, wondering what it tasted like."

So I got it.

Wow.

If you've never eaten snails, it tastes like a cross between mussels and calamari. Very very good.

When I got back to the hotel, I called Alex right away and told her of my gastronomic adventures. She said she had eaten them before, but didn't know if she was brave enough to try them anymore.

I wished she could have been there with me. Montreal was nice, but it would have been magical with her there as well. Calling her every night was nice, but no where near the same.

I think that my Canada trip may eek out one more post....more later!

"I want my spectacular back"

Brian is actually back now, thankfully. The previous post was only up for a short while a couple of days ago before we thought better of announcing to the whole world that I was alone for 2 weeks. I used to live alone, but it just seemed more prudent. And I held off from blogging about his absence for the same reason and since, while he was gone, that was totally what was on my mind, I didn't blog at all.

But now he's back. While he was gone, a good friend from work would check in on me periodically, asking me how I was doing. When he asked last Monday, Brian had been gone a week at that point. I told him that he (my friend) had actually made me cry. He was a little startled but asked what I meant. Well, I said, you usually ask me how my weekend went. And several times now since I've met Brian, I've said "Spectacular. We had a spectacular weekend. We did this and this and this, and then that and that and that. It was just spectacular." Well, this weekend, I got a lot done, I took a walk, bla bla bla. But the house felt empty without Brian and he's already been gone so long, it was just that much harder. So I knew if you asked me on Monday how my weekend went, I would say, "Fine but not spectacular." And that made me cry, because I missed him all the more poignantly. So I want my spectacular back, I say to him. He (this friend) says he understands what I mean now.

Seriously, Brian brings such a dimension to my life. It can be challenging sometimes, but I will take a full and messy house over a clean and empty one ANY DAY. I'm so serious and always thinking about heavy stuff and he draws out a lighter, more fun-loving part of me. He says, "Rott Road, Raggy" as we drive by Rott Road on the way to his sister's from the airport. What? "That sounds like something Scooby Doo would say - Rott Road, Raggy." Say what you will about both of our senses of humor, but it made me laugh.

We hung out with his family last night because one of his sisters had surgery, so we went straight there from the airport. Very mellow, very pleasant. And since she and her roommate entertain a lot, they keep a nicely stocked cabinet, so the cranberry juice + cherry vodka things were nice. Although I drank Brian's 'cause it was too strong for him, and then he drove home.

And we got here, I swear the dogs leapt clear off the floor several times, and were wagging their tails so hard their entire butts were wagging and they were wiggling and and racing around, jumping and sniffing his pants and luggage. They were ecstatic that he was home. As am I. My spectacular is back. And just in time for the weekend, too!

Oh, Canada! (Part I)

Well, here I am in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. For the last week and all of this week, I will be here for training on one of our systems that I’ll be working with at my office. The good news is that if training is successful, I should have about 2 years of work ahead of me. (did I say that was the good news?)

Montreal is a very cool place. And by “cool”…I mean “cool.” The average temperature here for the last week has been hovering around bloody cold.

Everyone has been very nice – I would think that would be a prerequisite for a city whose #1 industry is tourism. There have been multiple times when I would go to a restaurant or a shop and the person would say “Bonjour,” and I would automatically reply with “Bonjour.” Then they’d start talking a mile a minute in French and I’d have to halt them and say that “Bonjour” is close to the extent of my French.

The flight up was pretty poor. The first leg which was Saint Louis to Toronto, I was in the last seat in the last row. Crammed up against the side of the plane, not able to recline the seat at all, because the bathroom is lodged right up against the “seat.” The flight was about 2 hours and it was loud, cramped, sweaty and all around no fun – and it was delayed about 10 minutes. Doesn’t seem like too long a delay, does it? Apparently, though, it was JUST enough to get me bumped from my connecting flight. My connection was at 3:00, but just as I went thru to put my bags on the conveyer, a airline official told me that I had been bumped – even though it was only 2:30 and I had ½ hour to get to my gate 5 minutes away. So I stood in a line for 20 minutes to change my flight, gave them my bags, and got to the new gate STILL before 3. Grrrr….

At least the second leg wasn’t too bad. I had an aisle seat, and the seats were bigger and not as narrow and I could recline. I won’t say they were amazingly comfy, but compared to the first flight, it was heaven. I was asleep seconds after wheels up.

The training is long and hard, but like I said, it’ll be good for my job. While I’ve been here, I’ve done the bus-tour thing, gone out to Olympic Park Stadium (Go Expos!) and even hit the Casino de Montreal. (Blackjack is weird when the cards are in French!) It’s very multi-cultural and a nice city – just wish it were warmer!

The bad part about being up here is that it’s 2 weeks away from St. Louis, family, friends and especially Alex. I miss you terribly, babe!

More news later!