Montreal and Other Things

Canada's second largest city, Montreal, in the Province of Quebec, is fun and fabulously gay friendly. My last visit was August of 2001. Far too long ago. It was time to visit again.

Friday, August 18th, 2006: Begrudgingly, I arose again to the sound of my alarm at 9:00am. Brian was expected at my place in Manchester between 1:00pm and 2:00pm. This gave me plenty of time to make myself pretty, pack my bags and grab a little lunch before we made our way to Montreal.

Brian warned me with a phone call that he was ahead of schedule. He arrived shortly thereafter. As I scrambled to prepare for an early departure, he hopped online and drew up a Triptik.

After fueling up the Mini, we left Manchester at about 12:20pm. We headed North and made our first stop, for lunch, in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. Normally I would not think that a lunch stop could be worthy of becoming part of my blog entry. However, when we decided to eat at Men At Wok, it became a requirement. It was just a little hole in the wall, though the food was quite delicious. We both devoured our lunch specials and finished the meals off with our fortune cookies.

After taking my daily obligatory blog photo, we continued on our way up Interstate 89 North into Vermont. We made it across the United States/Canadian border with no problems nor delays. It was not until we were 10-15 miles outside of Montreal that we ran into a bit of rush hour traffic.

We arrived at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel just before 6:00pm. We squared away our reservations and made our way to our room on the 19th floor of the 20 floor hotel.

The room was quite spacious. There were two beds fit for two queens (queen-size beds, I mean). Each had fifty-two pillows on it and the bedding was luxurious. The room was also equipped with a mini fridge and free wireless internet.

Our friends Jeff and Jeffy had arrived in town a few hours before us. They were staying at the same hotel and were a few floors below. After getting settled in, we met up with them and went out to find some grub.

The four of us made our way on foot to McLean's Pub. Here we are, in what could be considered the heart of French Canada, having dinner at an Irish Pub. But hey, it was good eating and drinking, at there was plenty of time the rest of the weekend for French, uhm, other things.

After dinner, we hopped in Jeff's hybrid Honda and made our way to Casino de Montreal. I was not very impressed. I have been to Vegas. I have been to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. When you have experienced gambling at that magnitude, it would take a lot to outdo it. It was nice enough, but the slots were tight and lady luck was not on my side.

We returned to the hotel after a few hours of money sucking fun. Feeling a bit worn out after a day of traveling and some heavy duty gambling, Jeff and Jeffy turned in for the evening, whilst Brian and I made our way out for a night on the town.

Brian and I made our way to Montreal's Gay Village. We started at the North end of Ste Catherine Street and bar-hopped our way South. After a few seedy spots, and several drinks later, we wound up on the terrace of Complexe Sky. This place was fabulous. It was a roof deck atop a three story club. Each level of the club had bars and dance floors of different types. It was a beautiful night, and once Brian and I found our way to the terrace, we decided to chill there. There were cute boys aplenty speaking French. I am not sure what they were saying, but it didn't matter. I could listen for days. It is so romantic. We shared small talk with some locals, watched the yummy European men in the hot tub, and enjoyed everything that I had remembered Montreal to be.

Saturday, August 19th, 2006: Brian and I slept in whilst Jeff and Jeffy made their way to scope out Chinatown. After we woke up (and I completed a short run on one of the hotel's treadmills) we took a short cab ride to meet up with the Jeffs for lunch. Jeffy had found a place, La Maison Kam Fung, where he wanted to try their Dim Sum. If you have never experienced Dim Sum, and you think you would like to try some authentic Chinese cuisine, I highly suggest it.

A Dim Sum style lunch, as best as I can describe it, is brought around on carts and presented to your table. If it is something you are interested in, they give you a portion big enough for your party right off the cart, served family-style. There were dishes of all kinds, steamed, fried, etc. I passed on most of the seafood items, but there was plenty of other food to be had.

After lunch, we strolled through the outside booths and other shops in Montreal's Chinatown. Brian bought a little pot (of the cooking kind), and the Jeffs bought a few other items. We then made our way back to the hotel.

We all decided to head out on our own for a little bit. Jeff and Jeffy headed back to the village to check out its shops. Brian headed to The Underground City to find himself some new footwear. I stayed back at the hotel and got myself 30 minutes of shuteye to prepare myself for another night on the town.


I then made my way on Montreal's Metro to the Gay Village where I met up with Brian. He continued to shop while I had a little Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and people watched at the same time.

That evening, we regrouped at the hotel to make dinner plans. Tonight it was Italian at quaint little spot where I had myself a tasty personal sized pizza.

Brian and I had so much fun at Complexe Sky, we decided to give it another try. Jeff and Jeffy joined us this time. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with our plans to hit the terrace again. It started to rain and the terrace was only open to the die hard smokers. The bars atop the roof were closed.

I spent most of the night on the cabaret floor. They played the most popular dance mixes and the floor became more crowded as the night went on. We bumped and grinded with the French boys and left the Complexe at nearly 2:30am.

Sunday, August 20th: It is Sunday already? It seems like we just arrived. But it was true. It was time to pack and go. The Jeffs got an early start whilst Brian and I caught up on our beauty sleep. We made our way to the front desk just before the noon checkout cutoff. We grabbed a muffin and coffee for the road and headed South.

Jeff reported via cell phone that the US border stop along Interstate 89 had about a one hour wait. We just left Montreal when this call came in, so we decided take a little detour and come back via Interstate 91. This way was a little longer mileage-wise, but we only had about a 20-25 minute wait at the border. We made it through customs without incident, though I was sure to refer to Brian's pot as "kitchenware." We stopped for lunch in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont and was back at my humble abode in Manchester around 6:00pm.

Monday, August 21st, 2006: This was a day to recuperate, and get caught up on my window cleaning project. I met up with the ever motivational Dave who took me out for another run. This time we ran the trails around Tower Hill Pond in Auburn, New Hampshire. This is also a body of water that is maintained for the Manchester water supply, so there is no swimming. The trails were well maintained. In the Winter, they are used by the Southern NH Snow Slickers for snowmobiling. The size of the pond and the path around it were the perfect size for a combo walk/run at the level I am at right now.

My roommate, Peter, returned home this evening to prepare for his return to teaching which begins on Thursday, August 25th. I greeted him at the door with a shot of Akvavit, a Beefeater Gin and Tonic, and a bowl of hot buttered popcorn. This gave us a chance to get caught up on the happenings since we last saw one another.

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006: For most of the day, I thought it was Wednesday. I love that! I have completely lost track of the day and date. I wish life was that carefree all the time.

Dave called. Road trip! His college roommate's wife had a baby today. They were at the hospital and he asked Dave to check up on the pets. We took the drive to Braintree, Massachusetts to feed and walk Matt's golden Retriever, Astro. We also left a bowl of food out Mr. Whiskers, the kitty cat.

As a thank you for keeping Dave company on the drive through Boston at rush hour, he treated me to a Mexican feast at El Sarape. This is a favorite of the Phantom Gourmet. I have to agree with the Phantom. The enchiladas were to die for. A tasty Margarita helped to wash it down.

On the way back to Manchester, we stopped for gas in Salem, New Hampshire. We took a stroll through Christmas Tree Shops but (Rich will be happy to know) I did not buy a thing. We then continued home via the back roads and stopped at Emiliana's Gelateria & Cafe in Derry. I have never been here before, nor have I ever had Gelato. It was delectable. It's like ice cream, without the cream. It is made from milk, so supposedly it's healthier for you.

Tomorrow I am off to see the New Hampshire Fishercats game. My good friend (and director of the New Hampshire Gay Men's Chorus), Luc, has an extra ticket to the game and invited me along. In the evening, I am headed to Lui Lui in Nashua to celebrate Brian's 40th birthday.

Friday I will be headed to Story Land in Glen, New Hampshire. I will be spending the day with family there. It should prove to be an exciting time. After that, it is off to Ossipee through Labor at my roommate's lakefront spot, Wonderful-Nice.

Thanks for reading. With just over five weeks to go, there is plenty more to come. Check back soon. Love you all!