Just like old times...

Today I revisited my favorite spot in Boston...the Public Garden. Last summer, I would walk there from my Fenway apartment, stop at the Starbucks across from the Common to get an ice coffee and sit on one of the benches facing this fountain. I would read a book or chat with my best friend Angie back home. Today on my lunch break I took my lunch and book and went to the same location, sat on a different bench, but still faced the same fountain. It was still super hot (in the 80s) but in the shade it was quite nice. It was so peaceful. I think it's time to start scouting things out on my own again and doing things I loved doing last year when I didn't know anyone. It is quite refreshing sitting around and just being one with myself. Something I haven't done in a really long time. So, I pledge to go to my spot at least twice a week to get centered, feel some grass between my toes and just listen to the city sounds surrounding me... and who knows, might meet some regulars or a nice gentleman friend while I'm there :)

It's Like a HEATWAVE

I don't think my AC shut off at all last night. I woke up around 11:30am and the rest of the apartment was in the 80s. I decided to go into work today where I could be in an air conditioned office. There was no way I was going to a) walk around the city b) stay in my apartment on a day like today. I don't know why I bothered putting on makeup this afternoon because by the time I got to work it had all sweated off! I sweat really easily as it is (hormones, blood pressure, my northern European heritage... I don't know why but I do) and on days like today where the temps reached above 100° with humidity, everyone seems to sweat, so I don't feel nearly as self conscience as I do on other days when I'm dripping wet. After taking Zumba at the gym I came home and sat on my back patio eating cold pasta salad and drinking some ice cold lemonade. It's days like this that I wish I had more options for food. It was either pasta salad or cereal b/c I was not going to turn on the stove or use the microwave. Of course, since I opted for the pasta salad I have nothing to eat for lunch tomorrow unless my avocado ripens overnight and then I can make a sandwich. I like having a patio and if I sit in one corner I can carry on a phone conversation without losing signal! So I caught up with family and friends tonight. Looks like we're in this for the long haul, no cooling trend in the near future and it doesn't cool down over night either... its still in the 80s at 11pm. But I will do my best to try to get out tomorrow and find something cool to take a photo of so I can start making my blogs more interesting again (because lately all I've been doing is complaining and just stuck in the work-gym-home routine... need to start getting out again and meeting people so I have some good things to write about)!

Back in the U.S. of A.

Amazing how much faster trips seem to be when you are on your way home. Left Montreal around 10:15 and I was in my apartment a little before 5pm. We stopped in North Woodstock and that was it. We went a different way through Vermont than we did coming up so we had a smaller (faster) border inspection wait. We were listening to Johnny Cash while waiting (can't get more American than that!). The border patrol agent that checked us was pretty cool. Asked us if we bought anything in Canada and we asked for clarification and I'm like "oh I bought a shot glass" and then the guy next to me pulled out his huge bottle of water he bought and said "I bought this" lol... and the agent was like "that's not for the shot glass". Anyway, I'm glad to be back in the U.S. of A. I'm super exhausted and sore from my 10.5+ miles walk from yesterday and my "allergies" are really bad. It is super hot in Boston (96° at 5:30 tonight when I went to pick up some food) but it feels so good to take a shower using my own stuff and lay on the couch watching "Dear John" and just relaxing. All you loyal Americans must be recovering from this weekend's shenanigans because NO one is returning any of my text messages today! Come on people, I go away on holiday and miss my friends and family and NO one wants to talk to me :( Oh well, I am all ready for bed. Hoping tomorrow I can sleep in to make up for all the sleep I lost this weekend. It's good to be back on US soil, but Ms. Traveler really needs a vacation! Less than 2 weeks to go before I take off again for another 4 day weekend, which will be here before I know it. I wish time would just slow down so I can catch my breath!

4th of July

Am I in Canada or Europe? This definitely feels like Europe... Old Montreal


Obviously Canadians do not celebrate the 4th of July, I mean, they have a 4th of July, they just don't do anything special for it :) This is my first time out of the country on Independence Day and I do feel unpatriotic for being in Canada instead of the States. This time last year I was standing in the middle of Storrow Drive with my then roommate's friend of a friend watching my first Boston 4th of July fireworks. This year, I am surrounded by 16 friends I met over the past year. Oh what a difference a year makes! And look at where I am now compared to then. Wow! is all I can say when I think about things like that.

Today was my last day in Montreal and packed a lot of walking into my last day. First, the bed in the hotel is as hard as the floor. It's way worse than my old bed (and my bed in Cali, for those who have slept in them...way worse). So sleeping hasn't soundly hasn't happened (so much for trying to make this my R&R weekend). I walked around today by myself...as... Ms. Traveler. I think I under calculated how far Olympic Park was from the hotel. But first, lets start with going back down to Old Montreal. It looks quite different in the day than it does at night. I saw the Notre Dame Basilica (obviously NOT the same one as the one I visited while in Paris) and loved walking around on the stone streets. Checked out a lot of artwork which I totally could have bought a painting or two.

I then walked down Saint Catherine Street which was lined with art booths and had roses hanging from one side of the street to the other (being Catholic, I'm pretty sure I should know what Catherin is the Saint for, but I'm sure it has to do with roses if I'm going to guess). A lot of artists were selling their paintings, they had jewelry and musicians trying to make a buck or two. I then walked and walked and walked....and walked and walked some more. Finally reaching Olympic Park where the Stadium (built for the 1976 Summer Olympics) stands. It started to rain a bit, but I needed to rest my feet. I sat and ate and then made my way around the maze to walk up to the stadium (though didn't go inside). This is my 2nd Olympic park I've visited, the first being in Germany in 2008. Maybe I should add those to my should hit list when traveling (along with the whole breweries and baseball stadiums).

Now, as much as I enjoy traveling with a group, I do miss all the little things that happens as a solo traveler. For instance, meeting random people and taking photos of each other in front of monuments or typical tourist spots. This happened to me today. An nice (cute) foreigner (maybe really French?? I dunno he did speak English to me after I said "sure I'll take your photo") ANYWAY, he stood on the medal block thingy where the rings and torch are with the stadium in the back ground and I snapped his photo. Then it was my turn. A couple with their two kids who were college age it seemed just walked up. The father asked if the two of us wanted a picture together, and I wasn't quick enough to think of anything to say (always happens!!!) and the foreigner said "oh, no we're not together" lol. The guy who asked was so embarrassed and his kids gave him a hard time. But what an opportunity it was if only I had opened my mouth and thought to say "oh sure"? Talk about random... like when I went to the Brewers game in Milwaukee and met those guys who I had photos taken with. So we parted ways after taking each other's photos (don't even know his name). Then I walked and walked and walked and walked....and walked and got a text that the group was in the park I had past 15 minutes ago, so I turned around and walked and walked. Finally met up with the group and laid down under the trees and relaxed. I was exhausted. When we got up to leave I was so stiff. So I walked back (another 25 minutes or so) to the hotel, where I then went swimming and chilled in the sauna. I googled my trip and I walked over 17km today (which translated into American is "I walked over 10.5 miles today") No wonder I was so stiff after sitting down for any length of time. It did feel good to go swimming, especially since it was hot today and I sweating pretty much all day long... I really HATE this type of weather and totally love being able to take a dip in a pool.

We then all went to an apartment a couple in the group rented and did a toast to the 4th of July and Montreal as this is our last night all together. Some of us are leaving tomorrow (including me- in the early car... woot woot!) some on Tuesday and a handful of who's left on Wednesday.

I'm ready to be back. I've been go go go for way too many weeks and haven't been feeling that great for a while now. Today I feel like I'm having some sort of allergic reaction to something, so I am just ready to be back in Boston where I can be a little more comfy being in my own bed and hopefully catch up on my sleep b/c I HATE the feeling of being so exhausted and swollen. One last time...Bonne nuit Montreal!



Had to add this photo, since this is the one foreign boy took :)

Celebrating the 3rd of July with Fireworks

So there was no Toby Keith playing, but I did get to see fireworks tonight on July 3rd! Montreal hosts a fireworks contest that runs through the summer with different countries setting off fireworks on Saturday nights and in August the winners are announced. I must say, Portugal did not keep us entertained. I think any state in the US could put on a better display. But, I got to see fireworks on the 3rd of July (which might as well just be the 4th of July fireworks since I wont be seeing them this year in the States.

Where to begin. It's almost 3am and I'm writing this. My day started at 9am, continental breakfast and walking around the city. Walked to Juliette et Chocolate (about a 30 minute walk) where everything is chocolate. I had a Nutella crepe and a glass of 65% cocoa chocolate to drink. We then walked and stopped at this consignment shop which was interesting. Then went to the location where they are having the Jazz Festival. It was hot, I was melting, the sun was not being nice to me despite wearing SPF 45 (which I applied twice). We listened to 2 bands before walking some more, to the Latin Quarter and found some Poutine. Something I have never had and is Canadian and we had a vegetarian friendly kind! It was pretty good, kind of reminds me of In-n-Out's animal fries to be honest. Then we walked back to the hotel where I then went to the penthouse and went swimming in the pool after checking out the amazing view from the rooftop deck. Oh, ans before jumping in the pool to do laps, I did some weights. (Nothing like getting back into the swing of things with working out... and I now can say I've lifted weights in 4 countries!)

So after swimming and sitting in the sauna, we all changed and took the metro to Old Montreal along the water to watch the fireworks. It reminded me of the 4th of July in the States with all the crowds. The Metro is super fast and has wheels like buses. They also have TV's in the stations. Montreal is so much cleaner than Boston and many US cities... even the bar's restrooms and clubs are cleaner!! After the fireworks we walked and walked and found this place where I purchased a $12 glass of wine and opted for no food (then felt tipsy, but I did have a half of my subway sandwich for dinner a few hours before). I need to stop ordering alcohol to drink when I go out, I will save money and probably lose weight (or at least stop gaining weight). After that we walked and went dancing to some place on McGill Street where they were playing hip-hop (woot woot!!). I love dancing to hip-hop and when they played Mark Morrison's song "Return of the Mack" it totally took me back to 1996.

I took money out of the ATM today and have only $5 left over. It's fine b/c Scotia Bank and Bank of America are partners so I don't pay a fee for withdrawing cash from their ATMs, but still, I don't want to spend any more money. Tomorrow I want to revisit Old Montreal b.c from what I saw of it tonight, it's gorgeous. Totally reminds me of a European city. Many people are going on a bike food crawl tomorrow but I really don't have the money or the energy or the stomach to do that, so I think Ms. Traveler is going to tour the city on her own tomorrow. Until then... bonne nuit!

Bonjour

Travel day. I’m writing this as we are driving in Quebec on our way to our hotel apartments in Montreal. 10 hours on the road and I am beat. Technology has not been my friend lately. I had charged my iPod at work today and was so pissed when it stopped working on me less than an hour into the trip. I just added new songs to it last night and was not really feeling the weird music being played in the car. Now when I turn the iPod on there’s this little sad face :( I used my phone to listen to some music and then it restarted all on it’s own. Ugh! I’m like this phone better not break on me! Then because I was charging my iPod today at work, my phone battery died on me when we met up with the group in Burlington, VT. Vermont is gorgeous. I would really like to take this drive during the Fall. It’s so pretty and really really really green. We stopped off at a brewery ”Magic Hat” but found out that there was no food, only beer. Some people forgot their passports so were behind us by an hour, so we drove around downtown Burlington and met at the Vermont Brewery. The wait to cross the Canadian border was pretty long, quite a few of us unpatriotic Americans all coming up to Canada for the holiday weekend I guess. This is my first time entering Canada via auto after the whole passport requirement went into effect. Now we are driving across a bridge and I see Montreal all lit up. It’s so pretty. Looking forward to doing some sight seeing and chill-axin’. I’m ready to be out of the car but not looking forward to all the French speaking people and signs. I already know some words… like Ouest (West) and Nord (North). I also found out that I can charge my phone via the USB port on my laptop. Woo whoo!! Now I cant text people that I’m in Canada! This is a very good thing to know, especially for when I’m on long car rides and my phone dies. I tried charging it in the restaurant’s restroom, but that didn’t work out too well. Anyway, in hotel now and it's 11:30, I'm going to bed. Bonne nuit!

Just One of Them Days

What a day. Woke up to the heater on, which we have no control over and it was actually a nice night that I didn't even use my AC. So my pole they painted was hot and the paint smelled. Then I find out that my contacts are all screwed up from last nights phone upgrade. All my Gmail email addresses are gone, only a few of my Gchat friends were still there and now some of my phone numbers that were on my phone before are no longer on the phone. UGH!!!

After work I went and walked along the Esplanade and the Charles b/c I wasn't feeling the gym today and wanted to get a nice Boston photo. It was overcast but otherwise gorgeous. Then went to dinner with my Boston best friend. We went from plan A (Italian place that had a 15-20 minute wait) walked to another one (plan B) was seated right away, had some water and looked at the menu and it was way too pricey and didn't have anything I could eat, so we had to figure out how the hell to leave, lol. Then plan C was this hole in the wall which was a nice neighborhood type bar/restaurant. It was good. I had lobster raviolis and have decided I am not a fan of lobster. I've tried lobster a few times now and it's just not something I like. Then I get home, shower and turn my light on and I have 3 flies flying around in my room. WTF?!?! I'm not in NC anymore :) So of course I don't have a fly swatter, so I had to use rolled up grocery store ads. I got 2 of the 3 and can't find the third one. Ugh! I'm so ready for a vacation!!