montreal recap

so i was hoping to bum off someone else's blog for a weekend recap, but since they are lagging (gerald has started putting up detailed posts here and here), here's my montreal weekend in a nutshell:

friday 2/17
- went shopping at the brooklyn target for snacks, cd/tape converter, and games

saturday 2/18
- woke up at 8AM to pack, although we didn't actually hit the road until 11AM
- we stop for lunch near the woodbury outlets at around 2PM (normally an hour's drive outside of manhattan). janet braved crazy new york traffic, and kept her cool even though new jersey has the worst signage ever.
- i take over driving duties, at least until we hit the adironback mountains and run out of gas. susana and francis hitch a ride to the nearest gas station with a friendly crazy looking old man, returning with a gas container which francis uses to fill the tank with no gloves on, in sub-zero (fahrenheit) temperature (thanks francis!).
- gerald drives the remainder of the way to montreal, making good time aside from a speeding ticket issued by a very unfriendly new york state trooper.
- arrive at the border. my passport picture is agreed upon as the worst.
- we arrive just in time for dinner at garcon (after pushing our reservations back to 9PM).
- after a great dinner (lobster bisque and chilean sea bass for me), we check in at the starwood hotel (thanks to susana!). it's been colder here than in any time in new york!
- head down to the bar for beer and pool. francis and susana beats janet and i soundly. the non-engineer in the group is far and away the best in this game of angles and force.
- we play a few games of boggle. i don't experience my usual domination, as francis has actually played similar games before and is very good. gerald and susana, not so much.
- janet and susana take one bed, francis and i take the other, and gerald hits the floor as we are all thoroughly exhausted.

sunday 2/19
- we kick off the day with a feast at beauty's where we ordered nearly everything on the menu. it was all delicious, and even better, dirt cheap!
- next up, mont royal. i stepped out for a minute to snap a few shots, then retreated back into the warm car where i quickly fell asleep for the rest of the mountain tour.
- time to go shopping! gerald, francis and i split off from the girls, and proceeded to pick up some apparel at roots (a canadian sporting good store) and mini-hockey jerseys at mcdonald's.
- night is falling as we head to schwartz to sample their famous smoked meats. similar to our meal at beauty's we order tons of food, which is again delicious and inexpensive. $4.55 canadian for a monster sandwich - just like at katz's deli (but with smoked meat rather than pastrami)!
- after dinner we take a driving tour of old montreal. it was nice but nothing worth writing home (or extensively on the blog) about.
- finally head back to the hotel. i think there was another driving snafu on the way back, but i was sound asleep in the back seat.
- susana wins the most excrutiating game of of uno ever! next time we adhere strictly to the printed rules (no more picking up 20+ cards!).
- this time i hit the floor as we are once again exhausted.

monday 2/20
- we wake up early and hit the road around 11AM.
- quick stop at the duty-free shop at the border to exchange our remaining canadian cash.
- lunch at kfc.
- a one hour stop turns into three hours at the woodbury outlet. they did have some very good stores though, possibly the best outlet i've ever been to.
- i finally arrive home at 11 PM. thanks to gerald, susana, francis, and last but not least, janet (our driver and other birthday boy/girl!) for a fantastic weekend!