…then She took a wrong turn at the cemetery and it all went uphill from there.
I think it is wonderful to be in a city that never seems to sleep. Because apparently, neither do I. Ha Ha. At first i thought the time zone change might be the problem… but the 2 hour difference between time zones is kind of minor really, I think it might be the 48 hour bus ride that has destroyed whatever sleep schedule I had developed for myself. Yesterday I went exploring within a 10km radius of the University Du Montreal, I decided to follow the large green dome I see outside my window every morning and go see what it was.
It turned out to be L’Oratoire Saint-Joesph du Mont-Royal, an amazing church building atop of a hill. The distance from here to there was misleading, which I have to attribute to it’s absolutely massive size, I thought it would be much closer but it ended up being about 2km away (which, yes is rather close anyway.) It is 124m tall (408 feet) I spent about an hour there, wandering inside and outside of the church, and the surrounding parks. Really quite a beautiful place. There were so many people there, though I guess that is to be expected considering it was a beautiful day, and also a Sunday.
As I was walking back to the residence, I saw a familiar sign, and I have to say I got excited to see it. Well it was not really familiar but I knew what it was, Pharmaprix (aka Shoppers Drug Mart). I stocked up on some basics, and upon exiting the Pharmaprix, next door was this fabulous grocery store, Metro, where I bought even more things. Including vegan margarine made in Trois Riviers, Quebec, and fantastic french bread (they make my life extra easy because the ingredients were right on the bread bins) Fantastic I think to myself. I am ready to go “Home”.
Alas, it was not to be. I walked in the direction I thought was right, but I took a wrong turn around a HUGE graveyard, Cimetière de Notre-Dame-Des-Neiges, which is the biggest cemetery in all of Canada (and the third largest in North America). Not to mention this direction I decided to take was also uphill. Terrible. 4km uphill, I don’t really recommend it if you have groceries on your arms. Especially if like me, you enjoy diet Pepsi, and bought copious amounts of it on your visit to the grocery store.
So I walked up the hill to Parc Mont-Royal, since by the time I realized I was going the wrong direction it became meaningless. I snapped a few photos at the Park (which was also full of people enjoying the gorgeous summer weather) and decided it was time to catch the bus. 2,75$ and I was on my way, hopeful that we would soon be near a Metro station.
I love the Metro system here because I know where I’m going with it and how to get back to the student residence. It makes complete sense. Though I don’t know if/how people with disabilities/reduced mobility use it because I could not find an elevator anywhere, and half of the stairwells do not have escalators. Maybe it is a secret I will learn someday soon.
I went grocery shopping again today, of course I bought bread, and I saw a sorbet in the freezer section called Solo Fruit Sorbet, there were four flavours, Mango, Blackberry, Passion Fruit and Pear. I decided to try pear and it was so refreshing absolutely lovely. Yet another product that is vegan and also made in La Belle Province. Au Revoir