Heatwave

It's damn hot today. Perhaps not as hot as it was when I was in the desert, but hotter than the past couple of days, reaching above 30 degrees. It's meant to stay like that for the next couple of days. According to the weather report, the whole northeast is meant to be experiencing high heat and thunderstorms in the coming days.

Since I'm here in Montréal for two weeks, I've decided to take it easy today, mostly hanging out in the hostel, and possibly doing a bit of grocery shopping or something. The hostel is a pretty cool place. Possibly not the best accommodation I've ever seen, but it does have a lot going for it. First and foremost (and definitely the first thing you notice after you check in) is the character of the place. Your first impression is that of pure class. The place is literally a shed, and that's not a bad thing. The wooden structure, and within it the wooden bunk beds, immediately makes Le Sous-bois a hostel that stands out from the rest. The free Internet, laundry, breakfast, and coffee are only positive afterthoughts. Even the bathroom area sticks to the theme. You can't help but love the sinks, which are basically plant pots with drainage installed into them.

The only downfall the hostel may have is the apparent lack of privacy. The majority of beds are all in one huge common area, covered only by their own personal curtains. Even the 'private' rooms are little shacks (which are really quite cool) outside, in the shared patio. However, this just adds to the whole character aspect. If you don't mind a bit of a sacrifice in terms of your privacy, you'll soon find out that it is to create a relaxed, old-school vibe. I'd almost state that it's like the Big Brother house, but that would imply boisterousness and bad behaviour. Not so. In fact, the open-community-style atmosphere is anything but. It's generally quiet and friendly, and disturbances are fairly rare. In short, I quite like this place. Definitely not a bad place in which to spend a bit of down time.

Experiencing Old Town

I started off my first full day in Montréal doing not much at all. I woke up close to midday due to my lack of sleep the previous day. My first order of business was to figure out what exactly there was to do, particularly in my part of town. As I soon found out, Vieux-Montréal (Old Montréal) is a great place to see some old architecture (which I always enjoy seeing). I had a long walk around, mostly taking pictures (a few of which are here) and walking along the Old Port along the St. Lawrence River. Despite the sights, I got tired a bit too easily, and I soon retired back to the hostel for a bit of rest, and also a bit of reading. I wanted to finish reading Xenocide, book three of the Ender quartet, before I left the city, so that I could leave it behind at the hostel and decrease the weight of my somewhat cumbersome bag.

I perhaps succeeded a bit too quickly in that task. After taking some night shots (which I have not uploaded yet), I came back to the hostel and read another (very long) chapter of the book before heading to bed (bedtime ended up being about 1 in the morning). I finished the book this morning, after having breakfast and determining that it was far too hot to do any strenuous activities, especially in the middle of the day. A good book, I have to say, but it left me wanting more (i.e. I really want to buy the fourth book now). I'll try to hold off until Toronto so that my efforts to finish reading the book in Montréal would not prove to be counterproductive.

Incidentally, the weather is meant to cool down on Thursday, the day when the Jazz Festival begins. I'm hoping to get at least a bit of in-line skating done on the F1 circuit (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve) before heading over to check out the festival's... erm... festivities. I'm actually expecting to get a fair bit of in-line skating done while I'm here since, apart from the Jazz Festival, I don't think there's two week's worth of sights left for me to see, so enjoying the lifestyle seems to be the best plan.