My Next Car !

Too bad I didn't win the $ 22 million at the lottery last Friday. That's a joke, I don't play those kind of games, but I bet the winner is now thinking of getting a car like this one ! Now that the snow is gone, many Montréalais ( that's how we call people living in Montreal in French ) are taking their nice cars out. I've seen this Lamborghini driving in town many times, as well as other ones like Ford GT 40, Ferraris, Bentleys, Porches or Mustangs. Talking about nice cars, here is a little story. I remember once coming back from IKEA with my car, and many people were looking at my car ( there are not many cars like this one in here ) until .... I've been over passed by a white with blue stripes Ford GT 40 ( that was funny, the colors of the car matched the colors of the Quebec license plate ! ).

Spring is Coming

It's the first time since I am living in Montreal that I can see some vegetation in the downtown area. Besides the relatively chilly nights we have in Montreal, the leaves are coming out again. It feels good to see some colors in this city. I took this shot on Mackay street this morning on my way to school. Most of those buildings ( if not all of them ) except the large concrete tower belong to Concordia. I've never been inside so far, but I've seen that all of those buildings are used as offices for the university.

Rainy Night on Ste Catherine St.

Yesterday night, or I should say early this morning, I made it out from Quebec City just one time for the last subway ( 1:00 am ). Since I park my car in a public parking lot underneath the UQAM university. (It's 3 subway stations away from where I am living now) I have to take the subway if I want to go and use my car. I took this shot after coming out of the Guy Concordia subway station. I really like this shot; It turned out pretty good with the lights and the wet road. Watching all these hockey game made me want to play hockey again. It's now been more than a month since I've been on the ice. I didn't play since I lost my equipment in the fire. For sure now the next thing on my "What's next to buy" list is a hockey equipment.

France vs. Belarus

Today I was off again to Quebec City to watch the 2008 ice hockey world championship at the Colisée Pepsi ( Pepsi Coliseum ). This time it was France against Belarus, with a 3-1 win for Belarus. France will play their neighbor Italy while Belarus will battle neighbouring Russia that day. I want to thank again Mr. Pierre Pousse for getting me a free ticket to the game.
Once the game was over, I headed straight back to Montreal. It was the first time for me to take the freeway at night outside of the Montreal Island. Oh my god, the roads are terrible. Moreover that day it was raining cats and dogs outside. It was impossible for me to see the marks on the road, and with nothing delimiting where the sides of the highway ends, I found it very dangerous.

Is this Paris Hilton ?

As the summer season gets closer, you get to see many girls walking in the street dressed like this woman on the picture above. I personally think that it looks like .... well.... how can I say that, I don't want to offense anybody, but I think that sometimes it's too much. I mean come one, with her blond hair, her huge sunglasses ( at least today was sunny, because sometimes I see some girls walking outside in the street wearing sunglasses while it's raining ) and her fake pink fur. In addition, there is also the purse, and the cigarette. She's trying to much. I get so see girls like that every day in Montreal. Who does she think she is ? a Hollywood star ? well if you understand my point, you'll make your own judgement....

Looking up !

Today I was back in school, I woke up early, and since I had time, I went to school to use the internet. By the way, I don't know what is tacking so long for Bell to hook up the internet in my apartment, but it's been a week already since last time I showed up in one of their store to ask them. (by the way, it's a different story, but the employes of Bell that speak french don't know their job !!! I might have talked to at least 10 different french speakers from Bell to ask them to get a "dry loop" for my internet connection. None of them were able to help me, so I finally hanged up and called again, this time I pressed #2 and spoke in english. Finally I had to deal with somebody that knew what he was talking about). Well, well, well, to come back to today's story, since I don't have the internet ... YET ! I have to go to school to access it. I took this shot while looking up in the EV building in Concordia.

Quebec City

After yesterday's game, I thought I'll stay and spend the night in Quebec City, I was a bit tired to hit the road and head back to Montreal. I wanted to sleep in Quebec City, but with the hockey games going on right now, all the hotels were packed for couple weeks. So I ended up sleeping inside my car as you can see on this photo. I felt like I was sleeping inside the Frontenac Castle ( the impressive castle in the background), with a leather bed and carpet on the ground.... my car was perfect for me and all of that for $0.
Quebec City is located about 233 km ( 145 mi) East of Montreal, it is the second largest city in the province, after Montreal. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec ( like you can see on this photo) are the only remaining fortified city walls in the Americas north of Mexico, and were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the "Historic District of Old Quebec". It is also one of the oldest cities in North America (founded in 1608).
Quebec City is internationally known for its Summer Festival, Winter Carnival and the Château Frontenac, a historic hotel which dominates the city skyline. To view more pictures of my day spent in Quebec City, Click Here.

France vs. Switzerland

Today I was off to Quebec City to watch an ice hockey game between France and Switzerland at the Pepsi Coliseum for the world championship. The French team lost 4-1 against their (european) neighbor. I was lucky to get a free ticket to assist the game thank to Mr. Pierre Pousse, the coach/trainer of the French team was in the past my coach/trainer when I used to play hockey in France. You can see him on the bench behind the players right of the little french flag. On this picture you can see the game starting with the puck dropped between Meunier and Monnet. To see more pictures of this game, click here.

Enjoying a Cigar

The 12 degrees celsius temperatures don't seem to bother this old man enjoying a cigar while reading the news on Ste. Catherine street.

Theme Day : Numbers in your City

Since the first day I saw buses in Montreal, I was wondering what the "POLICE 911" red sign was used for on the top of the left window. My guess was that maybe, in case something goes wrong on board of the bus, the driver simply turn this signal on to warn people outside to call the police. Just like in banks, with a silent alarm. Hum... who knows, maybe I watch too much television...

Good Start of Summer Semester

Today was my first day of school for the summer semester. I decided to arrive a little early ( 8:30) in order to give me time to find my room location. On my way to go there, I walked next to this lady, asleep, in the student lounge. If she was a bit younger, I'll say that she's been partying every day during the break and now she is trying to get some sleep back. Good luck for all of those who went back to class this morning. 

Circular Building

Couple days ago I found a great place in Montreal to go groceries shopping. It's called Aubut and it's located on St. Amboise street few blocks behind the Atwater Market. Inside you can get almost everything you need for a restaurant, and for a very low cost. The only bad thing is that you need to get a car to drive back home with your groceries because it's being sold in large quantities. I'll try to go there at least once a week and great all my groceries for the week over there. Tomorrow school starts again for me, so I use this last day of vacation to go out groceries shopping. On the way to go there, I came across this odd looking building, with a circular wall on the east side of the building. I still don't know what this building is used for, but for sure, next time I go there, I'll try to know more about this building.