Geographically Challenged

Friday 5/21: Today was pretty uneventful. I checked out of the Holiday Inn and lugged everything uphill to Castel St. Denis, the same little 2 star hotel I stayed at last year. It was a bit of a hike, but I arrived without incident. The room is slanted and the Internet only works when you lying on the ground close to the door, and it's still spotty, but you get what you pay for and it's a good location. I unloaded my stuff and quickly went back out on a mission to find the Portuguese place Dan found last year. I had a pretty good idea of where I was going, but it still took an hour wandering around when it should have taken 20 minutes tops. Oh well, I got reacquainted with that part of the city. I tried to get a hold of a few people to give me directions, but then I stumbled upon it. (For future reference, Geoff, it's on St. Laurent). I had thought it was on a side street, but it turned out it was on one of the main Montreal roads. I had the sausage again and it did not disappoint. After lunch, I decided to go on another mission, this time to find spruce beer. Last year, we found some in a cheese shop in the Italian District, and I remembered the general direction I should be headed. (see a theme here) My search came up empty, I never found the Italian district, and at one point I managed to actually leave Montreal city limits. Still, it was a nice but tiring 2.5 hour tour of a more residential side of Montreal. I came back to the hotel to regroup and rest for a bit before striking out for dinner. I headed back to St. Laurent and stopped at Schwartz Deli, famous for its smoked meat. Smoked meat is a pretty big thing in Montreal, and the sandwich was awesome. After dinner I walked towards St. Catherine, another big Montreal street, but I think I was about an hour too early to see the beginnings of the nightlife crowd come to life. I considered sticking around, but by this point I was felt dead on my feet from all the walking, so I headed back to the hotel. I don't think I would have had as much fun by myself this time around as I did with Dan and James last year anyway.