We slept for ten hours solid on our first night back and woke up on the Sunday morning feeling far from refreshed. But hey ho, that's part of travelling. More importantly it was a Sunday; and that means...??
Bagels!
The brightness of the sun only served to enhance this desire to venture outside, but it was somewhat cooler when we stepped out of the front door than when we had stepped out into the Sydney sunshine, that's for sure! Despite there being a substantial snow storm in Montreal whilst T and were up in the air somewhere between Sydney and LA, by the time we landed in the city on Saturday evening the snow had all but disappeared and there was just the grey slush left, and by the time we went for our bagel-walk this sludge had more or less all melted.
It was nice to be in the freshness of the crisp air to be honest, and we dazedly went on the hunt for bagels, opting for the further away Fairmount bakery: more walking, but that is rewarded with a warm, oozy chocolate bagel!
Bagels!
The brightness of the sun only served to enhance this desire to venture outside, but it was somewhat cooler when we stepped out of the front door than when we had stepped out into the Sydney sunshine, that's for sure! Despite there being a substantial snow storm in Montreal whilst T and were up in the air somewhere between Sydney and LA, by the time we landed in the city on Saturday evening the snow had all but disappeared and there was just the grey slush left, and by the time we went for our bagel-walk this sludge had more or less all melted.
It was nice to be in the freshness of the crisp air to be honest, and we dazedly went on the hunt for bagels, opting for the further away Fairmount bakery: more walking, but that is rewarded with a warm, oozy chocolate bagel!
We experienced quite a few hour changes during our trip as we made our way through the time zones. We had just become used to the clocks going forward in Montreal, then we flew to the UK where they were four hours ahead of us. Our struggle to get up in the morning was amplified when, three days after we arrived, the UK clocks went forward an hour. Four days trying to acclimatize to that time, and then we went to Germany where they hopped forward an hour. Arriving in Sydney, it was ten hours ahead of Munich, which turned out to be nine hours ahead, as the morning we landed the clocks went back there (so at least we were saved one change!). Then to finish with we had a prolonged Saturday, virtually living the day twice, as Montreal is fourteen hours behind Sydney time at the moment...
All very confusing, not only for my mind to comprehend but also for my body clock to try to adjust to!
Over the course of the following week, T and I slowly adjusted back to Montreal time.
I woke up on Monday morning at 2.30am and failed to get back to sleep, so that was not a good start to the week. As I lay there feeling wide awake I was tempted to carry on the tradition of the past week and get up and go for a stroll in the fresh air, but somehow the dark, quiet city streets in temperatures the cooler side of zero degrees weren't as tempting as the sunny, relatively busy beach at Balmoral. So instead, I got up and took some meat out of the freezer for supper that evening (do not ask me why I did this, but I did), and then the ME aired it's disapproval in the guise of making me feel sick, so I had to go back to bed.
Albie thought this early morning activity was great. Well, when I got up at 3am to get a drink of water he was fast asleep on the chair, and my patting of him was met with a small meow and then a firm curling up into an even tighter ball. However, when I got up again at 5am he jumped off the chair delighted to have some company at that hour and continued to greet me with loud miaows (which I then had to try and dampen for fear of waking the others). He seemed to think we should have an early breakfast seeing as how we were up and all, and was not impressed when I didn't agree with this idea of his and went back to bed.
Thankfully the city has warmed up since we left. It still has the odd cooler glitch, but for the most part we are no longer needing our big winter coats and boots. Walking around the neighbourhood everywhere looks unfamiliar without the foot or so of snow lining the pavements. It's amazing how the scenery changes; flowerbeds and paving, shrubs and statues are now visible, and patches of colour from budding trees and flowers break up the brown and grey tinge leftover from winter. Montreal feels like a totally different city.
Not only that, but it takes alot less time to walk places now we are not sliding around on icy pavements or trying to navigate huge drifts of snow.
As well as visually, the season brings with it it's distinctive scent: a rich earthy smell, the aroma of the Autumn leaves being warmed by the sun, a freshness. The place also sounds different. Small birds have appeared (where have they been hiding all winter?!) and their chatter can be heard as they flutter from tree to tree. It seems as though everything and everyone is excited about this new warmth after the past cold months.
The temperature jumps around though: on Friday it reached a balmy 20 degrees, but come the following day and it was dark, dismal and cold (5 degrees)...added to which, it snowed. We keep thinking we have seen the last snow shower of the winter only to be proved wrong - surely this was the last...surely it really is Springtime this time...??
The temperature jumps around though: on Friday it reached a balmy 20 degrees, but come the following day and it was dark, dismal and cold (5 degrees)...added to which, it snowed. We keep thinking we have seen the last snow shower of the winter only to be proved wrong - surely this was the last...surely it really is Springtime this time...??