The list
of ways for me to write about shopping just isn’t an extensive one. I can tell
you I bought two pairs of socks adorned with Union Jack patterns on them and a
pair of red pants at H&M on our last full day in Montreal, continuing my
personal quest to spice up my wardrobe in 2015, and I can tell you that Gina,
the hip edgy sk8r gurl that she is, bought a hat at Vans; the truth of the
matter, though, is that walking in and out of shops all morning, even on as
bustling and energizing a street as Saint Catherine’s is, just doesn’t make for
the most fascinating reading material.
We did
manage to find the heart of the Underground City on our way back to our new
hotel (quick review: very minimalist and modern, with not much warmth in the
atmosphere inside and a disappointingly small room. The bathroom was heavenly,
though, I must admit.), making up for our struggles in that endeavor the day
before, so score one for the Americans. While it really was no different in
makeup than nearly every other mall I’ve been in, it has a huge advantage
during the freezing winters of Montreal in that visitors can access it from the
metro system and don’t need to take a single step in the frigid outdoor air to
visit countless retail establishments and entertainment options.
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| Hotel St. Paul |
The
evening’s activities were more appealing to me – namely our Italian dinner at a
restaurant very close to the first hotel we stayed in, near Notre-Dame
Basilica. Gina did the best she could with her veal parmesan, and I consumed an
entire plate of pasta carbonara like the appalling glutton that I am, like I
hadn’t eaten a meal since the last time Michigan was good at football, etc etc. I
washed it down with a bottle of Corona, and because Gina is much classier than
I can ever hope to be, she had red wine.
We then
made our second trek to the Bell Centre in two nights, though this time we
would actually get to see a hockey game. After discovering only the night
before that the World Junior Championship was being held in Montreal, as we
were surrounded by hordes of Canadian supporters on the metro headed to watch
their youngsters triumph over Finland on their way to an eventual tournament
title, I had looked up the schedule and found that Germany would be playing
Slovakia on our last night in town. Tickets, as one might guess for a game
involving two nations from central Europe playing in eastern Canada, were very
cheap.
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| The calm before the storm. Too dramatic? |
It was
actually an exciting game, won 5-2 in the end by Slovakia, enabling the victors
to gain a small measure of revenge against their oppressors of 1939. Slovakia
would go on to finish third in the 10-team tournament, so it was fun (for me,
at least) to get to watch a group of young players that seems to be on the rise
and should have a chance to be even more successful as they develop with age
and gain more experience on the international stage.
While all
that is fine and dandy, a real highlight for Gina and I was the group of six or
seven young Canadians who sat in front of us during the first period. I’ve
never seen such frenzied activity on Tinder – the swipes left and right were
coming too fast and furiously for my eyes to process. The girl directly in
front of me had actually matched an hour or so beforehand with the captain of
Germany, who likely should have his mind on other things – I don’t know,
getting ready to play a game, perhaps – instead of being on Tinder in the
dressing room, but what can you do? She messaged him, of course, and I hope
something works out for those potential lovebirds.
We
finished our evening with a couple of outrageously-priced drinks at the hotel
bar, beverages that weren’t even that good, and got to bed early as we left
Montreal at 7 the next morning to make the 400-mile drive back to New Jersey,
where we spent New Year’s Eve catching up for a bit with my aunt and uncle, eating fondue, competing in an epic decorating
battle (which I obviously won) to create the best gingerbread man, and watching
the endlessly cheesy Ryan Seacrest host his show from Times Square. Talk about
balls dropping with that guy, I’ll tell you…
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| Happy New Year! |
My next
adventure will be a return trip to Columbia at the end of January. After
attending a football game, a women’s soccer match, and a men’s and women’s swim
meet on my visits this fall, I’ll make it the quadruple by seeing South
Carolina square off in a true battle of the basketball titans against Georgia.
I’m already feeling tingly. Until then.
