Bonsoir (Day 1)

My first full day in Montreal is done!

Well, technically I still have time to go out and do stuff, but I'm still feeling stuffy and crappy from the cold... so I'm calling it an early night.

Here's the view I woke up to:

Not great but not bad! At least we get the sun about 1.5 hours earlier here than in Saskatoon.

My hotel/apartment has a decent little cold breakfast, and then I went to work:

Cube city... just like Saskatoon, but higher walls.

The Montreal office is pretty nice and full of great people. I couldn't get started on much meaningful work though, because the guy I'm going to work with was out for the day. My workday ended up being like most workdays - there's nothing in Saskatoon I can't access from Montreal.

At lunch a colleague took me to the Montreal Underground (La Ville Souterraine) for lunch; it's pretty neat. I wanted to take some pictures but it was to busy - I didn't want to drop my phone! I did take a picture of a place that baked artisan bread, almost directly below my office:

Mmm.... bready.

On the way home I walked a different route and walked past this neat old church (the Anglican, I think):

Church-tastic!

And I also walked past this classy joint:

SUPER SEXE. I think my boss told me to go here. Mmmm no. Nice sign though!

Here are some other things I learned today:

• The stereotype of Montreal drivers being bad is wrong; the pedestrians are terrible. They run out everywhere and practically stand in the middle of the road waiting for lights to change. 
• Elevators don't have licenses posted in them. 
• You can buy a case of Molson Dry (hated by Quebecers, loved by me and my pals) for $15 here; the SLGA sells it for $22 but you can usually only find it at Sask offsales for $26-28. Also, you can get it at grocery stores. Win! 
• Today I learned about the "McGill Ghetto" - slang for the area by McGill University. My hotel is in the "ghetto". This isn't evident until you go to the grocery store after 6pm and can't see a single person over 25 buying groceries. It's kind of a strange feeling. 
• Update: a crowd of people just walked past my building chanting "More beer, more beer more beer more beer."