Day 01 - Sainte Catherine - Montreal:   Today I woke up in Marc and Matt's cool little apartment in Toronto.  I slept like a log.  Even Marc's screaming mother on the answering machine couldn't wake me.   Today Marc and I head off to Montreal flying West Jet.. a kooky little Canadian cut price airline.   Montreal looks like a great place.   We are staying at a really nice little guesthouse where we have the largest room in the house overlooking the street.
We quickly headed down to Sainte Catherine to check out the shops and bars along there.  Marc bought a new leather wrist thingy and I bought some new underwear that I've never seen in Oz before.   I also tried on a pair of leather suspenders which I stopped myself from buying (until tomorrow maybe...)    Later we headed back out and had a really bad dinner at a diner which I don't think is really well known for it's food.  For some odd reason people were coming in just to drink and cruise the toilets in the place.  It was really odd...   we thought that drug deals must have been going on back there.   I tried the Deluxe Poutine which is a mix of fries, gravy, cheese, onions, and chopped up steak.   Mmmmm....
After dinner we headed into the Stock Bar where the large bar was packed with men ogling the male strippers coming up and one by one and stripping off completely naked.   And then afterwards they would cruise the bar for guys to take out the back for a "Private Dance".   There was a hallway along the side of the stage where the people wait for the guys to come off the stage to book a private dance.  Marc and I had thought that this was a safe place to stand.   We were wrong.   Anyway, one of the guys came up to me and explained how the place worked.   And in the name of research I went out the back and paid my 20 bucks for a private dance with French-Canadian Brendan.   I was told that I would get a private dance for one song for 20 bucks.   We went out the back and it looked like that scene from that Billy Idol video clip where he is looking for someone at the back of a club and the area is full of booths with curtains over them but you can kinda see what's going on behind them.   Well, I got a quick photo with Brendan, he did this crazy lap dance thing, we killed ourselves laughing and then left.   And I'm sure the song was only 2 minutes long.
There was nothing left to see here so we jumped over to Sky Bar where it seemed liked everything was happening.   A major dance party was going on in the 3rd floor and up on the roof people were relaxing in the substantial rooftop garden (complete with jacuzzi and swimming pool).    This is a great place!   I kinda think I should be spending more of my trip here.  2 nights won't be enough.

Day 02 - Rainy Days:   We woke up early in the guesthouse so we could get the free breakfast and go out shopping in the city.  It rained most of the day so we decided to head to some of the big indoor malls.   We found a shop called Style Exchange where they were having a 2 for 1 deal.  So I bought a new red racey looking track top and Marc got a G-Star t-shirt.   It also came with the advice from the shop assistant to spend our Saturday night at Unity.   We also bought a few things from one of my favourite stores in the world...   ROOTS.    They always have the most amazingly thick and warm pullovers (sweaters).  Both of us were dead tired from a lack of sleep so it wsn't long before we headed home for some sleep.   Along the way we were catching the underground trains which actually run on rubber tyres here.   How bizzare is that?  Just before we got back to the guesthouse we popped into the Priape store where I bought some leather braces.   I have no idea what I will wear them with yet but they look really cool.
For dinner we had an amazingly beautiful Thai dinner at Bato Thai on Sainte Catherine.  One of the most delicious meals I've had since I started travelling.   Afterwards we had some time to kill before we went to Unity so we went and had drinks at the strip joints Stockbar, Campus Bar and then Parking.  Parking is one of the most amazing clubs I have ever seen.  We were there a little earlier to see what it was really like but the place was huge and catered to for so many interests.   Eventually we made it into the Unity club to find hundreds of people dancing to some great music.   I haven't heard club music this loud in ages!  I know my ears will be ringing all the next day.   The crowd was loads of fun too.  Marc spent the whole night dancing while I spent the whole night moving from floor to floor dancing and meeting people.   Eventually I dragged Marc out at 4am.   And even at that time there were loads of people still milling about on the warm streets.   Thankfully the rain had stopped.

Day 03 - Sunday at Ben and Jerrys:     Today is HOT in Montreal.   After another night of very little rest we headed for a little tour to the old town area to look at some of the amazing old buildings.   We had a small tour of the Notre Dame which is the amazing old church where Celine Dion got married.   It wasn't long before we were burning out and ended up in Ben and Jerry's for the biggest icecream fix I've ever had.  I had the Core-Mel  which is a chocolate and vanilla sundae with a melted chocolate core.   Mmmmm....
We still had a few hours to kill before our West Jet flight back to Toronto so we went down by the port where loads of people were jogging, walking, skating, cycling....  laid on the grass and slept.   I hear from the locals that it is not often that Montreal gets amazingly warm weather like this so when it does happen they take full advantage of it.   Today it felt like everyone had gone out into the streets to enjoy it.   It was a great end to out trip in Montreal.   I should also mention how nice our guesthouse was and the guys who run it.   I am definitely putting Montreal on my next trip list.

Day 04 - Hanlon Point:    Back in Toronto and it's going to be an amazingly hot week.   We met up with Matt near his workplace and went and had a beautiful lunch at Salad King, a Thai restaurant downtown.   The heat and humidity is getting unbearable so Marc and I jumped on the ferry and headed over to Centre Island...  one of the most amazing places to see in Toronto.   After I booked this trip I was kicking myself for not having planned to be in any places with a beach.   Well today we not only got the beach but also beautiful water to swim in.  Okay...  so Lake Ontario is not exactly a beach but there was sand, sun and loads of people.   We headed to Hanlon Point which is the official clothing optional section of the island.  And for a Monday there were loads of people there.   Marc and I nearly burnt the skin off our feet getting there because the sand was so dam hot.   And I spent most of the time out swimming up and down the beach.   It was such a nice afternoon.
Later in the night we found ourselves at Firgen's, a pub chain that serves loads of different beers and great pub food.  We were here to meet some of Marc and Matt's friends for a belated birthday celebration for Marc.   Afterwards we met some more friends at a bar nearby (which I don't recall the name) and met a guy there from Sydney.   It's funny how many Aussies I keep bumping into during this trip!  

Day 05 - YMCA:   Did I mention how hot it is here?  People are getting taken to hospital for heat exhaustion and the local news presenter is warning people to try to stay indoors and drink plenty of water.   It's amazing how a city can have both extremes of climate.   It makes our move from 15 to 33 degrees seem insignificant.   We have big plans for today...   well 3 only.   We met Matt downtown at the YMCA where he was able to sign us in to use the facilities for free.  And what an amazing place the Y is!  It has squash courts, a running track, swimming pool, gymnasium, aerobics rooms, and a bunch of other areas I didn't get to see.   It was really hard getting back into lifting weights again.  I'm down to lifting almost half the weight I was lifting at home.   Working out once a week doesn't help either.   I haven't been this skinny in ages.
Afterwards we had a quick salad at Wendy's  (yes...  Wendy's do really nice pre-packed salads here).   And then headed down the road to Terme, a massage clinic where Marc and I both treated ourselves to aromatherapy massages.   The massage by this chunky Mexican boy was amazing!  I felt like jelly by the time I walked out of there.
Then nearby we met Matt and his uncle Stuart at the Keg restaurant, a steakhouse in a beautiful old mansion.   One of the best meals I've had on this trip...  the Keg Fillet Classic meal...   which comes with a caesar salad, vegetables and a big baked potato.  Mmmm...    followed up with a chocolate brownie sundae.   Okay...  so I had to be carried out.
I can get used to days like this.

The days of my trip are going so quickly now!   I woke up this morning and looked at the date.   It is now less than one month before I will be returning to Melbourne.   The trip around Europe seems like such a long time ago.   I have been tying up some loose ends for the future sections of the trip.  Tomorrow evening I will be getting a Tango flight from Toronto to Cleveland and staying at Bill's place since I will be arriving one night earlier than planned.  But it will be good having an extra day there to take a look around before I go and meet the guys who run RGIN.com.   

Day 06 - Did someone say 50% off?    Today I shopped.   It was one of those days where I spent hours wandering lost in the giant Yorkdale shopping mall.   I'm not sure what happened to my travelling budget but I blew it (again) today.   I bought a load of great stuff from ROOTS, H&M, Old Navy, American Eagle and Holt and Renfrew.  A lot of the places had sales on too.  I got a great pair of Diesel Jeans and a really cool parker  (plastic coat) from Energy.   Of course my luggage is way over again so I am going to the post office before I leave tomorrow to send another parcel home.   I have to stop shopping like this.
Marc then gave me instructions to get back into town on the subway.  The system here is pretty simple to navigate.  When I got back into the city I went to Church Street to check out the new and very slick Steamworks.   This place is really amazing.   Apart from the great facilities I really liked the plasma screens everywhere and the huge DJ booth in the lounge.  It was a great way to finish off my manic shopping day.   Unfortunately I didn't get to go along with Matt to the water polo game.   But I heard later that it didn't end up happening because some kid had poo'd in the pool just as they arrived to start the game.   I'm sure if that happened in Australia they would just play around it.

PHOTOS

Marc's dog Sydney	West Jet to Montreal	Free drinks	Free satellite TV	Our huge guesthouse room
		Oscar Wilde pub	Sainte Catherine - Montreal
Stockbar stripper...  and me	Oscar Wilde by night	Shopping at ROOTS		Tough guy at Le Parking club	Ben and Jerry's fix
People in the mall at Montreal				Christmas Shop
	Notre Dame				Poutine!
Montreal Port area			I need a tan		Party boats in the port
Salad King - Toronto	The ferry to Centre Island in Toronto	Toronto		Off to Hanlon Point... the nude beach
Ferry ride home	Marc and Matt in their building's lift	Matt and Sydney