Boston and more

I got into Boston late last afternoon last night. what a cool city. unfortunately there was a convention or something going on that weekend, so my hostel overbooked! and everywhere you went, it didn't allow overnight parking or it would have cost like $20 to park or something. so i drove all over the city, and a great seafood dinner at the infamous no name restaurant, visited Cheers pub and then proceded to drive north towards montreal.


Boston Skyline


the best seafood chowdah...ever (notice...NO potatoes!)


mmm...seafood platter


Cheers (the TV set looks WAY BIGGER)



i figured things would open up and be much cheaper as you got out of the city. nope. i was like 150 miles north of boston and everything else was either full or over $100 to stay for the night. yea right, i'll drive forever before i'll pay $100 a night for a place to sleep for 8 hours. if anything, i knew i could always pull into rest areas and be just fine. so i kept pulling into exits and following signs to accomodations. drove thru massachusetts, and new hampshire and by the time i got into vermont, i was gearing up to either drive straight into montreal or just pull over. i ended up finding this obscure bed and breakfast out of nowhere, and it was like less than $40 a night. for one of the coolest heritage buildings i have ever seen, it was built before the turn of the century. anyway, got in, met up with the owner and he was with some guests, just chatting it up. they were musicians from Boston. i asked them if they heard of my friend Obi's band, westbound train...they didnt. sorry bud.

anyway, had my first glass of wine in 2 months and a crazy time talking relgion and faith with these goth looking rock band people. i asked what kind of music they did and they said "heavy but not metal" i just nodded and said "oh yea, cool" i have no idea what that means. do you? lyle the owner, started out of nowhere his personal rendition of "Danny Boy" in the key of B flat. nice, and then Bridge the lead singer of the band, sang some other song she knew when she was a kid. good thing they didn't ask me to sing anything out of memory.

i'm in montreal right now. another VERY COOL city. and planning on catching a canadien's game right now. i hear the hockey fans here are crazy, and i'm hoping they are more raucous than the yankee fans in new york. cos that would do me proud.
the hostel here is NOT overbooked and generally very cool. walked around old montreal and i'm in the latin quarter right now. the notre dame cathedral is just amazing. but interestingly enough, the only place in the city where i felt like i didn't fit in. (i was told many times to take my hat off). i'm in like the gay district of montreal and don't feel ostracised at all. ah the church, its an interesting organism.

Old Montreal


Notre Dame Cathedral (outside)



Notre Dame Cathedral (inside)




i'll be in ottawa and toronto tomorrow, staying with an old roommate, john kim. and then i head off to SK. for all SK people reading...i can't find a place to stay from oct 26th to nov 4th. its not confirmed yet, but i do have a place from Nov 5th onwards. anything affordable seems to be either unavailable or booked up. if you know of anything (even just a 3'x7' space on someone's carpet, email me at darrell_lim(at)yahoo(dot)com. i should be able to check it tomorrow night.

i miss talking french, its cool here.