Settled Into My Own Apartment

Monday, May 28, 2018--Montreal

Wes left the hotel about 7:50 this morning to catch a bus to the airport.  The first of his 3 flights was scheduled at 11:00.  He should have plenty of time here, since the bus only takes a little over an hour to get to the airport.  Hope he makes his two connections--in Toronto and in Houston.  When I leave, I will only have one connection in Houston, but I will have to be at the airport EARLY since my first flight is scheduled at 9:05!

When I left the hotel at 8:50, I expected to have plenty of time to reach the apartment by 10:00 even if I had an unexpected delay or difficult time finding the place.  But one of the two delays I encountered was a truly unexpected one that meant having to perform something technically illegal to get to where I needed to be.

First, I had bought an OPUS transportation card Saturday.  That's the chip card where you load fares to be able to ride the buses and metro by slapping the card against a panel.  I needed to renew it to become a weekly card today, since their weekly cards only run from Monday through Sunday.  (Too bad, because a 7-day weekly card from Saturday afternoon would have met all my needs for the trip if they could start any day of the week.)  I thought it would go as smoothly today to add the weekly pass as when I bought the card with a 1-day pass recorded on it Saturday.  But I couldn't figure out where to place the card in a slot for it to be refreshed.  Fortunately, some Hispanic women who speak English walked up behind me and showed me how to do it.  So it took about 5 minutes longer to get the card refreshed than it should have.

But then, the big problem occurred.  When I slapped the card at the turnstile, it kept giving me a red light.  And no one was working at the manned booth there.  I tried and tried with time passing.  Finally, knowing I was too far from my destination to walk, I just pushed my bag under the turnstile and them crawled under it myself!!  ( Although this was technically illegal to do, I wasn't too worried.  I had my receipt that showed I had just bought a weekly pass, since the rules say you must get your receipt and show it to the people who do random checks to make sure passengers have made a valid payment for the trip.  But I was worried that they might speak only French if anyone caught me.)  All went well, though, and when I got to my end station there was a man in the booth.  I realized I still had time to reach the apartment, so I asked if he spoke English and explained what had happened.  He checked my card and said that I had a valid weekly pass.  Then he asked me to put it on one of the turnstiles there to test it, and the light turned green.  I don't know if there was a timed delay after purchase before the computer connected to the turnstiles would recognize the card or if something just went wrong the first time I tried to use it and then it wouldn't accept my card afterward at that same station (as if I were trying to let someone piggyback on my card).  Anyway, that problem was out of the way now so I can use my card the rest of the week.

I could have caught a bus from the metro station to the apartment, but I wanted to walk to determine the time it would take.  As I wrote above, I have to leave on Saturday at a very early hour to catch a bus to the airport.  The first metro run is at 5:48 from my station, and the buses start at 5:30 and aren't reliable enough for me to want to take one to the metro station; I would rather walk and be there on time for sure.  It took me 30 minutes at a medium pace with my luggage this morning.  So Saturday, going fast, I should be able to get there in plenty of time if I leave the apartment at 5:15.  And that metro will get me to a stop half-way to the airport where I can transfer to the next departing airport bus.  I should arrive at the terminal with 1 1/2 to 2 hours remaining before my flight.

After my two delays and the stop to check my card at my final metro stop, I actually still arrived early at the apartment--at 9:40 instead of 10:00.  Just after I got here, the woman who owns the apartment was coming out of her apartment below to bring up towels and a bath mat, so she greeted me and told me to come on up.  She already had the place clean with the bed made.  I am staying at the "Hey, I'm Berangere!" apartment on Airbnb.   It is exactly as it looks in the online photos.  It's very clean and comfortable.  And the owner lives in the apartment below me in case I need to contact her about anything.

Today, I am relaxing.  Mondays are slow days for things to do anyway.  I will go to the supermarket to buy some milk, eggs, meat, bread, etc., for having breakfast and dinner here at the apartment.  I will check out the places in the neighborhood just to see what it is like.  I'm looking forward to feeling like a local resident for a few days.
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In the middle of the afternoon, I went to a grocery store to buy some things.  Then I read through my Montreal literature to decide what to see in the next few days.

This neighborhood consists of townhouses with 2-3 apartments per townhouse.  There is a small yard in front of each which is generally not maintained well; some are even bricked over and most others have weeds.  Most people seem to live in their back yards which are larger and often having lawn furniture.  My apartment has two balconies--one looking out over the front street which seems to be unused and another with a small table and chairs off the kitchen overlooking the back yards and the alley.

About 6:30, I opened a bottle of wine, sliced part of a French baguette, spread the slices with butter, and put some salami on them.  I sat at the table on the back balcony planning for the food to be an appetizer before making dinner.  But it was so good that I decided to make that my dinner and made some more.

It was sunny and warm out there.  And the back alley is really the active area for locals to move about.  I've seen people going up and down it all day.  While I was eating and relaxing there, some children were playing in the alley, a couple was relaxing on their patio across the way, and other people were coming and going from their homes.  It was pleasant just to watch what everyone was doing and made me feel like a part of the neighborhood.

In the evening, I connected my computer to the TV and watched a Netflix film.  Now it is about 22:15, and I am going to bed for the night.