Saturday in Montreal

Bonjour mon amies, ( I hope I just said, Hello friends...I hope)

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE OUR CREW!!! We are so happy to have them here to share this with us and like in Vancouver with Marion, have Tanis walking with us. For the first time in five walks I will not have to walk with a knapsack on my back. The weight of this knapsack with two full water bottles is probably close to 15 pounds on my back for 60 kms. I already have more energy just by not having to carry this around, all because of the CREW!
Since we are "happening chicks"...five white women in the 40's from suburbia.... we have decided that "crew" is not hip and we have changed it now to "peeps" so we are more with the times. So our "peeps" have "Alice" to help them around the city and we start our opening ceremonies in Olympic Stadium at 7am. Once again, the amount of money raised is amazing...2,563 walkers raise 7.9 million for the Jewish Hospital in Montreal. We have now participated in the six walks and the total to this point is $27.5 million dollars raised by 10,132 walkers for breast cancer research. To be part of something this big is something that I will always be proud of and there is one more walk left.
We leave Olympic stadium at 7:30 ish and it is raining but it kind of feels OK. We are walking out from the field level of the stadium and up a ramp to the street. We were near the front so it was neat to be able to look back down the ramp and see the thousands of people behind you. All I can think of as I am walking up the ramp is....WOW this is the same spot where they had the opening ceremonies for the Olympics in 1976 and here I am walking in the same stadium. I know it sounds "hokey" but I don't think there could ever be a greater thrill then to hear your national athem played for you while you are wearing the Canadian flag. OK...maybe having kids...maybe....depending on the kids! ha ha. Geez, when the Olympics are on and they play the gold medal winner's national anthem I cry. I don't even know anyone from Turkey but if their athelete wins gold...I am crying like a baby for them.
It does not rain for long though and that is OK because our "peeps" are with us so we can unload our rain jackets with them. I LOVE OUR PEEPS! Once the rain stops though the humidity gets higher and it gets hot. So hot now it is officially a "shin sweater"! Part of the walk takes us up Westmount and we can see the famous neighbourhood where Mulroney, Chretian and the rich and famous of Montreal live. The fellow who runs Tommy Hilfiger of Canada just spent a reportedly 1 million on his garage. We saw his bushes. Very exciting. Once at the top though it was a beautiful view of the city and it is too bad that it was an overcast day. It was still great to see though. Unlike Vancouver this was the only hill we really had to do over the two days so it was not that bad.
We left Westmount and headed for lunch at a monestary established in the early 1900's. Once again our "peeps" come through for us. When in Montreal you have to have a Montreal smoked meat sandwich and guess what our "peeps" got for us for lunch. Yup, you guessed it....Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwiches! There are two spots to go to in Montreal for these....Schwartz's and Main on the Main (also happens to be right across from Schwartz's). This is where "Alice" shone. Deb and Patti just plugged in "Schwartz" and she took them right to the front door. She had just paid for herself right then and there. Well, that sandwich tasted so good because for one...it was good and second it was not the cold pasta chicken lunch provided by the Walk. The other thing that was very luxorious was a lawn chair. After walking approximately 18 kms sitting on the grass is not a lot of fun. So my "peeps" went out and bought me a lawn chair and it felt like a well worked in Lazy Boy. It was ssooooo comfortable. I LOVE OUR PEEPS!!!
After lunch we met our new friend, Francine. Francine is a neo-natal nurse at the Jewish Hospital and she had many stories to tell. The one I like the most was her 50th birthday party. Her family and husband wanted to throw a big party for her and she insisted that they not do that. Instead she went to New York by herself and was a kid again. She went and saw the Lion King on Broadway and loved it and then decided to see the Rosie O'Donnell show where Hilary Clinton was the guest for the day. I just thought this was really interesting. To spend a milestone birthday by yourself and just reflect on life. Past and present. Francine, says "she is not ready for 60" but if the family wants to throw a party she is OK with it. Even if she is not ready to be 60. Interesting thought...to be "ready" for an age. When does that change? You are definitely ready to be 1....turning five is a big one and you are ready for it...10 is huge because it is double digits....16 is sweet just because you get to drive....19 well nothing more needs to be said about that one....and then 21. Could be good can be stressful. 25 or 30 it seems we are not so "ready" for our birthdays anymore. I am lucky though because I will be immature for my whole life so birthdays don't really bother me. Not yet anyway. Probably because when someone asks me how old I am...42 is not the first number that comes to mind. I am still somewhere in my early twenties and most days I still feel that old. Maybe except for Sunday nights after walking 60 kms!! Then I feel older than 42...closer to 92!
When we were walking in Montreal I found a new favourite word that the French use all the time. The word is "BRAVO". When some of the people found out that we were walking in all seven walks they would make a point of clapping towards us and saying "BRAVO". It was very different. In other cities, the comments were very flattering and kind but it was the way the people of Montreal said it...clapping towards you and saying "BRAVO". Try it. BRAVO is a fun word to say...BRAAVOOOO. It is my new word. I am now very french. BRAVO.
We finished our walk around 3:30 and once again were in the top 500. It was an absolutely incredible way to see the beautiful city of Montreal. As I said earlier, you always have fun in Montreal and today was no exception. Montreal is very unique and always fun.
With love and thanks, (l'amour and merci....not bad eh)
M.J.