The second worst thing that happened today was that I had to get up at 7am on a SUNDAY! Ack. Fortunately, I had made up a sort of cinnamon bread pudding kind of thing last night, so I just tossed that in the oven and headed out with Stuart and Ursa for a walk. When we got back from the cold and dark, there was warm, soft, cinnamon-y goodness waiting for us!
I finished up all the last minute packing things and we actually headed out for the airport according to schedule. I had splurged on a fancy new "airport friendly" laptop backpack for carry-on and wandering through Montreal, and several of us were curious to see just how friendly airport security thought it was. I spent about half an hour in line to check my bag and then wandered down the hall to security. It was, quite literally, three minutes from the time I got to the back of the short line to when I'd collected my stuff and got out of the way. I was able to just unzip the clamshell bag and send it through the scanner without unpacking the laptop. Hey presto!
I bought a Subway for the flight ($3.29 versus $6 for the small selection on the flight) and found my boarding lounge. The plane boarded on time and wheels left the tarmac about 4 minutes late. Usually, I'm able to settle in to a flight and just let the time pass - I was a little more restless on this one and couldn't seem to stay focused. I read, watched tv, played with my iphone games, listened to music and gazed out at cloud banks. Thank god the flight wasn't any longer!
I like looking out the windows; at take-off because it helps prevent nausea and at landing because the view is so cool. There's a certain point at which the landscape seems to develop texture. If I could just run my fingers along the ground as we go past, the forested lots would have the nap of velvet, the frozen water would feel like old glass with all the ripples and imperfections and the stubbled fields would make my fingertips buzz like unfinished concrete. Then, as you get closer, it starts to look like the terrain from Stuart's mini games. Like you could pick up each tree and roll it in your fingers. Sadly, by the time you're close enough to the ground to look down into people's windows with god-like perspective, the plane is too far away from residential areas to take advantage.
As I said on my FaceBook post, either we had a tail wind or the pilot had a hot date, because we actually landed about minutes ahead of schedule. As soon as I could turn on my phone, there was a text from Veronique so I texted back, saying that I'd arrived. She called while I was still on the plane waiting to disembark, and we made plans to go for dinner once I'd arrived at the hotel. I collected my bag and got a taxi into the city. The hotel, Anne Ma Soeur Anne, is on Rue St. Denis, which is a lot like Whyte Ave in Edmonton, or pretty much any street in downtown Toronto - lots of boutiques, restaurants, chocolateries and bars.
The hotel has the same feel as a lot of hostels I've stayed in. Partly because I had to drag my suitcase up a bunch of stairs and then ring to be let in, partly because it's an old building that's been re-purposed, so there are no long institutional halls, just short, quirky walks and oddly shaped rooms. There's a small but full kitchen and Michelle let me splurge on a slightly larger room, so I don't have to fold my bed up in order to have space for a table - yeah!!! My window faces out the back, but in the dark, I can't really tell what I'm looking at.
I checked in without a problem, but discovered that I'd left my cell phone in the cab. That was a bit of a heart-wrenching moment! I call the number on the taxi receipt but the recording was entirely in French - so I swallowed my pride and went to ask for help at the reception desk. The young girl was amazing kind and gamely called about 14 numbers as people kept sending her to someone else. In the end, she left all the hotel's contact information with someone and we had to wait.
Fortunately, I had meeting up with Veronique and Carmen to help me pass the time without chewing my fingernails down to the knuckle. We decided to just wander down the street and see what kind of restaurant looked good. We ended up at a place just a few doors down from the hotel, where they had a table d'hote for $30. I had Onion Soup au Gratin, Poached Salmon and Creme Caramel and it was all very yummy! The three of us had a good talk; there's something about being here for GRS surgery - once that's out in the open, almost any topic seems available for discussion. :)
After dinner, Veronique headed back to the recovery home and Carmen and I wandered for a bit, looking for someplace to buy groceries. We were just kind of walking at random though and it was cold, so we gave up and came back to the hotel. And my phone had been dropped off while we were gone - yippy!!! The cabbie had charged $40 to come back into the city from the airport (I can't believe that he didn't wait until he had a fare and if I'd been here I might have haggled), but it's a much smaller price to pay for my stupidity than replacing the phone, so I'm happy. Carmen came up to my room and we chatted for another hour or so and made some basic plans to head to the hospital together tomorrow.
And, I haven't mentioned it, but I have exchanged several texts with Michelle. She's a bit nervous, of course, but who wouldn't be before major surgery? Originally, she was going to be transferred to the hospital tonight, but that's been changed to tomorrow morning and as she said, at least this way she can sleep tonight in a somewhat familiar bed.
And seeing as how it's almost 11pm Montreal time, I think I'll get cleaned up and try to get some sleep myself. Look for more posts in the near future!
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