Carts and coasters

On the weekend, we treated ourselves to a horse-drawn carriage ride through Old Montreal with cousin Jen (the Road Warrior) and Josh. It was both beautiful and freezing. The weather is really starting to turn (which works out fine for us, as we have booked tickets back for mid-November). Old Montreal is one of the oldest urban areas in North America, consisting of buildings going back to the 1600s, complete with cobblestone streets.

It is one of those lucky instances of a developing CBD growing up next to the existing CBD as opposed to on top of it. That is a idiosyncratic thing about Montreal, the eclectic mixture of good architecture (versus Wellington being a mixture of mostly ugly architecture).

We followed on Sunday with La Ronde, which is a theme park on an island in the middle of the Saint Lawrence. Along with a lot of the nifty modern architecture in the city, the site of La Ronde was developed for Expo' 67.























For as long as can remember, I've thought I liked roller coasters. I think I thought everyone likes roller coasters and only weird people don't. I was sure, even though Alana was a little hesitant, both of us would love going on the roller coasters (La Ronde is home to Goliath, the tallest roller coaster in Canada, up until May 2008. The bigger the better, right?).



As it turns out, I have a weak stomach, and Alana dislikes feeling close to death. Goliath was good but the other ones that barrel roll you and spin you upside-down we could have definitely lived without. We were also under dressed for what was a very cold autumn day, so our enthusiasm was quickly depleted.

Life lesson: roller coasters=overrated. In saying that, had you told me this before I went, I would have called you a liar.