Montreal, and it's not as cold as I'd anticipated. Got in after a ten hour train trip yesterday - absolutely beautiful. If I come back to the US I'd like a chance to explore upstate New York a lot more. The light was beautiful the entire way, and the frame of the window made the journey a moving postcard. Got to the hostel at about 7pm, tired and very hungry. Forgot to buy a couple of bagels at Penn Station yesterday to eat on the train - the US $2.50 I had left amounted to a muffin, which I'd eaten by 10am. So arriving 9 hours later I was ready to eat.

Went wandering down Rue St-Pierre, into another street, and found a restaurant called "Gibby's". I'd passed one or two others, and rejected them as looking too expensive - unwittingingly managed to pick the most expensive of the lot. Laughed a little at myself, and then decided that I'd sit down and enjoy it, then explore the local bakeries for a day or two. It was a good decision - the house red was wonderful, I ate the best salad I've ever eaten, and the pasta was delicious. Had a talk to the waitress, who, upon hearing I was from Australia, started talking excitedly about "Kangaroo country". Managed to get out of there for what I'd expect was about half what you'd usually pay, and felt "fat and happy" enough to just tumble into bed.

My last few days in New York were great, although somewhat overwhelming. After meeting Paul, Tina and Les for lunch, we wandered around the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a while - every room we walked through a complete overload. Tina showed us the tapestry she's been restoring - working on it for several years. Something to do with "Phillip the Handsome and Joanna the Mad". Now there's a marriage that sounds doomed if ever there was one. I was in the middle of walking down a set of stairs when Paul mentioned that it was a Frank Lloyd Wright staircase...

Les invited me to join them going to Queens College, where he was given a reading, so at 4:45pm a driver came and whisked us away. The reading left me a little out of sorts - terribly homesick. A great reading, just the result of such an amazing day, and such a strange situation, and the reminder of home.

After the dinner we went to Mandicati's - described as "the most authentic Italian restaurant in New York." Apparently it was relatively unknown until an episode of "The Soprano's" was filmed there. After an evening out with everyone, another driver drove me back to the hostel. Arrived not long after midnight, and fell into bed.

Annabel and I went have "Breakfast atTiffany's" the next morning. Got our coffees and wandered around outside until they let us in. It was just like in the movie - and everyone was lovely to us, even though I must have looked like a little street urchin in my outfit and wild little pigtails! After wandering around for ages, I eventually decided I had to buy something from Tiffany's - settled on a beautiful keyring, with a little dogtag requesting "if found, please return to Tiffany's". Also has a serial number, so I can register it with Tiffany's, and they can return my keys if they ever get them.

Largely a day of wandering around and resting after that - ending the day with a bag of Cracker Jacks. And yes, they DO still have prizes in Cracker Jacks.

Don't know that I'm going to have any great adventures in Montreal today - more likely to just rest and figure out where things are. Maybe even take a "wild, [girlish] fling at writing".

Montreal