violence is not a crime - in hockey

With the R.V broken, our Montreal sightseeing plans had to be put on hold. Hydraulics had a leak meaning jacks & slide weren't working, and there were also battery & generator issues. We found an RV fix-it place but they had other jobs on and couldn't look until after lunch. So Deanna, Emma and I played Cranium (a board game) – Deanna with the book and Emma and I with the clay. I made a lion and kept it’s head then with its body I made an elephants head and a rabbits head.

A little earlier we had spotted a couple of horses in a paddock. First we stuck our hand through the electric wire for the horses to sniff – there were two and the smaller one was a little bit shy and was golden, we think she’s a pony. The second one was a big brown horse and when he first smelt us he snorted as if to say ooh you stink. When we thought the horses had our trust Emma walked a couple of meters down the fence and ducked under, then held out her hands for the horses to sniff. When the horses came up to her and sniffed her she got scared and ducked back again.

Next it was my turn, so while Emma went to get the camera, I ducked under and petted the horses – not scared one bit... ok I maybe exagerate a little. When Emma came back she joined me and Deanna took photos. We swapped around until we had enough photos then just played with them. Talk about tame!

Since there was a campground right next door we went to check if it was open... it wasn't but luckily the owner said we could stop for the night. We need to 'hook up' at least every 3 days, or find somewhere to dump our waste which is not always that easy as most campgrounds up north are closed for the season & dump stations aren't that easy to find. It took all afternoon at the fix-it place but everything on the RV got sorted (much to Dad's relief I can tell you) so we went next door, checked in and had record quick showers... because... there was a hockey game 2 attend!

Rather than driving all the way to town and trying to park our behemoth of a vehicle in amongst all that traffic, we decided to take 'le metro'. Which was very cool because none of us kids have been on an underground before. It was quite an adventure buying tickets, going through the turnstiles, and finding the right train (in fact there were 2 trains). Did you know it goes right underneath the river, just like the tunnel into town we had driven through yesterday.

Talk about cutting it fine! We got to our seats just as they were singing the anthems for both Canada and USA (Canadiennes were playing Columbus from Ohio, USA). Then on came the gracefully gliding players to start their encounter. It's wicked how fast they can skate (either forwards or backwards) and change direction on a dime. The game is so fast with players subbing on and off every few minutes... and heaps of the announcements are in French! The players try and bash each other against the plastic barrier. Every time the Canadiennes scored a goal, the whole place erupted with cheers and chanting; "Go Habs Go!" Apparantly they have sold out every home game since 2004 (@ capacity of 21500 odd) - it must hard being the visiting team. It was a close game but the home team won 5-3 in the end. "GO HABS GO!!!"

Dad thought it would be freezing but we were all well overdressed so stipped off heaps of jackets and scarves in the train and at the game. We had been far too busy to have any dinner so it was a really late stop at McDonalds on the way home & an even later crawl into bed... but what a night!

til next time... from a much warmer Amy