I didn’t make the train. I just couldn’t make it happen, so I adjusted my ticket to leave tomorrow at 1:00 pm and booked another night in the hostel. I moved rooms at 7:00 am and slept until 11:00 am, then walked down to the hostel bar and found all the miserable dregs of last night. Everyone was worse for the wear, though Matt was saying it wasn’t nearly as bad as it usually is after karaoke. His exact words were, “Most Wednesdays the hostel looks like an episode of The Walking Dead.” He also summed up everyone’s general sentiment when he said, “Life hurts.”
Matt, James, and I all collapsed on the couch in attempt to recover while watching the French open. Haylee came down in pretty much the same shape as the rest of us, but she definitely had more motivation to get moving than the rest of us, who were perfectly happy to just be one with the couch.
Eventually, I got to the point that I felt at least somewhat able to move, so I went for a walk to meet Haylee and Megan in Vieux Montréal outside Notre-Dame. We wandered around the area for a bit before walking to the Old Port, where I grabbed a slice of maple pie from a vender on the boardwalk. A short deluge of rain chased us away, and shortly after we all felt like we could really use food. We found Chez Jerry on Côte du Beaver Hall — best street name ever.
After dinner, it was time for the only thing that motivated me to really get off the couch: seeing Cirque du Soleil’s LUZIA at their big top in the Old Port. Haylee had told us she was going, so Megan and I bought tickets this morning. I hadn’t seen a Cirque du Soleil show since CORTEO, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see a show in their home city.
LUZIA was fantastic. The opening sequence of tumbling on a treadmill-esque runway was really fun. The show had a bit of everything. My favorites were the great clown (not a creepy one), a really gnarly contortionist (Megan’s reactions were worth their weight in gold), a lightning-fast juggler, the beautiful trapeze and German wheel sequence, and an amazing penultimate Russian swings sequence. It was a magical night, and has me very excited to see the Cirque du Soleil shows during my trip to Las Vegas. The technical elements of the show were also really cool. Lighting in circus is always amazing, and I think it would be a really great field to try my hand in someday. I think the coolest technical element I saw tonight was their water curtain. At one point in the show, the program all the individual jets to fire differently so they could create images in the sheet of water without using a projector.
After the show, Haylee, Megan and I walked back to the métro to ride home. Megan had to take a different train, so we said our goodbyes. I hope I’ll get to see her in Québec City. Back at the hostel, Haylee and I hung out for a bit after showers ad packing. She went off to bed, so I joined people for a game of billiards before heading off to bed myself.
Tomorrow afternoon I’m finally going to make my way to Québec City. No really, I’m actually going this time! I’m very excited to see it, since I’ve heard parts of it look more like Europe than North America, and I’ll have more of an opportunity to practice my French there!
The Farewell Tour 