Following the Rugby World Cup from Canada is not the easiest - the matches are in the middle of the night and there is not exactly wall to wall coverage. However the interweb thing comes to the rescue of the Pig and he need only report that it is nice to see Australia coach Michael Cheika having a good old fashioned whinge after his side's defeat to Wales. Poor baby. I thought it was supposed to be the English who behaved that way.
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| Basilique Notre Dame de Montreal |
We're now at our second stop on our tour of Quebec - first was Montreal and second is Baie St Paul. The former was good. We attended mass en Francais (but with a written English translation of the gospel readings - a nice touch) at the magnificent Basilique Notre Dame and ate out well - poutine is a must. Poutine or chips and gravy as Northerners might put it.
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| The Big Owe |
Pig and Groupie were impressed by the Montreal Botanical Gardens though to the tutored eye (not) of the Pig the rose beds needed weeding. The Gardens are alongside the Olympic Park. The main stadium itself has a vaguely neglected look to it (it has no permanent tenant these days) but retains a seventies brutalist magnificence. Caustic locals have dubbed it the 'the Big Owe', referencing both its shape and the municipal near bankruptcy which staging the Games inflicted on the city.
The Pig survived the drive from Montreal out to Baie St Paul in the hired Fiesta without any undue incident. It's always vexing when you first drive on the wrong side of the road but we got here in one piece.
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