Wednesday, July 21st

Today's main event was a soccer match featuring Montreal's men's soccer team, the Impact.

We ate breakfast at a cheap place near the hotel, Ben's. Breakfast was uneventful until after we left, when one of the Ben's staff accosted us in the street. Apparently, we had taken the check with us instead of leaving it on the table. I took it as a receipt, but this was not acceptable to this man who may or may not have been the owner. I gave him the check back and explained that I left the money on the table, and this seemed to pacify him somewhat.

Next stop, the beach! Getting there was a little tricky. We took the subway to Parc Jean Drapeau.

Beth and Mom pose in front of the Biosphere (not to be confused with the Biodome).

We weren't too sure about the buses, so we walked. A helpful girl who worked in the park pointed us in the right direction.

We walked along a vacated race track toward the beach.

The beach was fun. It was not the kind of beach we were used to, on the ocean. This beach was manmade, and the bottom was soft sand. No need to worry about rocks or crabs or jellyfish here! You can see the casino in the distance.

The walk back was a lot like the walk to.

We went back to the hotel to rest, then headed back out for dinner before the soccer game. We went to Rue St. Denis to pick up our tickets for the comedy show on Friday night. My Dummies book said there were lots of restaurants in this area, but we didn't see anything we liked. We ended up getting sandwiches at the game. The soccer game was a lot of fun. The Impact defeated the team from Calgary.

I woke up in the middle of the night Wednesday night with a throbbing fever, a sore throat, and a stuffy nose. This was not a good sign.