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This is a recollection of all the events that happened between February first and third, the dates that encompassed mine and TropicalParadise's little getaway to the small city of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

We made this thread to gather ideas, but it was fairly useless. <3 We did manage to find our own brand of fun, despite adverse weather conditions. This is our story.

BEFORE MONCTON

Friday, February 1.

We woke up to the twin blaring of our cell phone alarm clocks at the graceful hour of 9 am, a full 90 minutes later than the usual weekday routine. For some quirky reason our university classes are cancelled due to "Munroe Day". It's a school-centric holiday... this Munroe dude has his own room dedicated to him in the main building on campus or something.

Prepared, bags packed and 3-day slow release fish food tables properly applied (they looked like little treasure chests!), we set out to catch the bus to the train station. The trip went without incident, us arriving a good hour and a half early to check our modest suitcase. Thereafter we poked around the area by the station, procuring a mini-shampoo bottle, mini-toothpaste bottle, two bottles of fruit-smoothie and 10 sweet chilli chicken wings at the supermarket. The wings and juice were consumed with much enthusiasm; the bottles were considerably less appetizing so we opted to put them away for the time being. Then we went to the mac store and Lauren bought a cleaner kit and a pink soft-sleeve carrier for her laptop. Vacation shopping had started before we'd even left the station. =)

Sated and accessorized, we returned to wait for the train. Being train-virgins, we were unsure of procedure and as the time for departure neared we bristled with anxiety amongst the confident and unfrazzled crowd, fearing that we'd missed some subtle signal and the giant train had somehow left without a sound. The time for departure passed, with no movement from the crowd, no cries of outrage... nothing... I began to wonder if we were in the right place. Then we realized we'd read the ticket incorrectly and departure wasn't for another 20 minutes. Oh.

20 minutes later the departure doors opened and we bashfully followed a gaggle of people down the line of the train. The weather in Halifax that early afternoon was excellent: crisp, clear and cold, but not so cold that you had to completely bundle up. Open zippers and mittenless hands could be sported without risk of hypothermia.

The train itself was very nice. Reclining seats, big tables, huge windows, power jacks for the computer and the lack of screaming children were among the pleasant features included. Squeaking with delight as the beast started to lurch forward, Lauren and I watched the scenery float by as our train-riding-cherries burst with the rustle and bustle of the cab.

The view was interesting. We passed a still train with what looked like ATVs on it, covered in a plastic tarp with the words DON'T HUMP stencil-sprayed in white paint on them. Unfortunately we didn't get the camera out in time to capture this Newgrounds-pleasing admonishment. But I thought of you people when I saw it. As we left the heart of the city, the tracks moved through a rock blasted ditch, and we were treated to an expansive gallery of graffiti, ranging from cryptic scrawls like MUD SLINGER and FUCK IT to full 16 foot wide mosaics that were actually quite impressive. I recall one rock wished us GOOD LUCK. It was a strangely profound experience.

The rest of the ride was picturesque, but repetitive, as the tracks tended to delve through woodland and small towns. There's only so much blasted winter landscape you can take before your eyes get bored. Every now and then we were treated to a mysterious lonesome shack jutting out of the woods or a fantastic frozen lake. Oh, and I spotted my uncle's house at one point, which was a significant event for me because as a kid, whenever we went to his house I was always tremendously excited by the tracks that ran behind his place, and would rush outside no matter what to see the trains blast by. It was a bit of a belated fantasy fulfilled, I suppose.

MONCTON

We stepped off the train into a bilingual province with nothing but our meagre belongings and a single address. Needing cash, we found a grocery, but no ATM. Luckily they had cash-back. A phonebook gave us a taxi number and within 20 minutes we were outside the Glory Inn, a modest B&B run by a elderly Japanese couple. They took cash only, and the cost for 2-nights stay was $125, but we only had $20 left from the grocery, post-cab fare. The lady was nice about it, she took the $20 as a deposit and requested we procure the owed funds ASAP.

After getting our room key and dropping off the luggage, we set out to find an ATM. First we happened upon a convenience store. They lacked an ATM but directed us to the small bar across the street, The Office Lounge.

Now, our cabbie had been an animated fellow after you got him talking, recommending places to eat, damning all vegetarians as being crazy crackheads, and warning us to stay out of The Office Lounge as it was a kind of a trouble spot, frequented by disgruntled regs. Wary of this warning we stepped inside and moved quickly. The bar was made up of two sections: a small bar on one end with some VLTs, and a living room sized compartment with a single pool table. The fellows playing pool regarded us as we came in, and one offered a loud "HELLO" which sounded more like a challenge than it did a warm brotherly welcome. I returned the greeting with less enthusiasm and located the ATM, which was thankfully in a hallway out of sight from the patrons. Lauren took out $300, and I silently hoped the people could not somehow smell money or hear the rustling of cash from the ATM.

We left as quickly as we came, reciving more stares and a louder "HELLO, GOODBYE!" from a dirty older guy. No gunfire followed us out the door, for which I was grateful. We returned to the B&B, paid, and then set out into the dark to find some form of entertainment and/or food. It was about 6:30pm at this point. All we had for directions was our collective memory of a Google Map we looked at with a very weak wireless signal before we left. Unlike Halifax, it was pretty bitter outside, and the remnants of a major snowstorm were still formidable. We stumbled and slipped around until we found the main drag and followed that past several uninteresting little side shops.

Then something amazing happened. We came upon a brick building, and found the restaurant called Graffiti. Our chatty cabbie had highly recommended this place. Given his seemingly accurate warning about the bar, we debated on trying the place out. In the end we decided to go for it, and it was possibly one of the best decisions of both of our lives.

It was a Mediterranean style place with low, sexy lighting, a colour theme including mellow greens and soft browns, candles and a generally cozy atmosphere. A rotund fellow with a light French accent directed us upstairs. After consulting the menu I got was called the Gladitor Platter and Lauren got a Salmon dish. I had Grilled Gyro to start, Lauren had Hummus and Pesto rolls. The experience that follows deserves at least a page to describe it, but I will try to be conservative.

My Grilled Gyro was a marvel. I had about 5 strips of what I would normally describe as "donair meat," but this stuff was so packed with flavour and so tender that I couldn't disgrace it by administering that lowly title. The dish came with pita bread slices absolutely covered in amazing parmesan cheese. I love parmesan, and this bread delivered. Also was a dish of "sweet sauce," which in standard form would simply be "donair sauce" ... but again this was in a different league. It appeared to be homemade and spruced up with herbs and other spices. Any combination of meat, bread or sauce was a drawn out taste orgasm. Lauren shared some pesto rolls, which I had never had before, and they were equally delicious yet vastly unique: a sort of planty spiceyness. There was also a greek salad with my appetizer, which was good, but I shied away from the vegetables. I'm a carnivore.

Then the main course. The Gladiator Platter sounded crude, but the quality remained top-notch. It came with a Caesar salad, fries, a grilled chicken breast and a bacon wrapped steak medallion. My trio of animal meat was among the best food I have ever eaten. The steak was perfect, fatless, succulent. I saved the sweet sauce and received some Teriyaki style steak sauce with the main dish, so I had two flavour enhancers for all my food. The chicken breast was possible the most impressive thing. It was smothered in some sort of deliciously sweet BBQ marinade, and was so tender I could cut it with minimal pressure using my butter knife or fork. The salad and fries were also splendid. To drink I had a beer, which was poured into an elegant super-tall glass, which was awesome.

I trust Lauren will recall this account in her blog, so check it out if you're interested in how her dish turned out. I must also add that after tax and considerable tip we left the place only about $60 dollars poorer. It's a truly spectacular place; I doubt I'll ever visit Moncton again without stopping in.

The rest of the night was dull in comparison. We visited two little shops and bought some stuff (full inventory of our purchases at the end of the blog), then we consulted our fuzzy mental map and walked up a treacherous street (which was more ice than anything) and found the road that the Glory Inn was on, and went home to cable TV and bed.

Saturday, February 2

Our only full day in Moncton! To be the bulk of our vacationing! We were up at 9am and greeted by a lovely breakfast with coffee, an eggs, two slices of toast and a banana when we went downstairs. The coffee was the sweetest I've ever had, so it was either a really weak blend or decaf or something, because it didn't get me all jittery. Either way, it was a delightful breakfast and our hosts were excited to serve.

We made use of the place's wireless network (we just needed a password to access it, which the hosts provided for free) to plan the day. First, we went to nearby park to look for a GeoCache, only to find the park still under about 3-4 feet of snow. Then we trekked to the town/municipality/something of Dieppe, which isn't really separate from Moncton, but on the other side of a big, central roundabout. It was a long walk though, and Lauren got her feet soaked because we had to traverse several slush ponds. We made it to Champlain Centre, an enormous labyrinth of a mall and spent a good two or three hours exploring every crevice. I found some extremely good deals and obtained six new shirts in a very short amount of time. Lauren got some rubber boots and new socks. We had a bite to eat and then moved on the building across from the mall, a place I had not been for nearly a decade, and to be truthful, at the time wasn't even completely sure still even existsed.

This was Crystal Palace, an indoor amusement park and setting for a particularly fond childhood memory. We entered the building through a big Chapters (bookstore) and caught glimpses of flashing coloured lights on the far end, which suggested either a casino or amusement park. It was the latter, to our delight. Entering the cavernous space, the roar of the roller coaster and screams of laughter flooded us, and I simultaneously remembered that Crystal Palace was designed primarily for children aged 3-12. The minimum height requirement for the big rides was an intimidating four feet. Nonetheless, we had travelled far for this and bought two day passes with no guilt whatsoever.

First we went on a big spinning swing thing that is the centrepiece for the park, the only ride that was to proper scale, I think. Everything else was kiddie sized. After the swing we tried a rotating submarine, which was tamer than the train ride. After that, things heated up when we found the Laser Tag. Our first run was not impressive as we had to familiarize ourselves with the weaponry and terrain of the laser room. Also, our opponents were hyperactive 9-10 year old boys. While Lauren and I played conservatively and used cover, the kids essentially ran around in the same 10 foot radius mindlessly shooting each other irrespective to their dead-alive status (the gun didn't shoot when you were 'dead'). An embarrassment to tactic and style, it was a good way to collect points. And they seemed like they were enjoying it. Team Jordy-Lauren finished with the least kills and the least deaths, and also the least points. We would redeem ourselves, but not immediately.

Next up was the roller coaster. It was pretty fast and jerky, definitely a thrill for your average kid. For us it was pretty cool, but not heart pounding. The "special" part of the ride was when it looped into a dark tunnel for a second or two, complete with "scary" glow in the dark figurines. On our first ride (it has three laps) the moment we entered the tunnel a deafening shriek of screams occurred, on all three laps. We were quite torn between deciding if the tunnel had a built in "scream" noise or if it was just the amplified echoes of little-kid exhilaration. The sound was fairly identical each lap. It was a subject that would bother us for some time.

Time for laser tag again. This time, it was us versus a group of kids whose average age may have been 7, and whose total age probably matched our combined age. Needless to say we outscored them by a few thousand points. We felt good about it but recognized that it was no great feat.

I believe we went to the arcade next. For $10 we got 42 token, and we were determined to collect at least 200 tickets, because Lauren deemed any prize worth less than that was significantly crappier than the crappy prizes offered at the 200+ level. We did the regular stuff: ball rolling, rigged "timing" games, bowling, whack-a-something, and few other fun ones. There was a game that blew plastic "honey" balls around and you had to scoop 'em up and deposit them in the "honey pot." That was a sweet game. I managed a 50 ticket score on one of those games where you put in a token then fling it at a bunch of near-impossible-to-hit targets. However, the grand total was 253. Lauren got a plush turtle for 200 and I spend my lucky shot on a sticker book. The stickers are sweet, totally worth it.

I think then we went back to laser tag again, and played against a well balanced group of older kids. The score was much tighter this round but we ended up on top, securing our self-esteem. The roller coaster got another visit and we solved the screaming tunnel mystery: it was more-or-less silent on the final lap, indicating that the horrid sound from before was indeed the product of juvenile glee.

At this point we had spent a good 2-3 hours in the place, and it was starting to get old. The mini-golf was closed for the day due to wet paint, much to our dismay. I could play mini-putt all day, slowing mastering the course until I was birdie-ing or getting hole in ones... but alas. We retrieved our stuff from a pay-locker and called a cab, destined to go to the Acadian Museum, something that had been on Lauren's Moncton to-do list. We arrived, only to find that it was closing in 20 bloody minutes. The receptionists kindly waived the $2 fee and let us have a brief walk-thru. It was fairly small anyway, but it was still kind of rushed. Fifteen minutes later, we didn't want to call another cab so we wandered around the university campus that the museum was located on. We found the library, but it was a French-only library and it felt sort of like invading a foreign country. Uncomfortable, we gave in called a cab.

Our plan was to eat at Jungle Jims near Crystal Palace because we had a thing that offered a free pound of wings. Not 40 minutes after we left the kiddie-park, we were back and out two cab fares. Slightly jaded, I called Jungle Jims to see when they closed (we were planning to maybe fit in a movie now that we had some extra time) only to find that the Jungle Jims was closed down. Not wanting to call yet another cab to go to the Jims across town, we made reservations at the restaurant that was attached to Crystal Palace, the McGinnis Landing. Turns out I also had a 10% off thing for that place. At least we had some luck. However, we could only get reservations for 8pm. Which left us about 3 hours for... stuff. So it was back to laser tag. In our final round we happened upon a game-in-progress, except it was a free for all instead of teams, with an extended time limit because place wasn't busy at the moment. The kid working the laser tag looked to be about 14 (as did most of ride operators... it was kind of funny), and he let us join mid-game. Unfortunately, the group in the laser room appeared to be the same type of hyper-active 10 year old boys who we experienced in our first round. They'd pop out of the room and shoot us as we were putting ON our suits and laugh hysterically. Blind to any form of finesse, they were they type that would follow you even when you were dead, firing fanatically. This strategy was alarmingly effective for insta-killing you and annoying the shit out you. The kids were also prone to covering their front targets. It was still fun though; Lauren and I tacitly teamed up which joyfully upset the swarm of boys.

After this we went to Chapters and scored a whole bunch of hardcover books for a crazy price, and then played Dora The Explorer Chutes & Ladders at the adjoining Starbucks while we waited for 8pm. The wait proved too trying, so we ended up dashing back to the Champlain Centre (the giant mall) with no coats or hats (they were again in the pay-locker, and were did not want to lug around my overstuffed backpack, shopping bags, etc). It was an experience I did not wish to repeat... but would be forced to anyway on account of the restaurant being back in the Crystal Palace building. In the mall we loitered a bit; Lauren bought some jeans and I got a tin of candy-cane hot chocolate mix at a clearance price I could not ignore.

Another unpleasant dash, another retrieval of stuff from the locker. We reorganized the crap, and managed to get almost everything into my backpack, which was beginning to resemble a large sphere with straps. The we went to the restaurant.

We both had the special: Caesar salad to start, an 8oz peppercorn steak with a potato side and veggies, then a fruit pastry thing. Even after the 10% off it still came to more than the Graffiti (which I will probably be comparing against every aspect of every restaurant I eat in hereafter), and while the food was good... it just wasn't that special. Nothing much to say about it, except the strawberries In the dessert were fantastically sweet.

The plans to see the movie were scrapped, as were plans to hang around the bar due to tiredness and funds. We grabbed a cab home and watched Heartbreakers.

Sunday, February 3

It was the same routine as the previous morning, right down to the breakfast (but they didn't have bananas this time around). We had packed most of the stuff the night before, so it was a quick departure. When we got to the station we were informed our train was delayed by about 90 minutes... and we were 2 hours early as it was. So we checked our luggage and explored Sunday morning Moncton. It's not very lively. We spent some time in a Tim Hortons (I originally started writing this there). In the washroom, I added to some graffiti conversation:

#1 "Leeglize Marijuana, eh!"
#2 "By the looks of it, they should legalize education"
#1 "I am educated 'asshole'"
Me: "Grade 2 doesn't count"

It was satisfying.

Then we found a newsstand shop, where loitered a bit more after buying some lottery tickets (fingers crossed!). At noon, we went to the just-opened mall across the street and poked around. Some local yokels were chilling in the all but deserted food court seating area as we passed time. They were all at least 20 years my senior, babbling on about the stupidest of things. One guy had a nice laptop, which he left abandoned as he and several others went for a smoke break. I was quite tempted to take it, but I am not usually a thieving bastard.

Right now, I am on the train, sitting behind some dirty young people who smell of stale cigarettes. The ride back is probably not going to be as magical as the ride in, but that's just as well because I have an assload of work to do anyway.

So all in all, it was a great little getaway. It would have nice it visit when the weather didn't force us to be inside most of the time, but you can't win 'em all. The experience was well worth it.

Stuff we bought:

A cool adjustable measuring cup with 4 different scales on it
3 over-cute mini magnets
3 t-shirts
2 collared shirts
1 Canadian styled/coloured hoodie
Tin of hot chocolate
A pair of jeans
Plush turtle
Sticker book
Rubber boots
Socks
Hairbands
4 hardcover books
MacBook case
MacBook cleaning kit
A postcard