We woke up at about 10:00. As I walked past Steve’s bed, he said as he stretched waking up, “Honey, I had a dream.”
I said, “That’s nice, dear; so did Martin Luther King,” and we both cracked up.
We showered and then set out to see the Pride Parade, which started at noon. We got down to St. Catherine’s street about about 11:30, and went to a place called DSens for breakfast. It was good, but it took way too long to get our food. We were being served by a waiter who wasn’t fast to begin with, and then took the order of a party of eight right before us.
It was about 45 minutes before we got our food, and then it turned out to be the wrong thing. We had ordered ham and mushroom omelets, and he had written down ham and mushroom crepes. We took them, however, and they turned out to be delicious. We also had some killer fruit with it, and some “brown” toast. They don’t say, “white or wheat” here, but rather, “white or brown.” We had good conversation with two guys who sat next to us, who were from Toronto.
When breakfast was finally over, after one and a half hours, we walked over to the parade route. It was about 1:30 by now, and even though the parade had started at noon, it hadn’t yet reached the end of St. Catherine from which we were watching, and it started shortly after we secured a place from which to watch it.
It was a fun parade, but not nearly as creative as the P-Town parade. However, there was a lot of “city participation,” and by that I mean a lot of cars driving carrying city and local officials. There was one group of “Canadian Cowboys,” who were advertising the club, “Bolo,” where they have country dancing. Of course, I’ll have to check that out this week.
One of the very last groups in the parade was a very, very large contingent of folks who were carrying signs that said, “There is no God.” Several of them had on t-shirts, as well as carried placards that said the same, and referenced their website, which was something like www.thereisnogod.info or www.goddoesnotexit.info. I can only remember the gist of what was before the dot, but know for sure that the .info is correct, as I’d never heard of a website with a .info in its domain name. I’ll have to check this out when I get home.
When the parade ended, people (including us) jumped the barricades, and started walking behind the end of the parade up to the area where the after parade street party was. Hundred and hundreds and hundreds of people. The after party was fun. They were selling bear for $4.25 (Canadian) each, and there was a great band playing who played a lot of (American) hits from the 80s. Some people were dancing, a lot were singing, and many were just watching.
At one point the crowd was gathered around this little kid must have been maybe 10 who was dancing unbelievably. He was so cute! Doing some Michael Jackson type moves. It was neat to look around, and see that every person who saw this kid got a smile on their face. You just couldn’t not smile watching him.
Steve and I walked up to some street vendors and got a hot dog and some fries. While we were sitting and eating, these two guys took the table next to us. One of the guys was so beautiful. His names was Sylvie. We ended up introducing ourselves to each other, and they left shortly after that.
We finished our food, and walked back to the party area, too. We got another beer, and then I went up to stand near where Slyvie was with his friend, and other friends he had run into. Steve went “twirling.” After a while Sylvie opened a bag of rice cakes, saw me, and offered me one. His friend ended up leaving, and he and I talked for a little bit. His English was excellent.
He was just breaking up with his boyfriend. He (the boyfriend) has a 10-year old boy, who he (Sylvie) really loves, and was going to try to continue to see even after they separate. He left after about 20 minutes, and Steve came back up to tell me that he had met a group of guys. (Surprise. Surprise.) They were this group that we had taken notice of on our way into the party area right after the parade.
He took me over and introduced me to Patrick and Robert, who were lovers of six months, and two of their friends, whose names I can’t remember. As soon as I got there, one of the friends said, “Finish your beer so we can go.” Evidently, they were on their way to a bar called “Le Stud,” and we were going with them.
Steve was hot for Patrick, of Patrick and Robert, and had kissed them (greedily and deeply) before I arrived. He had to show me how they did it while I finished my beer. Steve whispered over to me on the walk to the bar, “I give them six more months. Patrick said he was really into me, and would do more if Robert wasn’t there.”
Steve hung out with those guys at the bar, and proceeded to drink himself silly. I walked to another part of the bar, and watched several games of pool. After that I was getting hungry, and ready to head back to the hotel for a nap. When I went back to the area where they all were, the two guys whose names I can’t remember were there, but Steve, Patrick and Robert were not. “They went to ‘Prapias’ (I think that’s the name of it); they’ll be right back.
I waited a little while, and then left. Across the street, catty-corner, was a McDonald’s. I went in there, and had a Big Mac and fries. I sat in the window watching for the return of the threesome. After about 10 minutes, I saw Patrick and Robert walk by. No Steve. They went into a gas station on the other corner, bought something, and then walked back over to “Le Stud.” I finished my meal, and walked over to them, and said, “Did you dump my friend?”
“He’s inside looking for you,” they said. I found Steve in there, and we went outside to say so long to the boys. We stopped at the McDonald’s again, so Steve could eat.
We took the metro back to the hotel, and Steve got his eye on a guy while we were waiting for the train. Steve made sure we got into the same car with him, and he eyed the guy all the way to the stop before ours, at which the guy exited. “I’ll meet you back at the room,” Steve said, and he exited at that exit, too.
I walked through a gallery and performing area on the way back to the hotel, and ended up running into Steve while walking back. He’d had no luck with the guy.
Back at the room we napped. Later I went out. Steve stayed in.