Day 3 (Saturday)

We got up and headed for some free pancakes!  Afterward, it was almost noon so we thought we'd venture over to Riderville since it was going from noon to 3AM on Saturday.  We go to buy our tickets and are about to step in to check it out when we remember we want a hand stamp so we can get back in later. We were pretty confident that there'd be a line later in the evening and were fully prepared to wait in line to gain re-entry.  What we were not prepared to do was to pay the $10 cover again.  What absolute nonsense.  As were the tales weaved by the ladies working at the door trying to justify this.  First, they claimed it was the fault of the Ti-Cats (the Ti-cats were co-hosting the event this year).  We called their bluff and inquired as to how the Ti-cats were at fault and they could not explain so instead they decided to blame the CFL.  While I'm sure the CFL does have guidelines about how the venues at Grey Cup need to be run, I hardly think the rules would be different club to club.  I pointed out that Spirit of Edmonton had no cover charge.  Then I went on a bit of a tirade where I expressed my disgust that Rider fans (and there were a lot of Rider fans there) had THE MOST POORLY RUN EVENTS -- HANDS DOWN.  I mentioned Riderville last year and of course they blamed that on the Toronto Metro Convention Centre.  Excuses, excuses.  We were so mad we actually asked for our money back (they gave it) and we left.  I removed all my green for the remainder of the afternoon in silent protest.

Instead, we grabbed some brunch, took in Montreal's Christmas parade, lounged around at a coffee shop and shopped.  

That night, we had some people over to the condo for drinks. 
We left feeling quite happy and ventured out to Rue Crescent and hit the
pubs.  Things are a bit sketchy but I'm pretty sure we annoyed our
waitress. 

These blue things were tasty... 

 Took lots and lots of pictures like this...

And before you think we were doing anything too low-brow, I'll have you know I got to brush up on my french. "Bleue, s'il vous plait"

Unfortunately, there was a big frou-ha-ha and members of our party were accused of not tipping our waitress enough (she actually was ballsy enough to come to the table and ask for a bigger tip even though the menu said parties of 6 or more had gratuities automatically added to the bill AND we tipped in addition).  All I know is that the drinks stopped coming so we had to move on.  Still, I was having a good time!  I think most of us were!!

Don't we look like we're having a good time??

That is why we agreed to take that kick in the teeth called Riderville.  We wandered over, paid the cover and went inside where I was immediately confronted with this:

'cause I always tip the ticket taker $100 bills

Anyhow -- I am not going to bitch about Riderville anymore.  We did have some fun while there. For starters, Tom Wilson (Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings) was playing when we entered -- have a listen here.

Second, it would have been sacrilegious to make the trip to Grey Cup and not support our team.  

A sea of green...

Day 4 (GAME DAY)

I know it sounds redundant, but we started the day with breakfast - what can I say, it's important and it's N's favourite!  At Grey Cup village, they were cooking up a 40,000 egg omelette.  It looked a little something like this:

Unfortunately, we were hungry and it was taking too long to cook so we did end up elsewhere for breakfast.  We had thought we would spend the afternoon sight-seeing but found ourselves a bit out of sorts so we opted for naps again.  Around 3PM, we began the trek out to Olympic Stadium.

The game itself was only so-so.  We found it painful to cheer for Calgary so we didn't and when the Al's started to lose, it became more painful.  The half time show wasn't great -- especially if you sat on our side of the field and got to see the back-end of the stage.

I must say that the Riders have the most supportive fans in the league. Surprisingly few Stamps fans in the house when compared to Rider support last year in TO.

Overall, we had a good time at the game. Though, this time around, I'd say I had a better time out and about in Montreal than with Grey Cup stuff in general.  Must have something to do with getting to experience your team win it all last year only to fall short this year.  Last year's Grey Cup in Toronto will be hard to top, me thinks.

All pictures are now posted and can be found here.  Check 'em out!!