Montreal...the finer points

Our weekend in Montreal was really fun - 4 days off from work can't ever be too bad. There were however two things which kept us from just a few moments of joy. We decided to "turn lemons into lemonade" and just decided to laugh things off after a while.

1. Many places we walked on the city streets filled our noses with the scent of urine. For that reason, the city (which we really did enjoy) was given two nicknames....
a) Mont-pee-all
b) Mont-urinal

The worst of the stench was in front of a well known cathedral - turns out that's where all the carriage rides begin. The horses were the offensive culprit here, but the same can't be said for other parts of the city.

2) Phillippe. He was both an irritant and a source of humor - he worked at the front desk and was part of the reason I got my blood boiling, which should happen at all when the topic of conversation is the 60-minute massage Ryan and I had paid for. You shouldn't have to get stressed out and worked up to get a massage - you should just get what you pay for!

I have learned that you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar and this was an excellent opportunity to practice the lesson.

We finally got our massages but not without a little, um, persistence. Phillippe's mannerisms and jokes were so outlandish that we have continued to poke fun at him since we returned.

We've been leaving notes "from Phillippe" for each other in silly places every since. It forces us to be creative and use strategy. The hard part is waiting for the other person to find the note which usually says "I miss you! =) Phillippe"

But back to the point of the blog post today...

Here are some photos from the trip:

Square Saint-Laurent a very lovely spot to rest after dinner!

McGill University - built up on a hill with lovely views of the city. I think this building may actually be part of their medical school.

Ryan's breakfast the first morning. Yes indeed, a large coffe in a bowl - we think this may be all the rage as we'd heard from a friend that he got the bowl-o-coffee when he visted as well.

Marche Jean-Talon where we didn't have nearly enough time to explore! Gorgeous produce....

.....tasty bread....

...and the cutest souvenir! A cool green burlap shooping bag which has not left my side.

We really liked the place we stayed (aside from Phillippe screwing up our massage times) and had a great view out onto one of the streets of Old Montreal:




















Above is the street behind our room - we had a great view and when I went to whip open the curtains...I had a bit of trouble. I pulled the entire curtain and bar off the window.



















Barren window!
I had to clip all of the hooks from the curtain back onto the wooden loops. Ryan thought this was hilarious. At least until he had to hang it back on the wall for me. There are *some* advantages to being short.

















We spent some time walking and shopping in the Mile End which is a neighborhood where the Hasidic community mixes with the "hipsters" as our guide book mentioned. I felt too uncomfortable taking any portrait shots (I really need a telephoto lens) so I settled for this one picture from behind. Not very good.


One thing we both liked about Montreal were all the bikes - they were everywhere and they were ridden by "all types" of people:

morons who didn't follow the "rules of the road"
ultra cool bike messengers

elderly Montrealers
Hipsters - notice that one girl is wearing a heavy chain as her belt

And then there were a lot of bikes parked and waiting for their owners. These were my favorites...

We also found a McDonald's but I didn't make Ryan eat there. I just wanted you all to see that even McDonald's was refined in Montreal...must be the french language that spruces things up.
The flower boxes and yellow awnings help too.

We took our time wandering the city and came across some things which I found really interesting. Street Art! Technically, it's grafiti, but if we let go of technicalities for a moment (and one must do that at times when it comes to artwork) it's pretty obvious that those wearing the painter's hat have some talent.
I didn't get a great shot of this one - we were driving past and I had to snap the shot quickly.

This painting was fascinating to me...I don't know if it has a specific meaning, but I really wonder how long it too to create. I especially love the layering of the images - so cool.


This next series turned out to be paitned on paper and then pasted onto the brick making replication very easy.

We found a really great chocolate shop, Les Chocolats Genevieve Grandbois (yes better even than Burdick's!) in the Mile End which served bite-size pieces of chocolatey heaven. These photos aren't great but you get the idea.
I think they may ship chocolate to people as gifts. Wouldn't that be a nice treat to receive in the middle of a cold Boston winter? (hint hint)

All in all - a great trip and a wonderful way to celebrate our 1st year of marriage.