tres bien ensemble...

for someone with so much travel experience, I really haven't been to much of Canada. I mean, it's a pretty big country and all... but I still think I'd like to make it to every province & territory someday. and ever since I was little, I've wanted to see Montreal.

it's pretty close as the plane flies, but my very first time in Montreal was this summer. it was the first major stop on mine and Caitlin's cross-country road trip adventure!

like I mentioned before, Caitlin and I spent most of our first (full) day exploring the city on foot. we walked around the nice commercial streets, browsed a shop or two, and stopped for a bite to eat. we had lunch at this place called Les Trois Brasseurs, and it was delicious! I had this traditional French pizza thing that was spicy and amazing and yet, I ate the whole thing. it was an especially enjoyable restaurant experience because we got to eat on the rooftop balcony, so we had a great view of the busy streets. 

later we made our way to Vieux Port, which is (as a direct translation!) the old port. it was really pretty and had plenty of interesting little shops and hidden treasuries- there were even a bunch of street artist and painters selling their work. 

I should also mentioned that we made use of the bixi bike service, which I declare to be awesomesauce! being huge wusses, we first needed to practice riding them around the parking lot of the CBC before we felt secure enough to venture onto actual roads. then I discovered how fun and convenient city bike riding is! if you want a fun, cheap way to get around Montreal, I definitely recommend the bixis. just make sure you wear shorts under your dress...

my lovely friends Gloria and Doug were kind enough to put us up for a couple days, and we really appreciate it! I hadn't seen them since we all graduated from King's together, and it was so wonderful to finally get together with them. they had some great suggestions of what to check out in the city, and Caitlin and I did a few of them on day two!

my favourite suggestion was to visit Shwartz's Deli, which is famous in Montreal for two things: amazing smoked meat sandwiches, and being owned by Celine Dion. 

we didn't see Celine, but we can definitely attest to the delicious sandwiches. noms!

we also went to the Grace Kelly exhibit at the McCord museum, where we saw pieces from Princess Grace's real wardrobe AND her Oscar ohemgee! 

and we visited this crazy awesome vintage store that had an actual swimming pool of clothing... as in, take off your shoes, dig through a six-foot pile, swimming pool of clothes. I wish I had gotten photos of that place, but unfortunately I didn't think about it. if you ever go to Montreal and wanna go, I'm sure Gloria will remember the name for you! haha

this is Caitlin in front of Notre Dame Cathedral near Vieux Port!

sadly we only had two short days to spend in Montreal... but that was long enough for me to know that I love it. I'm already scheming how to go back in soon to check out a hockey game (go Habs!) and spend more time with my friends! 

vive la Quebec!

playing: Michelle- the beatles