A Montreal Recap and Another Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to Mr. Martin today!!  I could gush and gush about how much we all love him so, how selfless and dedicated he is as a father and husband, how easy he is to get along with and how we would all choose him over and over again, but instead I'll tell you about our weekend away to Montreal.  I think that's what he would want :)

Is there a more beautiful time to drive through the Northeast than in the fall?  Methinks not.

Phil and I took Friday off from work, dropped the kids off at school and headed up to Canada, eh?  I always thought I hated long car rides with a passion, but it turns out that when it's just him and I in the car, it's more like a long date :)  We drove about 4 hours to Burlington, Vermont and stopped for lunch while being completely underwhelmed by the city.  Then back in the car for another 2 hours to Montreal!  Of course, we had to go through the border first, which was extremely nerve-wracking.  It made me feel like I was hiding something even though I wasn't.

We drove straight to a nordic spa, and God provided beautiful weather for us after a rainy day.  The spa had hot springs and cold plunges, a sauna, and plenty of places to relax.  It was very nice, but too expensive and a one-and-done type of experience.  Hey, you only celebrate 20 years of marriage (belatedly) once :)

Then we drove to a little pub for dinner, where I had read reviews of amazing poutine, and it did not disappoint!  The waitress was really nice, and answered all of my dumb tourist questions with grace.  "Does everyone speak french and english fluently here?" "Do you know how to make cosmos in Canada?" "Why don't you have an accent?"  

We checked into the hotel after dinner, which was very nice.  We had a washer/dryer, oven, stove, fridge, etc even though we used none of it.  The breakfast was also included and a big spread!  The hotel was downtown and right outside Chinatown, which has four beautiful gates like this:

The next day we woke up at 8 am - glorious - ate breakfast and headed out to explore Montreal.  We walked over a mile to the bus hop on/hop off tour we had booked, and saw some sights along the way.

The bus tour was great, the tickets were good for two days, though we only used it on Saturday, and we really felt like we got the history and saw all the sights.  We stopped and got off at the village, which I thought was a place to go shopping, but was actually more like the Village People.  Phil and I tried to explore, but could barely walk down the street while having avert our eyes from the R-rated graphic images in store windows, and we quickly got back on the bus to go to another part of Montreal.  We got off the bus at St. Joseph's Oratory which was much more our speed.  There was a shuttle that drives people to the top, but the line was long and we like to walk, so we hoofed it up to the top.  By the time we made it inside, I was a bit hangry and freezing (did I mention that the high temp was 48 degrees on Saturday?) so we bought some chips and warmed up and I turned back into a human again.

We shopped at the bookstore and then went to a cute little cafe and bought some french bread and cheese and candy to bring home for the kids.

Then a lady yelled at us in french because she thought we were going to leave our trash on the table, but we would never *shakes fist violently in air*!

 

We hopped back on the next bus and went to Mont Royal (how Montreal got it's name!) and the bus driver took our picture :)

Back on the bus to the village I had been looking for, which was Old Montreal:

We popped into another pub for some more poutine (when in Canada!) and to warm up again.

There were sooooo many shops and restaurants and performers and people!!  It was awesome.  We bought some souvenirs and walked all over before heading back to the hotel.

It was dinnertime, but we had eaten so many snacks through the day that we decided to head to the rooftop jacuzzi.  There were three of them, and only a mom and daughter in one, so we had a nice time soaking in the views while soaking in the 'cuz.  After showering, we headed out to get some food at St. Hubert's because my sister recommended it.  

We had really wanted to eat at a spot in Chinatown called Nouilles de Lan Zhou that had the longest line all day.  When we got in line that evening, we started talking to a french couple in front of us who were visiting from France.  I said "Oh wow ACTUAL France?" like the nerd I am, and elle a ri un peu.  (Thank you five years of french class)  Apparently they had a friend from Montreal who told them this was The Place to eat.  The guy went to see how long the wait would be, and came back to report it was over an hour to get inside, and so we said our au revoir.  

St. Hubert's was pretty good, nothing fancy. I ordered a ceasar salad after eating all that poutine and bread earlier, and it was kind of dry. But Phil liked his chicken tenders and fries.  This is his go-to restaurant meal and one he always compares me to, as in, it's his favorite that he is faithful to and he never wants to try anything else.  It's sweet, I think - I'll be his chicken fingers and fries for life!

We walked around the city at night, saw the ferris wheel (lit up behind us) and got a crepe of course.  Nutella and strawberries, if you're nosy like me.

How do you say I need to go on a diet in french?  Oui oui.

On Sunday morning, we woke up and walked around before going back to the hotel for breakfast.  Then we headed over to Notre Dame Cathedral for Mass.  We were let inside about 20 minutes before Mass but told not to walk around and not to take photos.  I thought Jesus wouldn't mind as I snapped one of the altar, because come on!

The basilica was so beautiful and Mass was in French, but we read the English readings on our phones and gathered that the homily was about forgiveness.  It's always to amazing to see that no matter the country or language, all around the world, all Catholic churches are praying the same Mass. "Catholic" means "universal" after all, and it was nice to see it in action.

We walked back to the hotel to pack up and check out and then over to that Chinatown restaurant right as it opened at 11am for lunch.  No line!  It was sooooooo good.  The chef was making homemade noodles in the window, and the menu only had about four items.  

We attempted eating with the chopsticks, but then Phil said to the waiter "I know this is embarrassing, but do you have any forks?"  He smiled, asked how many (2) and boom, we were back in noodle eating business!  Then off to the car for a rainy but scenic drive home.  The only traffic we hit was in New Hampshire from all the people hiking and leaf-peeping!  Here's how you know you're up North:

Photos couldn't do the colors justice.  The trees were a quilt of reds, yellows and oranges.  So gorgeous.

We were very happy to arrive home to the kids!  We had actually planned a third night away, but we missed them too much and felt like we had done it all in Montreal.  That sounds so pathetic to miss the kids that much, but it's true!  I kept seeing little ones in Montreal, especially the adorable kiddos speaking french, and wondering how ours were faring without us.  Just fine, that's how they were faring, having tons of fun with Haley and my sister and my parents who all chipped in to help.  It's so good to go away but it's so good to get back home.

We celebrated Phil's birthday yesterday and went to a pizza place with the four youngest (Andrew and Eamon had soccer practice, but we brought them lots of leftovers!).

Our friend had brought us a cake, and we were grateful!

Happy Birthday Phil, 42 looks good on you!  We love you and this is your year.  May we have many more happy travels together :)