to Montreal

Morning on the farmette... So pretty in June!

Breakfast with my sweetie.

Now leap forward toward evening, and I am (along with the young family) in Montreal. Vacation time! You're thinking -- why Montreal? I'm going to say -- oh, for so many reasons! I'll list some, in no particular order:

1. They speak French here. My son-in-law loves brushing up on his French. He would be quite happy to vacation with his family in France right now, I'm sure of it, but, they are a large family and some of those members are not fun to take on long overseas trips (by virtue of age, to say nothing of the expense involved). Plus, he has been diligently studying Quebecois French so Montreal is a win win.

2. My daughter, married to said son-in-law, is not a fan of long and complicated trips. Montreal is not complicated and it is not far. Win win.

3. We all live in what you could call a very small city, or a very large town. This means that vacations in bigger cities are an attractive proposition. Win.

4. The Quebecois are sort of like the French in that they have a bit of a food obsession. Eating here is fun and tasty. Possibly not with food fussy kids, but oh well. Eat or starve, guys!

5. None of us have spent a huge amount of time in Montreal so there's a lot to explore that's new and interesting. Plus the city has (we have been told) many good parks. Kids love parks. When they feel they can't take another new dish of Quebecois food, they can release their pent-up frustrations in the park! Win win.

I could go on. But let me go back to the morning of departure. Not fully packed, in a rush to get clothes into suitcase and suitcase into car, and to eat that final breakfast with Ed, and get to the airport on time for my flight to Detroit. From there -- a second short (in the scheme of things) flight to Montreal.

All mostly smooth, no big snafus. I do not regard, for instance, the angry passenger on the flight to Canada as being a snafu. More of a big mouth: "Ma'am, does all of Canada require masks or is it only flights into Canada? Because I'm telling you, no one wears masks anymore. Like, this thing, this "pandemic"  is over! It's been over for a long time!" The flight attendant was polite and assured him that Canada, the country, would go easy on him once he gets out of the airport. I mean, yeah! It's over, already!

I'm not sitting next to the big mouth. The luck holds.

The young family is staying in an AirBnb a little ways away from where I am (and they arrived earlier than I did). This does create some transportation and meetup challenges, but the city is well served by a metro line (and Uber drivers when I am just beyond tired), so I figure I may as well pick a hotel that I like and not worry about the distance to their place. From the airport I go straight to the William Gray.

The architecturally interesting William Gray. Part old, part new, though even the old feels new. 

I do understand that if I am going to stay at the lovely William Gray, I have to go for the tiniest (aka cheapest) room available. But honestly, I do not dance, I do not saunter, I do not move much in a hotel room, so it's okay! Indeed, when I book the place, I say -- little is fine. Put me in a room with a decent view and I'll be happy. But then, what they did is they upgraded me. I'm in a bigger room. The penalty? A shitty view. So which would you prefer -- the room or the view? Well, no matter. I like free upgrades so I take it. Besides, there is absolutely nothing else available anywhere for miles around. Montreal is in a swinging mood!

(the room)

But I don't linger much in the hotel. My challenge for tonight is simply to get over to our dinner spot for the evening -- the Caribou Gourmand. The young family can walk to it, I ride an Uber. [We prebooked every dinner for the time we're here. You have to: our group ranges from at times 6 to as many as 11. You can't be spontaneous and Covid safe with 11 dinners searching for space and good food!]

The Caribou is a cool place that serves dishes not often seen outside Canada. Like seal. Honestly, I could order seal, but I'm not one who would find this idea to be appealing or even intriguing so I settle for their totally awesome special for this week: mussels! They are apparently in super season. Prepared in all sorts of ways! Delicious.

Back at the hotel, I go up to the hotel's rooftop, just to see the view that I a missing from my room. Pretty good! 

But you know, as you sit back and do your work in the dark of the night, you really do not care about the view. You care about the quiet (the room is super quiet), the comfort (the big chair is super comfortable), the WiFi. And then you just roll to bed and go to sleep. 

First evening in Canada --a success!