Montreal

The ride home in the middle of rush hour, a hair pulling experience!

Not totally sure what happened here, we looked, no hole in the building!

View from hotel room

View from hotel room

Rohan's 5 pm nap

Old Montreal

Sleeping princes

MC drinking some infamous Olympico Latte

It took me, literally, months to convince Colin to go to Montreal. I thought it absolutely ridiculous that we had lived a short two hour drive from Montreal for nearly two years and had still not gone.  And what more opportune time than during our mutual break from work.

Finally the weather was on my side, we booked a hotel for the night and drove our way to a mini vacation.  Although I LOVE living in the Gatineau Hills surrounded by farm land and forest, I am a secret city lubber.  I love the freedom that cities and their easily accessible public transportation offers you.  How you can find everything you need within walking distance.  I even love to bare witness to some unsightliness, the dark and dingy, it is a reminder that everything isn't all lolly pops and sunshine.

It pops that bubble that I find starts forming around me when I am not in the heart of it.  Though in the same sense, being constantly bombarded by the disparity of barely living can get pretty hard to deal with (or you develop a desensitization, which is equally upsetting).  In fact we even managed to catch a glimpse of a couple making wookie outside a Chinese temple in China town.  They did have blanket over them (thank god) but there was some very distinct movement going on underneath!  Hilarious, and kind of bizarre.

Either way it was a pretty successful trip.  We went to the Biodome, which was super awesome for Rohan (though I am thinking that he is a pretty smart and sensitive kid and had a feeling that there was something horribly awry) but just completely wrong and upsetting for us.  It doesn't matter how often they told you how eco they are, those were some pretty miserable animals in there.

We also had a wee visit with our lovely friend MC who took us on a little adventure in search of the perfect latte (which was recommended to us from my bro) at Cafe Olympico.  Yum city, reminds me of my days in Scotland strangely enough! 

And that was our whirlwind two day trip to Montreal.  In retrospect, we should have really taken more time so we could have had a more relaxing second day, AND not have had to drive home in rush hour..........we really did not think that through.