Travel Tuesday - Tiz List de Montreal

Bien. On a deja decrive les hotels, les restaurants, et presque tout.

(Hmm... Yeah... That needs accent marks something fierce, so we'll go back to English.)

So... We've already talked about the hotels, restaurants, and - honestly - pretty much everything about the trip. I thought I'd pass you some basics that have stuck with me, and then we'll move on. Kind of a "Tiz List de Montreal," if you will.

1) We went to a small antique store/gallery while we were wandering around near the Musee des Beaux Arts. Amid the millenia-old (yes, really) stuff in the shop, we came across four Narwhal tusks. One was at least 8 feet long. It was standing against the wall between two cabinets, with all of its papers attached to it. The shop owner said that he could sell it to us, but it couldn't leave Canada.

2) For those of you not sure what a Narwhal is, it's a whale with a single long tusk, sometimes called the "unicorn of the sea." It's also thought that the tusk could actually have been one of the things that made people believe in unicorns in the first place. Here's a picture I found of one:

3) We stopped at the Nespresso cafe on Crescent Street. Christopher and I are always looking at Nespresso machines when we're out shopping - especially when people are offering free demos (and, thus, samples). The problem: I don't especially like coffee. So I had what they were calling a "liegeois" - basically a tiny scoop of amazing vanilla ice cream with a shot of espresso poured over it.

4) Sitting with Christopher in the shop, sipping that and eating mini madeleines from out of a martini glass, even I could imagine liking espresso.

5) Cretons are this weird little potted pork meat food thing. They're a little spicy, but mainly just taste like potted meat. I fell in love with them at first bite.

6) The container of cretons that I brought with me accidentally didn't get refrigerated when we got home, so I had to throw it out.

7) It took two days to throw it out because I felt so bad.

8) The Delta Sky Clubs are kind of fun. Christopher gets free entry for himself and a guest thanks to one of his credit cards. They're really not all that special, but the food and drink is free (yes, even alcoholic beverages) - although they do ask that you enjoy it all on-site. Would I pay to get the perks? Probably not unless it came with one of my credit cards. But it was fun.

9) Yes, I still send postcards. People are always surprised to sell them to me.

10) In case you're wondering, a Volkswagen Tiguan is actually quite comfortable for 3 (or 4) people to drive around in - and not so big that it was a problem to park.

11) Just don't get me started on the annoying "doom and gloom" woman at the rental car counter who was trying to get us to quadruple the rate of our car with multiple different kinds of insurance (even though we had checked with our insurance company and were completely covered).

12) When leaving the Burlington International Airport to drive to Montreal, please turn RIGHT out of the parking lots.

13) For the second time in as many trips, Christopher and I didn't see the right street signs and went left. Next time we'll remember. I'm sure.

14) There's a really random pizza place in Burlington between the highway and the airport. Couldn't tell you what it's called, but it's big and the food is actually pretty good.

15) The most expensive place in the world to buy a postcard is in the airport. I'm almost sure of it.

16) Christopher and I both enjoyed the fact that, in Montreal, it's kind of like going to Europe, but the people look more American. In other words, they're not all stick-thin. We fit in much better in Canada than we do in France.

17) I'm still, occasionally, speaking French in my head. Two weeks after getting home.

18) Have I mentioned the market near my aunt's? Les Halles d'Anjou. Amazingly European place with an outdoor (covered) section with plants and fresh vegetables and such, plus (indoors) multiple butchers and a high-end deli, and a liquor store, and an entire store which is just fruit and veg, and all sorts of things. If I lived in that area, I'd shop there every day I could.

19) We spent our last night in Montreal out at dinner with my aunt and my (non-related-to-me) cousins. Christopher and my cousins were talking about all sorts of tech things (like whether Netflix is available, and how computer service is). I never think to talk about things like that, but Christopher is so good at finding out about day-to-day life stuff.

20) One final comment: The trip was amazing. My first real vacation in over 2 years. A trip with no cellphone, almost no internet, great sights and sounds and food, and - most of all - incredible people. Jetlag wore off after a couple of days, but (as I'm sure you've noticed) I'm still having a kind of "post-trip hangover" of the very best kind.