30-52-2014 – A really, really, short visit to Montreal

July 27, 2014 – We spent a couple of short days in Montreal, Kirk was there for work and I went along to kill some vacation time I need to use, and I’ve never been to Montreal. Kirk was busy most of the time, but unexpectedly had the second evening free so his colleague drove him downtown where I was wandering about and we went to Reuben’s for a Montreal Smoked beef sandwich and then wandered the night life. Turns out that the Just for Laughs festival was on and so we enjoyed a bit of free entertainment – music, comedy, etc.

It was a short, but very cool trip that left me wanting to go back and spend some further time exploring further. When I came out I asked Kirk to keep it quiet; I knew his colleague would want to show me around, spend time worrying about me, or want to set up some dinner time or other with his wife and us.

I didn’t want any of that. I just wanted to buy a ticket and some on the same flight, come quietly along, share the hotel room, and take off first thing both mornings, not returning until his work was completed each night. I’m very happy to entertain myself in a strange city and can happily look after myself.

But you know what?

I had a fabulous time because I was able to spend an evening with a favoured Uncle, I was able to explore to my heart’s content, I ate some fabulous food, discovered poutine, Montreal smoked beef, and Montreal bagels.

I entertained myself on the Montreal Metro, chatted with strangers, and had an unexpected few hours in Ottawa to visit Parliament Hill, a place I hadn’t been since spending a week at the Terry Fox Youth Centre 30 years previous. I also had just enough time to wander the Rideau locks below Parliament Hill, explore the Rideau Market, and then high-tail it back to where I was dropped off two hours earlier to be picked up for the drive back to Montreal to make our flight home.

It was interesting to visit the Capital again. Thirty years earlier, when I spent that week at the Terry Fox Youth Centre, it was the first time I felt truly connected to my country as a whole. There were students from across the country, and although there was not supposed to be more than one student from any high school, somehow four of us were selected from the same school – three of us had been friends since kindergarten….and we were a bit infamous. 😉 It was neat to have a (too) short visit there again.

So tagging along as a plus-1 on Kirk’s work trip was a blast. It would have been better if he could have spent the time with me, but now I can look forward to a future trip when we can maybe take a few days on the end of another trip and we can explore together.

“To travel is to live”. Even a short trip adds to the engagement with the world.

Lots of photos to sort through, probably none great, I was challenged by overly bright days, rain when it wasn’t overly bright, and was generally too hot most of the time.

I’ll try and work on them this week.