Tea and Kate

We spent American Thanksgiving in Canada, and it was a wonderful change of pace! Of course this means it was not Thanksgiving at all. Instead we got to visit Montreal and all of its wonderful metropolitan delights.

We absolutely splurged in terms of food. We had crêpes for breakfast in the Jean Talon market. We ate at the blind and dark restaurant called O.Noir, we are our experience of food and our relationship to our senses were fundamentally changed. We had pastries whenever possible. And we discovered a gluten-free patisserie that creates chocolatine aux amande nearly indistinguishable from the regular thing.

We enjoyed the places and spaces of Montreal too. Our Airbnb was in Little Italy near the Jean Talon market. we walked downtown to the Basilica. We took the bus around town. We hiked up Mount Royal, as far as the ice would let us. We visited the impressive art museum, and made sketches. We enjoyed countless pieces of street art and holiday decorations. We got to “Faire du patinage” in a central Mall.

Being in Montreal was special, too, because of the diversity, the language, and the history. So, we settled into the Cafe Italia to watch a World Cup football game, and enjoyed not just the coffee and lunch but also the conversation of the locals which switched between Italian, French, and English on a slow rotation.

And, of course family history was with us the whole time, as Katie was thinking of grandpa Jim in his time in Montreal and McGill University. Seeing the spaces that he once knew makes it special in an entirely different way.