Montreal

We're back from our brief Canadian jaunt! It was lots of fun although very crowded since unbeknownst to us July and August are the busiest seasons in Montreal and oh yeah, it was a holiday weekend for them. We drove up on Friday and met some serious traffic which meant we spent over an hour sitting at the border. We kept ourselves entertained with Harry Potter on CD and by watching the people who felt the need to climb out of their cars chat up everyone else stuck in the gridlock. Once we got into the city we had to drive in circles around the hotel looking for parking since it seemed their parking garage was full. It turns out that the they keep all the doors to garage closed and you sort of have to drive straight at it before it flies up at the last second and lets you in. It seemed bizarre to me but then again I don't often have to park in major metropolitan areas.

I was worried about the hotel since we were staying somewhere new as our usual hotel was completely booked. The only picture on the website was an awkward shot from the outside of the building that showed only the first couple floors and the underside the of awning. Luckily the place was gorgeous. We had a fantastic and slightly dizzying view of city from our room.



We planned on eating at this lovely little french bistro but it was overflowing with a large group of cigar smoking businessmen so we settled for the cheesy but delicious Mexican place next door. Aiden loved it and I had to laugh when our waiter brought him a complimentary virgin daiquiri.

The rest of the evening we spent in the hotel pool. My theory on this is that you could tell a small child you're going on vacation but instead take them to the closest hotel with a pool and they'd probably be just as happy.

The next day we ate breakfast at the same place we always do when we're in Montreal. The food is so delicious that Aiden happily ate a spinach omelet with Hollandaise sauce. You read that right: 3 year old + spinach = breakfast. A true miracle. Sean had fruit crepes (literally every type of fruit including grapes and watermelon stuffed into paper thin crepes) with thick English custard. There were also some banana and Nutella crepes. So delicious. I would have spent the rest of the day eating more breakfast but we had promised Aiden we'd go to the Bio-Dome so we did eventually leave the restaurant.

The Bio-Dome was smaller than I remember but still lots of fun. However, the rainforest section was particularly brutal since Aiden insisted that Sean carry him through the entire area and they were both dripping with sweat by the time we entered the next area. The penguins and the monkeys were our favorites overall. We left early and still sat in traffic for an obscenely long time. One amusing thing that happened on the drive was when we passed a cemetery and Aiden looked at all the headstones and said "Ooh! Building blocks!". Oh the innocence. Overall: wonderful trip but terrible traffic. Would like to go back very soon.