Montreal

Bustling, busy, colorful, charming.

We started the day at Jean Talon Market, not a tourist trap, but where Montrealers get their produce and flowers. Colorful, delicious, entertaining. We had lunch there, then wandered into the Italian quarter to do some shopping. We then split with our friends for the afternoon and drove around exploring. Favorite area we found was Outrement.  I also found Parc Joyce. :-)  It was a simple well-treed city block with flowers, picnic tables and tennis courts. We wandered past both McGill and University of Montreal, then located Bell Centre (hockey arena).

We rested in the afternoon, then met our friends for dinner in Old Montreal at Steak Frites. You can bring your own wine to dinner. Around our table we enjoyed escargot, calamari, French onion soup (some individual choices, some shared), then steak or salmon, finished with coffee and, for some, decadent dessert.

We walked it off around the Old town.  My favorite building was city hall, pictured above.  Notre Dame Cathedral just closed before we got there so that is a visit for another day.  It felt so much like my memories of Paris.

Sigh.  I'm in my happy place.