Sun. July 11, 2021- Toronto, ON to Montreal, QC
Once again, we were in for a unique travel experience this summer. COVID was still a thing but at least now we were both fully vaccinated. Also, different this time was that we were leaving someone behind, our beloved Kitty-Sized Rudy. And also, our rocking garden. Things have changed.
We were only about 30 minutes out from home, had barely left Toronto when I realized: I had forgotten to brush my hair and I had left my brush behind. Another new thing: a few days ago, I had gotten my hair cut short into a bob. I was not used to this new short-hair-lifestyle. I had a hard time staying awake in the car (shocker) but snacking on fresh strawberries helped a little bit. I was also preoccupied feeling guilty for leaving Rudy behind. Camilla messaged me saying that Adrian couldn’t wait to go see Rudy, so they saw her that afternoon.
We stopped at an On Route and it was so weird to see so many people in one place. Were it not for the masks and the signs you would thing nothing was going on, just a regular summer day. That was about it for Ontario, soon we passed into QUEBEC! And yes, we did shout as we crossed over. On the way in to Montreal we stopped at Gibeau Orange. I had found it on a list of top things to do in Montreal. My main reason for going to it was based on playing the video game GTA V: it was a big giant orange! In the game it was on a hillside and players could kick it to make it roll down the hill. Eating lunch and drinking an orange julep were secondary reasons. For a roadside stand the hotdogs were actually pretty good. When I read what an orange julep was, I was skeptical: skim milk powder and orange juice concentrate?? But apparently people would buy it by the jugful. I was pleasantly surprised and even thought about buying a jugful if we passed by on the way back.
Parking at the hotel was annoying as it was not a traditional hotel. It was a previous apartment building and it only had one parking spot out front. We tried to go to a parking garage but it was closed. The paid parking lot was for short term. Eventually after circling around a bit, we found a parking spot on the street that had no limits that affected us. Walking towards our hotel when we were just around the corner, I swear I could smell LUSH. I remembered having seen one on the way but I didn’t know it was across the street from the hotel. I made a mental note of it for later. I hadn’t been to one since pre-pandemic times and it was on my to-do list. We walked down to the river and to old Montreal. There were lots of pretty old European-style buildings. We passed by a Ben & Jerry’s. I was tempted to go in, even though my stomach was hurting. It’s kind of the tradition: Ben & Jerry’s at the most inopportune times (San Antonio, Texas: I was just getting over a cold. Hollywood Beach, Florida: I had just eaten a soft-serve cone). I didn’t give in to temptation, only because it would have meant backtracking a bit while I debated. We ended up walking towards the ferris wheel which led us to a pseudo-amusement park similar to Centreville, complete with a bridge over water and pedal boats. Thankfully the pier had bathrooms, ironically it was the men’s room that had the long lineup. We stopped to watch on Brent’s phone the penalty kicks of the final match in the Euro Cup, England vs Italy. We were a bit delayed and we could hear reactions from others nearby. England lost. There were so many cute dogs out and about, every few minutes I would be aww’ing again at a pooch.
On the way back we stopped at a depanneur (convenience store) for drinks: McAdam rosé cider and a McKeown original cider. I was kind of surprised at the selection. I was expecting to find no ciders, just beer. Let alone having a selection to choose from, a few different flavours from both those cideries. I was quite dehydrated from between the driving and the pandemic affecting bathroom availability. The rosé cider helped a lot. It also helped cool me down. I started reading Kate Moore’s new book, The Woman They Could Not Silence. It was so damn good. But as it goes with vacation, I got antsy and turned to TV. We didn’t have cable but we had Netflix. I started watching season 3 of The Great Canadian Baking Show while getting ready to go to dinner.
We had a late dinner at Au Pied de Cochon which was around the corner from our hotel. It was so weird to be seated indoors, it was the first time since before the pandemic. And it was only our second meal out (the first having been the previous year on the patio in Alberta). They had on offer an in-house made cider, I couldn’t resist that. It was perfect, just the right amount of sweet. We started with the poutine with foie gras. It was easily the best poutine we ever had. Everything was perfect and high quality and so well balanced. They actually had available (without 24 hours notice) the duck in a can, we had to get that. Even though we would look even moreso like tourists. We also got the house-made summer sausage but that dish proved to be one too many and not worth it given that the sausage was actually kind of dry and not that good compared to everything else. This was some of the best duck we’ve ever had. Even if towards the end it was so hard to eat, it was so rich. The thick bread really helped. But not enough to eat the duck skin, it was just too much. Somehow though I still wanted dessert, I needed that sweetness. We split the caramel cream because the restaurant is known for their desserts and mygawd are people right. I was never a fan of flan but this was amazing. Back in the room we watched I Think You Should Leave Now on Netflix (despite having just watched all of the new season 2 a few days ago). Now we had the option for subtitles so we could know what everyone was saying in the Blues Brothers sketch.
Inside My Head 