Summer Heat and Soggy Poutine in Montreal!

Salut..... from the Wandering Berkmans! 

We planned Montreal for the summer to escape the heat but ooooffff are we glad we have an air conditioner to rely on-- Montreal isn't as cool as it used to be uggghhh.  (This is our 4th visit.)

That said, we made the best of it, enjoyed visits from family and friends and learned a little French along the way!  With our time here coming to a close on Sept 15 when we head to Madrid and then Athens, here's a glimpse of our Montreal jaunts-

Le Grande Biblioteque nearby us in the Latin Quarter is 4 floors of nooks to curl up in, plenty of light for dreary days, books/movies/computers/music and even rooms where you can jam on guitars and other instruments.  The light show reflected on the building at night is the icing on this fantastic literary cake.   

We were so glad to be able to host our nephew Cyrus for a few days-- who better to  traipse around the city with and sample the culinary magic that Montreal has to offer-- poutine, mac and cheese with poutine, a side of poutine with a smoked meat sandwich...  You get the picture.  Cyrus gamely ate it all and managed to leave this visit without intestinal distress, unlike his last visit with us in Mexico City.    Thanks for joining us, Cyrus!!

First stop-- Poutineville!  Don and I shared a deconstructed version (gravy on the side and therefore decidedly less mushy) while Cyrus, delirious from jet lag, went whole-hog and even added butter sauce and bacon to make a poutine for the ages!

Family Ida, Toke and Cecelia surprised us with a brief visit -- their first to Montreal!- and vowed to return...

... if for nothing more than to ride these bopping see-saws again and relive their glory days!

A blast from Don's D&B past, loyal reader of the blog Tyrone shared a delicious Greek meal with us then proceeded to amaze us with his impressively extensive knowledge of musical theater!  Much to Don's chagrin, Tyrone and I tra-la-la'd and duet-ed down the streets of Vieux Port to the likes of Babs, Judy and "Camelot".  Next stop-- Broadwaaaaayyyyyy!

Thanks, Christine, for taking time during your short visit to share a meal and some NJ stories!  We miss our Wornings!

Our Airbnb is located just outside the Gay Village with this lively pedestrian street of shopping, bars and restaurants.  The pink stadium seating and winding rainbow on the street add to its fun look.  Like most big cities, Montreal is struggling to help the general population with drug addiction and lack of housing and this street is a safe space for them.  Our Airbnb hosts admirably work with the city government to help make conditions better for these Montreal-ites.  

 

Sometimes you can even see a Drag show in the wild!

The mural art on Rue Saint Laurent is worth a slow crawl to take it all in... and then you can choose from almost any kind of food you can think of on this terrific street.  Even Schwartz's Deli, if you feel like standing on an endless line for their smoked meat sandwich.  We did a hard pass.

At a visit to the Museum of Fine Art, spanning multiple buildings connected by underground tunnels, we came across the perfect chess set for a manicurist.  Fashioned by Dalí, almost all the pieces are bronze cast of his fingers, save the Queen (his wife's finger) and the castles, which were salt shakers he liked.  The crowns on the King and Queen?  His baby teeth.  Quirky dude.  

Don and I are very fond of each other but it's nice to see some new faces every once in a while!  Facebook makes it easy to seek out other nomads.   This crew made coffee stretch 3 hours at the cool Le Petit Dep in Griffintown as we shared travel tips, origin stories, knee exercises and who has the least luggage (we lose badly!).  Don must have missed the email re: dude dress code.  Thanks for a great meetup, (r to l) Pip, Ellen, Ryan and Derick!  Don must have missed the email re: dude dress code.  

It only looks like a castle! This stunning building behind the fantastic fountains in Parc Viger is the office of a software company.

When the architecture is this beautiful, we have to stop and stare.  

Robin des Bois is a restaurant, community center, volunteer hub.  We had a blast at a Drag brunch one weekend and spent another day volunteering in the kitchen to help feed the unhoused.   Don isn't angry in this pic-- he's exhausted!  We cut up 100 pounds of potatoes that afternoon.  And then we could only muster up the energy for a cereal dinner hahaha

I shed a tear because I discovered Le Milleu just a little too late in our visit.  This artist haven is crammed with art supplies for whatever kind of artist or artist wanna-be you are.  I spent 5 hours there the other day, sewing and then joining a drawing workshop.  I fear my sketch game is lacking but I'll keep at it!

More art in the wild, this time a Sony photo exhibition displayed on the sidewalk.  With over a hundred amazing shots, it was as impressive as any photo exhibit we've seen.  This is one of our favs-

We thought petanque was big in France but the amount of young people we saw playing the sport at night in the fantastic Parc La Fontaine blew us away! Below see me take a turn... and promptly blow through another group's game doh!   Walking distance from our place, this park was our go-to for festivals, picnics, shows and biking.  

We took 3 days to drive down to Kingston, Ontario to see the Thousand Islands-- who knew it wasn't just a suspect salad dressing of dubious ingredients! Some of the islands were so small they just had a house.... and a bridge to their other house.  

Lakes, beautiful architecture, 2 universities, houses on islands, tons of different cuisine AND salsa lessons in the town center-- Kingston, we were happy to meet you!

Pride in Montreal takes place in August so we double Prided this year, first in Seattle and now here.   We were grateful for the opportunity to march with PFLAG Montreal in the Trans Pride march and the following week at the main march.  

This blog's SOL is for all the Little Tyke fans out there, you know who you are!

As the weather starts to cool, it's almost time to check in for our flight to Madrid, where we'll stay for 2 weeks, then off to Athens, Greece until mid November-- Don especially will be in his culinary happy place! We end out the year with a brief stop in Jersey, NM for Thanksgiving, Tucson for a week then Mexico City until February.  A bientôt, Montreal- we'll miss you!

Thanks for following along!

Don and Monica

Canada