I promised you an mini TR, and if I don't start it will never happen...
Monday, August 29th -- We decided to wait until later to leave, to give the storm clean-up time to happen. Based on what we were seeing on the Boston news, it didn't seem so bad...(note, this impression was corrected when we started seeing the news in Montreal, they were much more concerned about VT). So it was a pleasant drive. We went up about 2 hours in NH, then another 3 in VT, and then about 45 minutes in Canada to Montreal. I had never been in VT for any appreciable time before, and I found it to be quite Green. Just miles and miles of green trees, green mountains, a lovely state. We decided to get something to eat in Montpelier, and the golden dome of the capitol just seemed to sit and shimmer in the forest as we approached. So, by the time we got to the border, we were ready to be done. We didn't have any issues entering, and were on our way up the farmland. Dennis said it looked like we were in IL, and I had to agree. If the signs weren't in French, I would think I was in middle America.
We were very pleased with our hotel. We had a suite so Ben had his own space to sleep and watch tv in. Unfortunately there weren't a ton of channels, but we brought the dvd player thinking that might be the case. We were beat, so we unpacked (we had a small kitchen), and walked to the local Mall. We had some not so great takeout, but we also found the close IGA, so that was fortuitous. We went to bed pretty quickly, we had a busy day ahead.
Tuesday, August 30th -- This is the day we scheduled a hop on/off bus tour, so we could get the lay of the land. It was a double decker bus, so of course my adventurers had to sit up top. This was fine for most of the tour, until it started pouring

We were all glad we had picked this, we felt like we had a much better handle of where things were and what we might like to do. We also learned there apparently is a rivalry between Toronto and Montreal. Who knew?

We spent the morning on the tour, then got off and had lunch. We went to the Notre Dame Basilica in the afternoon (absolutely beautiful church, where Celine Dion was married), and then back there in the evening for a light show. We went to Old Montreal for dinner, and Dennis had poutine. None for me, thanks

Then Dennis decided to take a walk to see St. Catherine Street, since his co-workers had told him so much about it

He went about 2 blocks and came back. It was a bit raunchy for him, and he wasn't overly comfortable being solicited
The next day we wanted to walk around the city a bit. We went to the Underground City, and enjoyed the miles of mall -- but didn't really see anything that caught our fancy, much. We had lunch, and then we had to grab a taxi -- we had a tour of the headquarters of Cirque du Soleil scheduled! This was a special treat, they do not do tours for the public. Dennis works with them to find their space when they come to Boston, so we were offered a tour. We could not take any pictures, but I was absolutely amazed at what goes into a production. Of course they have the studios where they practice the shows, a gym, etc. What I did not realize is they actually dye the material for all of their costumes, and then sew them. They make or adapt all the shoes, and make all the headpieces. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say it was extremely impressive, and they also do a lot for the communities they appear in, as well as Montreal's poorest neighborhood. We went back to Old Montreal for dinner. It was my turn to pick and I wanted a crepe! It was more dessert than dinner, but my crepe had a ton of fresh strawberries and sliced banana covered in Belgian chocolate sauce, with sides of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. No, not exactly on any diet
Thursday, September 1st -- This was our last day in Montreal, and we planned to take the subway out to the Olympic Park. We found the subway to be quick, clean, and pretty easy to maneuver. We went up in the Olympic Tower, which had a fantastic view of the City and surrounding community. One thing we quickly discovered was there weren't really suburbs that go on for miles like around Boston, once you get out of Montreal it seems to be pretty farmy. We also toured the Biodome, with 5 habitats found around Canada and the animals that go with them. We did some more walking around Old Montreal, and ended up having dinner overlooking the marina. We did our final souvenir shopping (I got a couple of great pairs of artisan earrings and plenty of maple products for family and co-workers), and that's when Dennis sprang his brilliant idea for our exit on me -- wouldn't it be great if we could be on the road at 6am instead of 7:30?!
Friday, September 2nd -- So, up at 5am, car packed, and groggy me and Ben are ready to hit the road. We were very happy to be over the border when we would have been leaving, but still...When we got to the border the guard asked Dennis where he worked, who Ben was, it was a little intimidating

but, safely back in the U.S. we were able to relax and enjoy the Green. We got home in early afternoon, I started the

, we made our grocery list, and started putting away things we had out for the hurricane that didn't hit us, we were so fortunate.
I am pleased to say I started eating correctly right away, and I've run 3M Sat. and today.
We enjoyed Montreal, but I was struck by a couple of things.
The Good:
The news anchors were so multicultural they looked like the United Nations. And the sports announcer we saw was a very healthy woman. I liked that!
The people were polite, and we could figure out most things without too much help.
The Surprising:
Everyone seemed to be smoking -- all the time. It was hard for me (I'm allergic to smoke), but there were not smoking at all in indoor restaurants, so that was actually good.
We quickly got the impression that speaking English was frowned upon, even for tourists. From watching the news, we also felt like English-speakers were second-class citizens. That may not be the case at all, it was just the impression we got.
I did keep thinking I would have a better time if I were at Disney -- I think part of that was all the smoking, and part of it was things were unfamiliar and we had to work to figure them out. The taxes seemed really high, and figuring how much something really cost was a more math than I wanted to do.
The Verdict:
I am really glad we went, but I don't see the need to return any time in the near future. I don't know where next summer will take us, but I predict it will either involve a cruise or another big city in the U.S. My guys got a taste of non-theme park vacationing, and unlike me, I don't think they want to go back
Maria
