Nous sommes allés à Montréal

When Robbie got a new job, one of the things I wondered is if we would ever be able to travel with him to conferences like we have in the past (San Francisco for instance, you can read my series of posts about it starting here: http://ouvrezvosyeuxjdr.blogspot.com/2012/10/san-francisco-first-travel-day.html). Turns out, yes we can! And our first trip was to Montreal where Robbie attended the PyCon Conference.  I was excited to go to Montreal because it would be the boys' first time out of the country, was easy enough to get to without flying, and most importantly would give us a chance to practice our French in person! However I was a little nervous of taking on a city that I had only been to once before with both little boys all on my own (Robbie had the conference all day, every day). But we went for it!

Day 1: Getting there

Here is Meo and I very excited on our way to Montreal (he asked Robbie to take a picture of "me and mama please").

Once we got across the border, the fun started. We weren't sure if we would be able to use our phones once we got in Canada. Turns out, we couldn't. So we had to stop for a map because our GPS stopped working and Robbie embarrassed himself when he stood mute because he didn't know French and was afraid to communicate in English. When he told me, I thought it was hilarious. Sorry Robbie. Thankfully, the GPS my dad gave us worked in Canada, so we ended up being all set!

When we got into the city, I decided there was no way in hell I was going to be driving the boys and I around to get to all the places I wanted to go. No, that was not happening. So I convinced Robbie to take a practice run into the city with me to go eat dinner. We had a 15 minute walk to the nearest metro station that would take us into the heart of the city and I wanted to make sure I had a good handle on how to get there and how the subway worked before I tried to venture out on my own for the whole day in the morning.

The boys loved riding the metro. Here is Link on his very first ride.

Montreal doesn't have a very handicap accessible subway system, so there were some excalators, but mostly lots and lots of steep stairs. This was quite the adventure when I was carrying Link on my front, a backpack with all our snacks, spare cloths, diapers on my back, Meo in one hand, and a collapsible stroller in the other. I did it though. I felt like supermom.
 

Normally, when I travel someplace, I don't like to have everything planned out. But knowing I would be responsible for my two little boys with not a lot of wiggle room or free time for research, I came to the city prepared. I made a list of all the vegetarian restaurants that looked good to me and where they were and what their hours were. I wrote out an itinerary with alternate options. I made reservations to places that needed them. And although I felt like a freako planner lady, it was a relief to just be able to do things without stress or thought once we got there. And it was still exhausting. The first place we ate at was  Yuan Vegetarian, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant (which also doesn't serve onions...hooray!). They had the most delicious mockmeat meals and wontons!

 So after a successful first navigation through the city we returned to our hotel for a whole other type of "adventure". You see, our shower did not include a door. Not only that, but the bathroom door was a sliding door with no lock. So it was pretty near impossible to keep Link out of the bathroom and all the treasures that the bathroom held. Like toilet paper...we had to hide that after he pulled the roll joyfully across the hotel room. Like, he was quite thrilled about this.

Day 2: The Biodome, Botanical Gardens, and Cat Cafe

This was not really a "family" hotel, but they did have one high chair we were fortunate enough to get every morning.

The first morning was delayed a bit because as I reached into our overnight bag for the boys' toothbrushes, I sliced my fingers across lots Robbie's open razor blade and was bleeding everywhere. So I had to deal with that.

Then we were ready. I was loaded down like a pack mule and we were ready to spend 10 hours out in the city. And right as we stepped out of the hotel, it started downpouring! Meo's legs go completely soaked. We ran to the car for shelter and I almost decided to brave driving around after all. Then I felt way too wimpy about that so we ran inside to get on our rain gear and brave the weather instead. Luckily, the rain subsided.

Meo was so excited that we would be going on the subway lots and lots.

Our first stop was Biodome. We had such a late start that we had to sit down for lunch before we even went in. And Link fell asleep!

Meo loved the biodome though. The macaws were loud and freaked him out a bit, but besides that he loved seeing all the animals all around him.

We were most excited about the monkeys climbing around, being cute, and not in cages!

Eventually, my little guy did wake up, and after a brief nursing session in the rainforest was ready for his own fun. He loved seeing the animals too!

This is one of the funniest pictures I think I have ever taken. Look at those faces!

Next we took a very long and drizzly walk to the Botanical Gardens so that we could see all the butterflies.

I had initially planned on visiting the Insectarium too, but we didn't have time to do both and new the boys would love the "Butterflies Go Free!" exhibit. We essentially got to walk around through a greenhouse full of beautiful butterflies and gorgeous plants.

The boys were in constant amazement of all the butterflies flying around them. 

And when a couple landed on Meo, he started getting a little squirmy. He loved looking at them but it freaked him when they touched him hehe.

This is a little bit of the hebejebees.

This is pure bliss.

Here is a butterfly on my shoulder.

Hungry and tired, we left the botanical gardens for a much anticipated dinner at Le Cafe des Chats! If you understand French, that means the Cat Cafe. Yes, a cafe where cats roam free. Mattimeo and I were beyond excited to go here.

It was everything we dreamed it would be too. Delicious food, yummy drinks, friendly cats galore, BUT no high chairs. I was a little freaked out about how I would manage two small boys in a room full of cats and other peoples meals without a way to contain the wild, climbing, and a bit cranky from being sleepy tired. It was a little hectic, but I did it. They have a few rules that include "no loud sudden noises"...we may have broke that rule a few times with a shrieking baby...but the cats seemed not to be bothered. Eventually Link settled down on my back while I bounced him and ate my dinner, after he got his fill of running and diving onto cat beds of course. Meo was very well behaved and loved petting the cats and playing with them (they had toys around the room for people to interact with the kitties with).

They even gave Meo a cat toy to bring home for our kitties at the end of our visit. It was so fun! I'm thinking about opening a Cat Cafe around here.

Robbie didn't get back to the hotel until 10, so when we got back I took a shower with both of the boys. I was afraid I would have two soapy children running naked around our hotel room since there was no doors, but they were so content to be under the warm water that they stayed in the shower the hole time. Then we watched French cartoons, read a couple french books we got at the gift shop, and went to sleep on our giant bed (we pushed two queen beds together).

Day 3: Robbie's birthday, the theater, chocolate, and the biosphere

On the third day it was Robbie's 30th birthday.  I got Robbie a couple of Threadless t-shirts (one of Link from Zelda (yes, Link's namesake) entering a forest) and one of the tree spirits from Princess Monanoke). He also had an ergonomic computer chair waiting for him back at home because our other chair was causing him back and wrist problems.

Do you know how fun elevators are for kids? So fun. But why do they put the emergency button the bottom??

This day was incredibly windy so we put on our winter gear and sported a windblown look throughout our adventures.

Our first stop was to the Centaur Theatre Company where we had tickets to see "water Wellington and the Dancing Curse" and "Jack and the Beantin".

The boys loved the first show. It was put on by children and lighthearted and both of the boys stayed engaged.

Link fell asleep during the second show. This play had talented adult actors and was a funny take on the class Jack and the Beanstalk. Instead of a beanstalk there was a giant can of beans, and the giant was funny and only three feet tall.

The giant would pretend to be scary to make the kids laugh (because his character supposedly had trouble being scary), but he ACTUALLY scared Meo. Meo started full out crying because he was so terrified, and I had to quickly reload all our gear and excort him out back so he couldn't see the giant any more. We couldn't just leave the theater because the door was right next to the stage and Meo was too afraid to walk by, so I had to spend the rest of the show soothing a petrified three year old.

Then we enjoyed a scenic walk to our much anticipated lunch spot. However as we walked by one of the horse drawn carriages, one of the drivers told me "why don't you give me some f*ing money" (we were just waling down the sidewalk!), so I crossed "horse-drawn carriage ride through old Montreal" off my list of things to do.

Then we arrived at the place that I think Meo was looking forward to the most on our trip: Juliette & chocolat. It is a restaurant dedicated to chocolate.

Mattimeo enjoyed a classic style hot chocolate. This was the real thing people, rich and creamy; mouthwatering.

I wanted to try something a little more exotic so I had a Ghana hot chocolate. This had "hints of hazelnut and caramel, a strong cocoa taste, with an after-taste of green tea". Amazing.

Then, for lunch we enjoyed one of my favorite French foods, crepes! They were smothered in amazing chocolate of course. The reality is that I don't have much of a sweet tooth so I couldn't finish my decadent meal, but Meo almost ate his entire plate full.

And what about Link? Well Link thinks chocolate is the most horrible thing that has ever touched those little lips. How dare I?! He munched on food I packed in the backpack.

After lunch, we were all quite tired and I thought we could use a nap. So we made the journey 40 minutes back to the hotel. Did they sleep? No, they were nuts. After an hour, I knew we needed to get back out there, though I was completely exhausted. So we went to the Biosphere. The boys wouldn't be interested in touring the inside, so we just admired it from the outside and walked around the beautiful park there.

While we walked, both boys fells asleep.

But when we finally got to our long sought out playground, I nudged Meo awake because I knew he needed to stretch his legs or he would be a bear at Robbie's birthday dinner that evening. He had so much fun playing!

For dinner, we met up with Robbie and a couple friends he was attending the conference with to try out Burritoville, a vegetarion burrito restaurant.  Robbie thought his food was amazing. But all the beans and tomatos were mixed with onions, which I don't eat, so I was stuck with a cheese and rice "quesadilla". The boys didn't eat anything at all except for some chips and humus and some pouches I packed as emergency rations. But we were glad that Robbie was able to enjoy a meal that he loved.

Robbie with Chris and Joe

Day 4: Sugar shack and dinosaur bones

I had to spend the night before really psyching myself up for this day. Not because I wasn't excited about what we were going to do, but I was freaking out a little about how I would have to get there.  To get there, I needed to drive the boys and I alone for an hour which included going through the city. I hate driving places I don't know (there was a time when this was fun to me; I am no longer that girl). My regular yoga practice came in handy as I regularly reminded myself to unclench my jaw and relax my muscles. We survived.

And made it to Sucrerie de la Montagne for their sugaring off festivities! During the week or on weekends, Sucrerie de la Montagne lets you experience real Québec traditions. Here, the maple syrup is produced the old-fashioned way: the tree is tapped with a spout, the sap collected in a pail and transported to a traditional wood-fired evaporator, where it is transformed into maple syrup.

At Sucrerie de la Montagne, sugaring off time includes...

• A ride in a horse-drawn sleigh or wagon
• An all-you-can-eat sugaring off feast served at tables: Soupe au pois du Montagnard (mountain dweller's pea soup), pain croûté de la paysanne (farm-style crusty bread), jambon fumé à l'érable (maple-smoked ham), fèves au lard de chantier (wood-fired baked beans), omelette soufflée de la fermière (farm-style omelette soufflé), saucisses de campagne (country-style sausages), ragoût de boulettes (traditional meatball stew), oreilles de crisse (crispy-fried pork rinds), pommes de terre pilées à l'ancienne (old-style mashed potatoes), tourtière de la beauceronne (meat pie from Québec’s Beauce region), homemade fruit ketchup & pickles). For dessert: sugar pie, pancakes with maple syrup, tea and coffee).
• L'Animation musicale assurée par nos chansonniers-musiciens. Come sing and dance in the company of other families and friends!

Our feast. As vegetarians, we obviously couldn't have some of the things they were serving. But they sent us only things without meat products and it was a SUBSTANTIAL amount of the most delicious food. We ate like royalty. There was live fiddle music playing, a huge open hearth with a fire blazing, a hall full of lively, jovial conversation as we set at a communal style tables and made friends with our neighbors. The couple that set right next to us were so nice and were great with talking to the boys. We truly had a wonderful company and such a fun experience.

After our feast, we enjoyed the gorgeous weather by exploring the old buildings and vast maple forest. I have seriously never seen so many maple sugar buckets in my life, never mind in one place. It was incredible. Link loved splashing around in all the puddles he could find, and Meo had fun running on the trails and peeking into the buckets to see the clear, sweet sap.

Then three very tired and full Robinsons headed back to the hotel.  I had a stupid headache and wasn't sure how I would survive driving back into the city, but we made it and only got honked at once. The boys were asleep in the car so we all got a little rest in the parking lot before we packed up to head on another adventure on foot. We needed to meet Robbie at the other side of the city for dinner, so we decided to fit in a visit to Redpath Museum to see the dinosaur bones. Mattimeo LOVES dinosaurs and was very excited to see his first real dinosaurs. It was kind of magical to see him experience seeing dinosaurs, and I wish Robbie could have joined us!

Then, I was exhausted and had the beginnings of a migraine and the boys were bursting with energy and needed to run in the delicious sunshine. The Redpath Museum is on the McGill campus so I looked around and found the perfect spot to set them free: a grassy area with a couple trees completely fenced in.

See my children? There they are, running wild and free, happy as can be.

At one point, this mischievous baby slithered under the fence like a snake and made some other mothers laugh when I dove to snatch him up, but besides that, the free time was glorious.

And then I walked the boys for 20 minutes and a migraine to eat at our last restaraunt in Montreal. We met at another vegetarian restaurant called Copper Branch which sells an assortment of veggie burgers. More importantly, they sell vegan poutine. Poutine is a classic Montreal treat of french fries smothered in gravy and cheese. I wanted to make sure the boys got to experience poutine before we left. Meo and Link did not like it though. Oh well!

Meeting up with Robbie was such a huge relief. I was exhausted, had a migraine and was sore all over. I could finally close my eyes for a few seconds and relax knowing the boys were with their Daddy and that I wouldn't have to face the city alone again for the rest of the trip.

peekaboo!

Day 5: Homeward Bound

We debated doing more things in Montreal before we left, like take Robbie to Juliette & Chocolat so he could experience its glory firsthand, but decided we were all ready for a relaxed ride home instead.

Not too soon I might add. Here is Meo pleased after he snatched a loaf of banana bread from the breakfast bar.

And here they are, climbing on the hotel lounge furniture (or as Meo liked to call them "the big beds") for the last time.

Before we crossed the border though we had to stop for lunch. And we couldn't resist stopping at a restaurant called Tutti Froutti. It was the perfect place to stop too because they had crepes, and Robbie hadn't had any during his whole trip!

And then we made it back to the States. I have to say, it felt good to be back. Not just because my phone worked again (hehe) but even though we were in Vermont it just felt like home again. On our way through New Hampshire, driving through the White Mountain National Forest (one of our favorite places in the world), we couldn't resist stopping to play in the foothills. Here are some photos from our fun at Willey House.

Link spent all his time stom

Meanwhile, Mattimeo pretended to be a race car and sped up and down the bridge making car noises. Robbie and I raced with him too.

Our trip to Montreal was utterly exhausting but also incredibly fun. I would do it again in a heart beat (after a recovery period of course). I hope to go back as a place we can immerse in the French language as we practice throughout our homeschooling years. That or go to France :).