Neighbors to the north

Montreal Street art by Parisian artist Kashink.

September already!!?? Oh where does the time go? 

We drove up to Montreal over Labor Day to spend the weekend with our friend Eric and explore the city. Eric rented an apartment for the month of August in Montreal's gay village to work on his second novel. (His writing is great btw. He  also has a column on the Wall Street Journal online called crtl alt.) 

It was Cristina's first time to Canada. I think overall a great introduction. Mainly we traversed the city by bixi - the Canadian version of our bike sharing program citibike. A fun and easy way to get around. Much safer than biking in NYC.

We went to the fantastic food market Jean Talon, the botanical gardens and insectarium, thrift store shopping, a street fair on Mont Royal, a fancy cocktail bar called the Lab (bartenders did fire shows), walked over 17 miles in a day, climbed up Mount Royal to see the view at sunset and got a little lost on our way down in the dark, ate; poutine, bagels, fromage, ground cherries, and KOUIGN AMANN (as many pieces as we could handle eating).

It was a good getaway for us.

A perfect place to have a seat... At the Montreal botanical garden. I look legless!

Eric shows off his new El Suave sperm underpants. Yes these were for sale at the street fair.

Our new obsession Kouign Amann - Basically a French (Briton) butter and sugar pastry, way better than a Croissant.

POUTINE!

at the Jean Talon Market. C'est magnifique

Montreal Bagels! Yes there is a large Jewish community here and their bagels are a lighter version on NY style.

In the lobby of Pierre Du Calvet, a quirky hotel dating back to 1725

There are many talking parrots in the lobby of the hotel.

These babies were at the insectarium. Ask me about my experience with a Rhinoceros beetle sometime, if you want to see me relive a tramatic memory.

50 cakes for your love by Kashink