In Quebec, pretty much everyone can sell booze - the gas station, the Depanneur, the take-out sushi chain... In Montreal, beer and wine can be sold only until 11pm in certain places. In the area Grampa Keith lives in, you can only buy malt liquor at convenience stores and gas stations, but at any hour, but you have to hit a proper liquor store to get spirits or wine... Their solution to this for those of us who don't like that oh-so-popular malty drink BEER, they offer vodka- and rum-flavoured malt liquor coolers. That are technically modified beer with sucralose, fluorescent food dye, and citric acid added. They tasted like liquefied vomit in a bottle. Bill got me a 12-pack. ~urp~
Anyhow, after settling in, having baths, and exploring the delightful yard, which has both a front, back, and lower garden, with the latter backing onto a creek that are accessible via a series of footpaths, we got a healthy sleep in, with NO plans for the following day other than visiting and relaxing. Wil slept, the girls played pick-up-sticks, and Kaelan went down to the creek to clear some of the overgrowth and build himself a dam. We managed to squeeze in a visit to the park for some tennis and shuttlecock tag (which, in case you're wondering, is like ball tag... where you throw the ball at someone to make them "it"... only using a badminton shuttlecock instead of a ball.) (It doesn't work very well, by the way.)
After yummy tacos for dinner, we agreed we would go check out a laser light show projected onto the side of the Parliament Buildings called Mosaika, which was truly remarkable and enjoyable; a nice mix of eye candy, Canadiana in both French & English and inclusion of indigenous perspective without being wishy-washy or promoting any one particular agenda.
Home to sleep, then up in the morning to see the Parliament Buildings in daylight, then hit the NAG and find some water for a swim. We went early enough to see the changing of the guards, then headed up the Peace Tower, something even Keith, who has lived there for over a decade, had never done. It was definitely excellent. After that we wandered around the grounds then hit one of the markets for MORE yummy cheese and fresh fruit and bread (why again don't we have these in Edmonton?) which we ate in Tin Square before heading to the NAG. Grampa Keith took the kids to the regular exhibits while Bill & I took in the feature exhibit, "Pop Life: Art in the Material World" which as Keith had warned us was totally unsuitable for children, and totally awesome... added bonus was that it was nice to have some alone time with Bill, something we so rarely get period much less on a holiday where we've been crammed into single-room or attached dwellings for almost 2 weeks lol
After the gallery we stopped at home for a quick snack and to grab our suits so we could find a beach. We swam at the Outouais River (where the previously picture seagulls swooped down on some poor woman's blanket and stole her entire block of cheese!) then went home for homemade chicken satay with peanut sauce and stir-fried veggies served over Basmati rice. We tied the evening up with wine and martinis, and a lovely little fire at the lower garden. I fell asleep with the girls, and woke up this morning with itchy contact lenses and a burning desire to not have a repeat of arriving at the train station in the nick of time. After a breakfast of "let's make some scrambled eggs and serve them with all the leftovers in Grampa Keith's fridge" we loaded up the van and drove to the PE Trudeau airport in Montreal where a (free - bonus!) shuttle dropped us and our piles of luggage off at Dorval Via Station.
As we were driving to Montreal, we did a mental inventory of all the things we may or may not have left behind along the way. So far, my camera is hopefully on its way back to Edmonton from Moncton; we'll have to call Grampa Keith and ask him to send us Ling Ling the Plastic Panda Ball and Bill's wedding band... not really too bad considering we've been on the road for almost 2 weeks, hey?
We are currently en route to Toronto for the final leg of our trip, and the girls are BEGGING to watch a movie on the laptop, so I'll leave off here and update again in a few days with details of all the fun and adventure with friends in Toronto/Niagara Falls. As for me, well - I've discovered that I get really motion sick on trains regardless of whether I'm facing forwards or backwards, so I'm off to pop some more Gravol and pray I'm not still feeling sick when we arrive in the t.dot in a couple of hours.
(And I must admit I am loving the iPhone pics taken with Hipstamtic thus far - they are WICKED cool!!!)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Got something to say to the Little Blue Ass?