Montréal
June 22-26, 2022
We’ve made a decision on where we want to live! Is it Montéal? Stay tuned to find out.
We drove from Brrrrrrrampton to Ottawa and spent the day splitting time between working, driving and sightseeing. We didn’t stay overnight in the Canadian capital but I wish we had. It was pretty cool! After driving around looking for a parking spot (I am adamant that if I can get cheap or free parking I will drive around for several minutes looking for a spot), we gave up and found a parking garage (which James would have done from the get-go if it weren’t for my complaining about having to pay for parking). We walked past a golf-themed bar called Mulligans—James’s middle name, his mom’s last name, and the name of an Irish pub I worked at when I was 18—so we had to stop and take a picture. We did not eat there so we’ll have to take a mulligan and go back sometime to see if the food is any good.
Mulligans!
We got coffee and pastries at a cute little coffee shop where I had the best latte and got some work done, then we walked around Parliament Hill. The buildings in Parliament Hill were so beautiful. It felt like we were being transported back in time. Some were under construction and others were closed because it was after hours by the time we got there, so we didn’t go inside. But even the outside of the buildings were pretty and had lots of information to read about. Signs! Our favorite! The view of the Ottawa River was nice too. We witnessed a protest against Justin Trudeau—it’s embarrassing how little I know about politics outside of the US, but there were many parallels between these protestors and the anti-vax movement we saw back home. Lots of Canadian flags flying. Then we spotted the most Canadian statue of all time, a bear catching a fish, with the Canadian flag and all the province flags behind it. I had a good laugh and for some reason took 4 photos of it. Not too far away, there was a hockey statue, and that’s when we really felt like we were in Canada. We narrowly missed a storm and then made our way to our next stop, Montréal.
We arrived in Montréal around 9:30pm and were told by our Airbnb host that there would be street parking outside of our apartment. There was not. So we did the whole parking thing again where I refused to go to a parking garage without ample time searching for a free/cheap spot, and then ended up in a parking garage. The good news was that the next day a lot of people left their parking spots, presumably to go to work, so we were able to move the car in the morning (thanks, remote jobs!). The Airbnb was a studio apartment and nothing to write home about (read: stinky hallways and neighboring units under construction) but it did have a very strong air conditioner, which came in handy that week when there were scorching hot temperatures. It was also right next to a metro station so we were happy (public transit, our favorite!).
The apartment was walking distance from Plateau Mont-Royal, which is a cute neighborhood with lots of fun stores, restaurants, bars, coffee shops and art galleries. Avenue du Mont-Royal is closed off to cars for pedestrian traffic in the summer, which was an amazing way to explore the neighborhood walking around. I freaking loved it. Because our Airbnb was so small, it was hard for both of us to work from there, so I made my way to a cute little coffee shop called Columbus Café & Co. I learned that just because the name of the place is in English does not mean that they will speak English there. I also learned this at a nail salon in Mexico City called Pretty Bitches but for some reason I thought maybe it would be different here…? It gave me the opportunity to practice saying “parles-tu anglais?” because unlike Spanish, I can’t even stumble my way through a conversation in French. Turns out that most people will switch to English if you ask nicely. I stopped by St-Viateur Bagels, a must in Montréal, which I found out thanks to our new friend Tina while we were in Toronto. They are cash only and so delicious. After the work day, I took James back to the area I was working in so we could explore the nightlife. We enjoyed walking down the car-free street and found a bar called Les Enfants du Rock that was rock n roll themed. The whole time we were there I kept thinking, “I wish my parents were here, they would love this place!” That’s the bittersweet part of traveling. It’s sweet when you see things that remind you of your loved ones but bitter when they aren’t there to share it with you.
The next day, a Friday, was La Fete Nationale (Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day), a national holiday in Quebec, so a lot of people had off work. We took the metro to take our lunch break at Marché Jean-Talon, a great public market, and found a place called Bouffe-Moi that sells vegan corn dogs. Anyone who knows me from my Marquette days knows I loved a good Dogg Haus corn dog (RIP Dogg Haus). Since going pescatarian, I sometimes miss things like corn dogs, bacon and BBQ ribs. Usually I don’t crave these things but the summertime brings nostalgia. This was the first corn dog I’ve had since at least 2020, more likely 2019, and I was in my happy place. Vegan or not, that was one of the best corn dogs I’ve ever had (sorry, Dogg Haus!). After the market, we did some more working at a coffee shop and then checked out the festival for La Fete Nationale. We didn’t plan to be in Montréal during the festival but we always happened to land in cities when they had something exciting going on. It was kind of serendipitous. That night, we went out to some bars, did some more exploring, and had one of our favorite meals of the trip, late night poutine at La Banquise (if you’re keeping track of favorites, so far we’ve got signs, public transit, and La Banquise). The line was long but so worth the wait.
We of course did some of the typical touristy things that weekend, like Notre Dame cathedral, Old Montréal, the port, and Gibeau Orange Julep. The cobblestone streets in Old Montréal made it feel like we were walking around in Europe and it took me back to 2015 when I spent a semester studying in Rome. I fell in love with Montréal, just like I fell in love with Rome. It was honestly hard for me to leave. Unfortunately, while in Montréal, we found out that back home the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which also made it hard to leave.
By the way, I didn’t forget to add a soundtrack to this post, I just wanted to include it in the section of the blog that made the most sense. If you have a chance to watch the video, it’s very powerful. TW: violence. It’s age restricted and only available on YouTube.
While we were anticipating that the overturning of Roe v. Wade would happen, I was still angry. I felt helpless and upset that my bodily autonomy in my home state of Wisconsin was taken away as an 1849 criminal abortion ban went into effect. It’s funny (read: sad), the government can’t use your organs after you die to save someone’s life unless you opt in to be an organ donor but now they can force you to go through with an unwanted pregnancy. Which means, I officially have fewer rights than a corpse in the state of Wisconsin when it comes to my bodily autonomy. You can think whatever you want about the morality of abortion, but I genuinely believe that the government mandating what we can and cannot do with our bodies and our family planning decisions is extremely concerning and something we should all be worried about and fighting against. Chances are you know someone who has sought an abortion, whether they talk about it or not. It feels very dystopian to be moving backwards in progress when it comes to our rights. Disagree? Shoot me a message, I’m happy to have a respectful discussion about it.
James and I were surprised to find out that people in Montréal were protesting in solidarity. So we found an art store, bought some poster board and markers, made some signs, and joined them. It was amazing to see people rally in protest for a law that doesn’t even affect them personally. When talking to people, it was clear that they were concerned that if something like this could happen in America, it could happen anywhere. Their rights could be on the line next. I think the saddest part for me was seeing older women with signs about how they’ve already fought this battle and they don’t want to go back. We were interviewed by a local news station (lol) and of course they took our story about traveling around to figure out where we wanted to live and spun it to make it sound like we were trying to flee the country as a result of this decision. I tried so hard to find the video online but can’t find it anymore. Should have bookmarked that one! As much as I loved Montréal, we are not planning on moving there. I’m trying to get away from snow, not move someplace where there’s more snow. And we were looking for a new place to live long before Roe v. Wade was overturned. Leaving Wisconsin is going to be difficult for a lot of reasons (I love my home state and all my family and friends here) the decision was certainly good motivation.
If you’ve made it this far, congrats! Now for the big announcement…
We are moving to Seattle! We’re currently subleasing in Milwaukee and will spend the rest of the year here, spend the holidays with family, and then we’ll head to Washington state sometime in January. It’s exciting to have a place nailed down and we’re looking forward to the next adventure. For now, we’re enjoying some time with friends and family and getting ready to celebrate my 30th birthday. How am I already almost 30?
Anyway, no better way to celebrate than by donating to Planned Parenthood Action Fund!