C'est Si Bon

We actually made it to Ottawa and Montreal, more importantly, we made it back!  Only just. We took off on Monday in a mad rush and came back late Saturday night a little worse for wear. We started out late on Monday and I was seen dashing to the shuttle at the park n’ ride with my four year old, Lanes’, dashing pink Hello Kitty back pack dangling from one arm, my hand luggage on my shoulder and two suitcases trailing behind me.

I was such a sight between gravity defying hair, my clanking clogs and mismatched luggage that the driver of the shuttle bus stopped for a chuckle and that gave all three of us, and our plethora of baggage time to get on.  Lanes had decided to fall asleep in the car and her poor dad, P, was lumbering across the parking lot heaving her on his shoulder. As we got on the shuttle, he dashed out again and pranced round the parking lot trying to lock the car with the remote on his key. Everyone on the bus, including the patient driver, started laughing.

Eventually, we got to Ottawa, but only briefly because we caught the train from there to Montreal. I must say that the folks who work at VIA Rail are super friendly and thoughtful and we had a really pleasant ride on the train not only to Montreal but back as well. Lanes enjoyed her first proper train ride, during which we saw many farms and every time she saw a cow she would exclaim ‘look Mamma, a baby cow and a mamma cow, just like you’. This running commentary, which involved me being compared to a number of farm animals, elicited many snorts of delight from P.

Incidentally, during the course of this trip, I have come to be known as ‘Mumsy’.  I don’t know where Lanes got that from, but she would pepper her conversations with phrases like ‘good job Mumsy’ or ‘yea Mumsy!’. It made me feel either like a slow old horse in a straw hat or an eccentric old lady with a thing for scones with clotted cream and collecting marbles (most preferably the ones she lost). I guess there are worse things I could be called…

Any old how, we really enjoyed Montreal. It was absolutely gorgeous, and we lucked out with a good deal for a fabulously luxurious hotel. Lanes, who was complaining that she wanted to go home, walked into our hotel room and decided that it would do nicely indeed, and thoughts of returning home were abandoned like old tissue papers. It also helped that she got a little care package gift when we arrived and the toys in it kept her busy the entire time—much to my relief.

The bed we had deserves a special mention because it was soft yet firm and almost swallowed us up in comfy goodness. We spent a lot of time in Montreal sleeping as a result. Not the best for sightseeing! We did get to see Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Joseph’s Oratory, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (only briefly because Lanes didn’t give two hoots about Napoleon’s hat and she wanted to go back to the big comfy bed in the hotel) and the BioDome. 

We spent the most time at the BioDome as that was the place that held the interest of our four-year old. I cannot tell you how much time she spent looking at the penguins. I wished I could have taken one home with us. Now that’s a good way to keep her quiet in her room! Plus with winter coming and the folks in our apartment building never putting the heat on, the penguin would feel right at home: )

On the way back we spent a night in Ottawa and I got to see my friend from high school and her husband and we had a really good time catching up. All in all, it was a good trip.  Finally, my minor in French came in handy. Considering I haven’t used the language since 1998, I think I got along just fine.  P had decided he is ‘too old’ to learn a language and I think he found having me around rather handy on this trip!

It made all the fussing I did about having to study it with a certain professor I had in college—the one with the thundering eyebrows, all worth the while. I used to swear that storm clouds would gather whenever he walked into a room. How I blessed him this week! As usual, the jokes on me. I now want to re-read all the French novels I had—sadly they are in my nutty sister’s house. By the time I am reunited with them, the moment is sure to have passed.

Incidentally, my sister was keeping up with her Inspector Clouseau impersonation. The last time I spoke to her, her younger daughter was pleading with me to get her to stop that annoying accent already. She sounded rather pained, poor child. I can only assume that having been disinvited from joining us, she has returned to her normal pattern of speech.

In conclusion, we all enjoyed our trip. The folks in Ottawa and Montreal were very friendly and warm, which nicely countered the chilly weather we experienced. But it is nice to be back in BC--I have left all treacherous thoughts of moving to Montreal behind--I think the cold froze my flights of fancy.  Next week, we will have been in Canada for a year! So stay tuned for the year in review and never heard before behind the scenes footage…