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August 20, 2017

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Day Four: Montréal

On our last full day, we planned to visit the Botanical Garden, Insectarium, and the Biodôme! We were excited that the weather was on our side yesterday—blue skies, beautiful fluffy clouds, and cool temperatures. We stopped for breakfast at Fabergé on Fairmount Street, a hip and fun restaurant that serves breakfast all day along with their lunch menu. They had some really fun items on their menu, like chicken waffles, PB&J french toast, a “benny mac” which is a mac n’ cheese fritter and pulled pork topped with jalapeño jelly. They also had all sorts of waffles, including a s’mores waffle! We just took it easy ordering a plain crepe with an egg breakfast platter—we would be doing a lot of walking that day, so we wanted to take it easy! When we visit Montréal again, I am definitely trying the PB&J french toast!

After breakfast, we made our way to the Botanical Garden. I was super excited to begin exploring! The Montréal Botanical Garden has a collection of 22,000 plant species, 10 greenhouses, a gorgeous tree pavilion, and more than 20 gardens spread over 75 hectares. It is massive and absolutely breathtaking.

We first stopped at the Insectarium—mostly to get it out of the way. Ian and I are a little hesitant about insects, but the museum was very interesting. All I can say is get ready to get goosebumps as you observe all different types of insects!

After two days of traveling throughout crowds, it was a perfect way to unwind and feel at peace. Together, Ian and I roamed the gardens and strolled through windy paths filled with flowers and different shrubs. It was so lovely! There were plenty of benches and innovative seating throughout the gardens, where couples clinked their champagne glasses in celebration or enjoyed lunch under a weeping willow tree.

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One of our absolute favorite spots was the Japanese Garden. The garden opened in 1988 is 2.5 hectares and was designed by Japanese landscape artist Ken Nakajima. When you enter the cultural pavilion, you are able to sit by the Zen garden with headphones with meditation music to put you at ease. There’s another room where you can learn more about the Japanese culture—there’s food on display (not to eat), paintings, and two other exhibition spaces. One of the most fascinating parts of the garden was the Bonsai Courtyard, which includes a collection of bonsai trees that range from 25 to 350 years old. It was an incredible sight. The amount of patience, care, and affection that goes into each tree is so astounding.

When you leave the cultural pavilion, you’ll find a large green space that was carefully designed. All elements in the garden (water, stones, a lantern, bridges, and plants) are perfectly balanced to create a feeling of serenity and make every visitor feel at peace. I know that I was. Ian and I strolled the gardens filled with calm, and the world around us was in complete harmony. The pathways also led to a beautiful pond with Koi carp swimming in its shallow waters. We did not want to leave!

 

We continued to explore the gardens, walking through the arboretum, the shade garden, and rose gardens. We were able to walk aimlessly through the Botanical Gardens and enjoy the sights. We also stopped at the Monumental Dougherty, beautiful art sculptures woven from willow branches!

 

After the Botanical Gardens, we made the walk to the Olympic Park to take a look at the Olympic Stadium. It was a long walk to the Biodôme, which ultimately was disappointing. After visiting the Biodôme, we headed back to the main parking lot and headed to Old Montreal to have one last look at the Notre Dame Basilica and have a delicious dinner.

From hiking to the top of Mont Royal and walking the shops of downtown to exploring the beauty of Old Montréal and the Botanical Gardens, Montréal is an amazing city, filled with something for everyone! We are very grateful to have visited, and we are excited to come back soon. Thanks all for reading and I can’t wait to write more about our adventures…like Ireland in March!

JUST A NOTE

Before we left for our journey home today, we stopped at a café on Fairmount called Brioche À Tête and we had the most amazing croissants. As we devoured them in complete silence, we realized that we should have gone there every day, and perhaps should have ordered more than one each. If you plan on going to Montréal, go here and have a croissant for me!

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August 17, 2017

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Thoughts From Our Balcony: Comfort Zones

The balcony of my Airbnb hovers over the busy streets of Mile-End in Outremont. As I sit on the landing that is covered with colorful wooden pots and flowers, I feel at peace and think about comfort zones and how often people push their boundaries—especially myself. I know this may sound silly, but to me, this trip and exact moment in time is out of my comfort zone.

While I write on our balcony, flurries of cars, motorbikes, and people pass underneath me playing music, laughing, and talking. Some are friendly and smile as they pass by. This morning, I woke up at 7 (that’s the time my body wakes up now…the joys of the internal clock!) after an interesting night of sleep. Oftentimes, I cannot sleep in new places, and this night was not any different. This feeling of the “unknown” along with being jazzed from the espresso I had at 10 p.m. the night before (oops) was flooding my system as I lied in bed thinking about all of the different ways we stepped out of our comfort zones that day.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this was Ian’s first time out of the country. I remember as we were driving towards the border, my husband’s attitude changed; he started acting apprehensive and quiet. I remember grabbing his hand, and instead of telling him it will be OK, I just talked about how exciting it was to travel to a new place! Honestly, I felt it too, but some reassurance and talking about our excitement helped. The apprehension faded until we arrived in Montréal and found the place where we’d be staying for the next few days. Don’t get me wrong—the place is darling. It’s exactly what the pictures looked like, and the host has been so helpful the entire process. It was just this: We’ve never done this before. Not only are all of the parking signs in French (good thing we know military time and the days of the week in French!), but we also do not know the area. We don’t know where the good restaurants are. We don’t know where are going. We felt very vulnerable. I kept telling myself that this was what made this trip exciting!

We unpacked and found our route using the map that our host left for us. Our apartment is nestled in a busy area filled with artists, musicians, and beautiful architecture. We enjoyed the walk to the hubbub of restaurants. It was here, however, where we began to pause. We were extremely nervous to approach the restaurants let alone eat there. After looking at many and deciding that we would keep on going to the next one, I decided that we stop at a quaint, Parisian looking restaurant. When we sat down at a table, we noticed that the entire menu was in French. We had no idea what to order (another post to come on this particular topic!) and were embarrassed that we didn’t know the language that well. Our waitress, who spoke English, helped us immensely, but we couldn’t help but feel even more out of our comfort zone. But, Ian and I both tried new food and found ourselves loving the experience, excited for more to come.

On this journey, I can’t help but think of one of my favorite literary quotes. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo recollects something that Bilbo used to tell him about adventures:

“He often used to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep and every path was its tributary. ‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. ‘You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.”

Yesterday, I learned that it is OK to break out of your comfort zone. It’s OK to try new things and take safe risks. If we don’t take risks, then we simply aren’t living. When we first arrived and that feeling of overwhelming, “I don’t know where I am” panic arose, we could have just found a hotel and relocated somewhere a little closer to the main part of the city. But we didn’t; we chose to just “be.” Break out of your comfort zones. Explore. Don’t be afraid.

In our apartment, our host has created beautiful masterpieces and paintings that she hangs around her home. They are awe-inspiring and motivational. One of my favorites is something that she sketched. It hangs on a wall right as you walk in the door. I plan to look at it every day while I am here and remember it thereafter as a reminder to let go, just be, and take life as it comes.

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